John chapter 6 Hopefully we remember reading
up to this point as we're going through John 6 the Lord fed 5,000
men not including women and children With five little barley loaves
and two fishes what a miracle that was what a feeding that
was And he broke that bread he prayed He prayed for it they
heard him they heard him pray for And then some of them wanted
to make him king. And he left them. He went high
into a mountain. And he sent his disciples to
the other side of the sea. He said, you get in a boat. Go
down to that ship and you depart. And they did. They obeyed him.
He went up to the mountain to pray. And then he walked to them.
He sent a storm to them while they were in that ship. Out on
the sea, the wind was boisterous. The waves were large. And these seafaring men, whose
business it was, several of them, to be out on the water and to
be in rough seas, they've had a lot of experience. They were
nervous. And our Master walked to them.
He didn't run. He didn't sprint. He didn't wave
his arms. He patiently walked to them. That sea obeyed Him. Those winds
obeyed Him. And he came to him, and he walked
up to him in no hurry, and he proved who he was to his children
on the boat. He proved to two of them when
he fed the 5,000, Philip and Andrew, and Peter was on that
boat. And the Lord proved himself to
Peter. Peter heard his voice. He knew him. He said, Lord, that's
you. Bid me come to you. He wanted to be with his Lord.
and in proving himself again to Peter. He's revealed himself
to Peter, and he reveals himself again, and then he reveals himself
again. But every time he's revealed
to one of his children, to Peter here, Peter is proved to Peter. The Lord comes to his child,
and he reveals himself to that child, that child is revealed
to himself or herself too. We know what we are when we see
Him. You ever thought about that as we just sang that hymn? Turn
your eyes upon Jesus. Look along His wonderful face.
The things of this world grow strangely dim in the light of
His glorious grace. But if you go out and look at
the sun, and stare at it for a second, bright eyed and bushy
tipped, look dead at the sun, and then try to see something
else. You look away. You can't! There's a big old
hole there, isn't there? Oh, if we could see Him. Everything
else is just a blind spot, isn't it? Just happens to be there. Don't matter what it is. Those
that wanted in their hearts, they didn't say it out loud,
but they wanted in their hearts. They had good things to say out loud.
They had doctrinally accurate things to say out loud. This
is Him. This is that prophet. And that's true. He is that prophet. They said some truths. But in
their heart, and the Lord looks on the heart. In their heart,
they wanted to make Christ King. So these people, they woke up
the next day. The Lord sent His people across the The waters,
and immediately the boat was there with him. He was on the
other side in Capernaum. And these people that wanted
him to make king, they woke up and they didn't see him on the
coast, and they didn't see him in that mountain. They watched
him walk up. But in their heart, though he'd
left them, they still wanted to make him king. They needed
this man. Why would they do that? This
seems like a simple answer, but I think it might ring true to
some of them there anyway. They'd been fed the day before.
They'd got dinner and suffered plenty of it. Oh, it was good.
They ate until they was full. Well, they woke up the next morning.
It's breakfast time. They wanted breakfast. Where's
that fellow that fed us? That's easy to laugh at. Do we
expect things out of the Lord? Do we have expectations? It says
in verse 22, John 6, 22. The day following when the people
which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was
none other boat there, save the one whereunto his disciples were
entered. There's only one boat there. That's the one they left
on the night before, evening before. And that Jesus went not
with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone
away alone. They knew they walked down to
the shore, and there was that same boat that them disciples
left on the night before, and it was back. And they didn't
have enough time to go across the sea, drop them disciples
off, come back, pick our Lord up, and take him back over. So
he's got to be here. He's got to be in that mountain,
or he's up and down the coast. Look. Look for him. Seek him. Find
this guy. We need something from him. when
we use it. It says in verse 23, how be it
there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they
did eat bread after that the Lord had given thanks. There's
no wasted words in the scriptures. One of the old commentators said
that there were other boats coming in for the day, those ferries,
that's how these people would get across the sea, And then
they were doing business in this area, but they came from Tiberias
into the place where they did eat bread. Do you need to know
where them boats came? That's all we need to know, isn't
it? We know where that was. He's talking about the people
that ate the bread, where the miracle took place. I knew that.
But it says, comma, after the Lord had given them thanks. Was that place important to John
as he wrote this, as the Spirit of God worked in his heart to
write this out, tell his experience? Was it important to say the Lord
fed 5,000? That was accurate. He had to write that. That's
where it was. Yes, he had to write that. Those
boats from Tiberias, he had to write that. But he couldn't leave
it without mentioning it after the Lord had given thanks. And
I thought, what an important thing. Could you imagine the
Lord Jesus Christ praying to the Father? Praying to the Father. Him speaking. Oh, what that would
have been. And we could have understood
it. We could have understood it. You wouldn't have had to
get out of the source. You wouldn't have had to get out of the dictionary
and say, now what did he say? Let me write that down. I'm going
to look that up when I get home. It would have been plain. He taught
us how to pray, didn't he? Our Father which is in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. You're holy. You're holy. Your will be done. Your kingdom
come on earth right here just the same as it is in the heavens
and it always has been. Forgive us. Take care, well you
know we need food. You'll provide that. Give us
Christ today and don't leave me to myself. Let me not to temptation
but deliver me from myself. That ain't complicated is it?
Our Lord prayed. Our Lord prayed and John wrote
it down. He hadn't forgot. It says in verse 24, when the
people therefore saw that Jesus was not there John wasn't as
concerned about the belly full of food, was he? When the people,
therefore, saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples,
they couldn't find nobody, they also took shipping and came to
Capernaum seeking for Jesus. Now our Lord's about to reveal
their true hearts. He's going to approach these people, have
words for them, and their air and their heresy that's inside
of them, that they're born with from Adam. But we can learn something
here. We can learn something from these
folks, what they were doing. If you want to seek Christ, if
you want to know God, if anybody walking up and down these streets
wants to know God, it's a very wise thing to go where His people
are. Where's He at? I don't know. He ain't in the hills. He ain't
on the coast. Where's His people? Well, let's go there. It's a
good place to go. He dwells with His people, don't
He? He dwells in His people. And that gives me, thinking of
that, I want to honor the gospel. I want to honor our Lord who
laid down His life for me. I don't want to be a hindrance
to the gospel. If I could just take a big old racer and get
me out of the picture, idle words that I say, dumb stuff. The stances I take, and the positions
I take, and I say out loud, bad enough it's on the inside. I
ain't got enough sense to let it out of my mouth. Let my actions
out, my facial expressions, I can't control that for nothing. I don't
have micro expressions, I have macro expressions. What'd you
say? What if I keep from doing that?
I don't want to be a hindrance to somebody coming here to the gospel, where
God's people are. I want to honor Him. I want to clear that road
out to that city of refuge, take every stone I can get out of
it. Let's say in verse 25, and when they had found him on the
other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, teacher, when
camest thou hither? When did you get here? That could
also be interpreted, how did you get here? You beat us. We didn't have no boats pass
us on crossing that sea. How did you get here? When did
you get here? Our Lord did not answer. He didn't speak of his
miracle that he performed as he walked on the water and calmed
the seas and came to his people and stuck that calloused hand
of a carpenter down and grabbed Peter. He didn't talk about that. He didn't self-promote, did he?
What proved him wasn't what he did. What proved him wasn't good
stories or the feelings that people had. What proved him was
his word. The miracles were always a picture. It was always a type of an eternal
work that was being done. Not that somebody just got ears
to hear. Yeah, they're deaf people. They could not hear and they
could hear now. But there was a time we didn't hear nothing
because we was dead in sin and God gave us ears to hear. There was
times the heart didn't beat. Lazarus was graveyard dead. He
stinketh. God made his heart beat again.
That really happened. Lazarus had to physically die
again. I feel bad for him. But that's a picture at the time
of the Lord coming to His child and birthing them, giving them
a new life, a new creation, giving them a new heart, breathing life
into them. Everyone He cured eventually
physically died. It's the Lord's Word, our proof.
It's what He says, good enough. Is that good enough for us? Or
is our experience and our feelings more important? I ask myself
that. Do I need an experience? Do I need a warm fuzzy? Do I
need some kind of feeling or comfort or pain? There was a
time I was going through a serious trial and my mom said, Kevin,
why don't you ask the Lord to take it from us? It's not ready
yet. What an idiotic, pious thing to think. I've decided I need
more punishment. That's foolish! Nonsense! Do I think that? Do I think I
need these other things or do I need His Word? Whether it builds
me up or cuts me down. Is it true to me? They did not
need to know when or how the Lord came hither. They didn't
need to know because He didn't tell them. He didn't tell them
of His walking on the water. They didn't need that Word. They
needed this Word. Verse 26, Jesus answered them
and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, truly, truly, You seek
me. You're looking for me. Not because
you saw the miracles. Remember he corrected some people
before. He said you only follow me because you see these miracles.
You see these wondrous works. You need a sign. And he says
you seek me and that ain't the reason. We've addressed that
already. But because you did eat of the loaves and were filled. I scribbled down a pencil. Why'd
we come to church today? Why do we come to church on Sunday?
Do I come here to get my belly filled? That'll happen. We'll
be comforted. We'll be edified. We'll be taught. We'll be instructed. We'll be
grown some. Is that the reason I come? Do
I come so y'all can just hear me talk? So I can stand up and
have everybody's attention and say anything I want to say for
30 minutes? Or do I come here to honor God's glory? Tell the
truth about man and the truth about God? And to honor Him,
tell all to bow to Him. Do I come to honor His grace
to sinners? He said we'll honor His glory
in His grace. Paul told us that plainly, didn't
he? The Lord's been gracious to an undeserving people. And
we're going to praise Him for it. We're going to thank Him
for it. Is that why I come to thank you,
Lord? Thank you. You put breath in my lungs again
today. You've provided everything I've needed. And you've provided
your son. Thank you. Is that why I come? Not an experience
that drew these people, but a feeling. They had the feeling of satisfaction
of being full. They was hungry, went all day
without eating, and they got a full belly. And they said,
we want this again. It's morning. We already missed
breakfast. What we're going to do when it's
hot, we're going to need dinner. You take a dinner bucket to work,
not a supper bucket. They need a dinner. You eat supper
in the evening. What do we call that in our day?
Someone that's just looking out for their own. We call it a gold
digger, don't we? When a bride sees a husband only
for what he can provide for her, what benefit he can give her. If we raised some children that
was real wealthy and hardworking sons and we saw somebody come
and they said, well I can keep my belly full, I'm going to have
nice cars, I'm going to stay in good clothes. Would we say,
boy, that's true love? No, we wouldn't. We'd caution
them and warn them, wouldn't we? These people came to our
Lord, greedy, greedy, looking for what their benefit was. Turn
to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians 3 verse 17. Paul writes here, Philippians
3.17, Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them
which walk so as ye have us for an example. It says in verse
18, For many walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell
you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ,
whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose
glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things." Where's
these people's God? In their belly. Where do these
men, why are they seeking Christ? For their belly! For food! That's a literal and a spiritual
application there, isn't it? They literally wanted some breakfast,
But it was the God of their belly, satisfying their own lust, and
they have their own glory, but it's going to be shameful, and
they mind earthly things. Verse 20, for our conversation,
our citizenship, what that means, is in heaven. From whence also
we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who are we looking
for? Why are we here? Are we here for a benefit or
a person? Do we need to be a blessing as
the world calls it, or do we need a brother? One that's closer
than a brother. That's who we come for. It's
a person, isn't it? He'll feed us. He just performed a miracle. Paul wrote to us in Romans and
said, For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things
serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. God's
people serve a person. That's who we serve, man. We
serve Him in these things. Back in our text here in John
6. It says in verse 27, John 6, 27, 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. labor not for the meat which
perisheth." I saw a homeless man holding that sign up one
day, holding up John 6, 27. He wasn't laboring for his meat,
was he? People take that literally. I heard it on TV in a motel one
time, a televangelist said, I would never, normally wouldn't tell
you, but the spirit speaking to me, you send me your money,
put on a credit card if you have to. That's a charlatan. That's
a liar, isn't it? People take his verse and say,
oh, you don't have to labor. Don't worry about labor and working
hard for the meat that perishes. That's not what that's saying.
That's man taking the word of God and twisting it to make excuses
for their no count laziness. That's what it is. What's the
Lord say? What's his comparing scripture
to scripture? We know better than that, don't
we? Paul told in 2 Thessalonians, for we, when we were with you,
we command, this we commanded you, that if any would not work,
neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some
which walk among you disorderly, working not at all but are busybodies."
We tell that to young children and everybody else. Idle hands
is the devil's workshop, ain't it? What are you going to do
if you ain't got something to do to keep you busy? Plant a
garden or read a book or something? You're going to be a busybody.
What's so-and-so doing? Now them that are such we command
and extort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they
work and eat their own bread." Go to work and eat. He told Timothy,
he said, but if any provide not for his own, especially for those
of his own house, he hath to nod to faith and is worse than
an infidel. Does that mean be lazy? No, that's not what it
means. We need food, we need to work for it. We need to eat,
we need to do something, don't we? What are we to labor for then if it's
not that? But for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life. We have to physically live in
this world. The Lord uses means. They had to eat fish and they
had to eat the bread. They had to get on a boat and
take them across that water. He gave man the knowledge to know
how to build a boat. But these things are just temporal. That's
just what we happen to be doing while we're looking to Him, while
we're laboring for Him. All of our labors, whether it's
our given occupation or it's working around the house, it
don't matter. Our minds ought to be concerned
with the meat that endureth forever. What's that? Christ and Him crucified.
Christ and Him crucified. It says in 1 Corinthians, and
when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, Take, eat.
This is My body which is broken for you. That's what our Lord
told us in His supper. You want meat? Here it is. It's my body. It's me. We've got to live in this world,
but our thoughts and our citizenship, our conversation ought to be
of Him, shouldn't it? On that Mount of Transfiguration,
they spoke of the decease He should accomplish. What a wonderful
thing. His death He should accomplish. And whatsoever you do, do it
heartily as unto the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of
the Lord you shall receive the reward of inheritance for you
serve the Lord Jesus Christ." Where did Paul get that when
he wrote that? Solomon wrote this, the wisest man ever lived,
in Proverbs 16. Commit thy works unto the Lord
and thy thoughts shall be established. You commit your works to the
Lord and your thoughts shall be established. Now is that my
good works? If I'm loving my brethren or something, earnest
work of righteousness. Yeah, commit that to the Lord.
He did it. and my heart will be established. My thoughts will
be established. But what about my daily occupation?
Something the Lord's put in my hand to do. Work unto Him. Commit that unto Him and my thoughts
will be established. What's that mean? No matter my
job or my career, no matter what we're involved in, if you're
laboring physically or mentally for the Lord, your thoughts are
already established. Every time I wash dishes, I say,
well, that's good enough. And I go to rinse it off. I never
told camera this. I'm going to get my head chopped
off later. I go to rinse it off, and I thought, no, this ain't
my dish. This is the Lord's dishes. He
gave that to me to wash the dish. I'm going to wash it. And I flip
that little scrub brush over to where it's the scratchy side.
And I get it all, and they shine. Work unto Him. If we commit our
work, what else could that include? Praying for somebody, being kind,
listening to somebody, giving a hug, whatever. Whatever it
is. And that's important. Attending
local services, whether that's here or wherever we are. Being
there, supporting them, supporting gospel. That's important. We're
doing that to the Lord that gave us to do it. Where do we get
such meat? That's meaty, isn't it? Is that
strong? I hope I've framed that in a
way that that's milk. We can swallow that, but where
do we get such meat, such ability to look for Him, such salvation,
such a person? It says in verse 27, John 6 verse
27, 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. Where am I going to have this
ability to look to Him always? Christ is going to give it. How
am I going to know and have a heart to beg, Lord reveal Yourself
to me? He's going to reveal Himself to you. It says He shall give
it unto you. That's not He might give it.
What's if you give something as a gift? If you sell it, you
deliver it. If you give it, it's a gift.
It's a free gift. And He gives it, and He shall
give it. What if that's one of the Lord's
sheep and they just don't want to hear it? Well, they haven't
got ears yet, and He's the one that gives ears. He shall give
it. They'll hear. Why? Why would
the Son of Man, Christ the God-man, why would He give that to me?
Why would He give it unto me to seek Him, to seek His meat,
to seek His face? Says in verse 27, labor not for
the meat which perishes, but for the meat which endureth unto
everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you for,
because Him hath God the Father sealed. Why is he going to do
all this thing? There was a sealing that took
place. What's that mean? What's the word sealed mean?
That's scriptures, there's three different references to it in
that word. Sealed means anointed. This was
appointed and anointed, separated for the use of God, sanctified.
This is mine. It's anointed. He sealed him. Sealed also means hidden. As
it were, he hid his face from us. He came into the world, the
world knew him not. Went to his own people, they
didn't know him. Those people that every thought and action
they did was a ceremony that all pointed to him and they didn't
have a clue it was him. Sealed also means preserved.
Just like we seal cans. Or we jar fruit or something.
Jar vegetables. The Father has sealed Him. He's
anointed Him. He's hidden Him from this world.
And He's preserved Him and preserved His people in Him. Look over
in Isaiah 29. I had a few other references in
Isaiah. We'll probably end there. We quote that a lot and that's
good. That's by design. Isaiah is the most quoted book
in the New Testament. Isaiah 29. Look at verse 10. It says, For the Lord hath poured
out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes,
the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. And
the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that
is sealed, which men deliver to one that has learned, saying,
Read this, I pray thee. And he saith, I cannot, for it
is sealed, this is hidden. And the book is delivered to
him that has not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee. And he
saith, I am not learned." Is that in our day? You hand somebody
these scriptures and say, Here, here's a book in the English
language, black and white, on paper, 8th grade reading level.
This is what this means. Can you tell me what that means?
Can you tell me what that says? In high school, I roomed with
a fellow, very intelligent, and so I came to him with systematic
theology. Here's the gospel, and I laid
it out for him. He said, Kevin, you're just reaching, buddy.
He said, oh, you're making something out of nothing. And I said, well,
look here, let me show you. And I turned to some scriptures.
I said, right there's what God says. He said, you're just taking
that too literal. The educated man, the learned man, the unlearned
man is the same man. God closed their eyes, and He
sealed them. But what did our Lord pray? In Matthew 11, He
said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and has
revealed them unto babes. That's when that seal is going
to be given to us. When our eyes will be shed, we'll
see Him. We'll see His anointed one. Look
down at verse 18. And in that day shall the deaf
hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see
out of obscurity and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase
their joy. In what? We have these things
revealed to us. What will increase their joy?
Boy, I've learned a whole bunch. I've really grown. I've got some
titles now. Nope. The meek shall also increase
their joy in the Lord. and the poor among men shall
rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." When the Lord gives us, when
He breaks those seals that's been put on us from eternity,
or put on us from Adam, and our fall in Him, what do we seek?
We have joy in the Holy One of Israel. A person, not a plate
of food. A person. What a thought. He's the anointed one. It said
Matthew 3 and Jesus when He was baptized went straight way up
out of the water and lo the heavens were opening to Him and He saw
the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon
Him. It landed on Him. It sealed on
Him. God anointed His Son. It's Him.
It's Him. He's preserved. And He preserves
us. Paul wrote to us in Ephesians
1, "...in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after
that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise."
We know these things are true. Why? God sealed our hearts in
it. which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption
of the purchased possession. Why would Lord do it that way?
Unto the praise of His glory. Christ is who we are to labor
for. Those men that came, we'll see here in a little while, that
we would see Jesus. Why do we come? So we could see
Him. See Him one more time. I've seen Him before, I want
to see Him again. I want to know Him. I know my wife. I've known
her for a long time. But I want to know her more.
Understand her more, and get to know her more, and love her
more, and care for her more. Back in our text, we're in John
6. It says in verse 28, Then said they unto him, What shall
we do that we might work the works of God? The Lord just preached to them,
you seek me. I'm the anointed one. I'm the
one hidden from this dark world because you can't see nothing
in your own darkness anyway. And I'm the preserver. Those that
the Lord's put in my hand, I'll not lose one of them. I'll keep
them forever. And they said, what are we supposed
to do? What shall we do that we might
work the works of God? They still didn't get it. We
know these men, they're going to leave the Lord by the end
of this chapter. He knows their hearts. He knew it when they
come over, they ask a question, He hit them dead on the nose
with it. When they said, oh, this is the prophet, He knew
their hearts. It's omniscient, omnipresent,
omnipotent God. Almighty right in front of them.
He knew. Did He run them off? You didn't get it, beat it, you're
disrupting everything. Why do you keep asking me questions?
Get out of here. We should take heed to that. I should take heed
to that. I should learn from that. The
Lord Jesus Christ got simpler and plainer in preaching Christ.
Look here in verse 29. Jesus answered and said unto
them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he
hath sent. I truly want to believe on Him. I believe in Him. Most of this
world says they believe in Him. I want to believe on him. I want
him to be my foundation for everything. What about my breakfast? Before
I eat my physical breakfast, I want to thank him. I want to
consider him. What about my work ethic? I want
to look to him and work for him. What about the quality of the
things I do? If I weed eat or whatever it might be. working
unto the Lord. I want to be Him. I want to be
the person and the finished work of Christ to be my motivation
for everything. I want that to be my foundation.
That's what I'm built on, on Him. Paul wrote to the Philippians
and said, being confident of this very thing, he which hath
begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ. Lord, I want to be preserved
as you promised you will. Well, that one that gave you
a heart to believe that, he's going to work it to the end.
That one who is the foundation will be the foundation for eternity.
He said, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and
to do of His good pleasure, for His workmanship. Who does His
heart work? Who works the works of God? God
does. That's why we're His workmanship.
Inflection matters. I was talking to a brother the
other day, and I text him something, and I said, you could have took
that the wrong way. I said, I wish I should have called you. That
could have been read really bad. I've done that before. You put
a comma in the wrong place, and you can mean a whole lot of different
things, can't you? They ask our Lord, what do we got to do to
work the works of God? He answers in verse 29, this
is the work of God. Who's going to do the works of
God? God is. They're His works. And what's
He going to do? What is the works of God? That
ye believe on Him whom He hath sent. Those that are His, those
that He entered that covenant of grace before time was, He's
going to come to His people and His doing, His providence, Him
sending preachers to His people, their ears are going to be open,
they're going to believe Christ. They'll still have physical hunger pains.
They'll still get thirsty. But their meat and drink is Him.
their minds on a heavenly kingdom. Those that the Lord has worked
in, when they see that, they say, Amen. They say, I want to
believe more. I believe Him. I want to believe
Him more. I do believe the Lord. Boy, I tell you what, there's
23 hours and 59 minutes of the day I don't, it seems like most
of the time. Lord, I believe you. Help my unbelief. I want
to labor more. I want to physically work. I
want to pray. I want to listen. I want to have a good ear for
those. I want to be able to succor with the promises of God. So
Mrs. Boy, I'm just having a rough
day. What God promised. What'd he say? He said, I'll
never leave you or forsake you. I don't feel him. That don't
mean he ain't there. It don't matter if you feel him. He said he wasn't going
to leave you. I believe him. You believe him? Of course I do. All of a sudden that big
old frown starts turning upside down, don't it? I need that encouragement. That's my desire to know Christ,
to know more of Him, to feed on Him more, and to rest with
those He dwells with more. To have comfort more with His
people. And to say, I'm comfortable today. And just look at him and
say, I ain't comfortable today. And real quick, why not? You got a reason not to be? You
believe him? I do. All of a sudden, I'm fine. Got to see him. Isaiah 55. It's foolish to work. It's hard
to work as unto the Lord, but it's foolish to work and try
to build something. Brother Henry used to say, it's always a shame
when a man or woman gets promoted above the Gospel. Oh, that hurts,
don't it? That's the truth. Somebody's
sitting on the Gospel, and they're faithful to hear, they're faithful
to listen, and then that big promotion comes along. Well,
I can't come as much as I used to. I hope another promotion
doesn't come, and they're clean gone, and they go out from us. It's a shameful, hurtful thing,
isn't it? Painful. But we ought to work unto the
Lord. Isaiah 55 verse 1. O everyone that thirsteth, come
ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and
eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfy not?" Why are you putting your heart in it? I mean, giving
it all you got for this world. It's going to perish. Solomon
told us that, didn't he? He began and ended Ecclesiastes with vanity
of vanities. He had experienced He gave it
all he had, got plenty, and said, this ain't nothing. It's just
going to disappoint. That's all it's going to do. Serve the Lord. Hearken diligently unto me and
eat that which is good. There's none good but God. Come
to Him. Eat Christ. And let your soul
delight in itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto
me, the Lord says. Here in your soul shall live,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you. The sure mercies
of David. If the Lord made an everlasting
covenant to those that come to Him. You know what that means?
That covenant always was. You just found out about it.
He revealed His Son to you. And that covenant will always
be. It always will be. His word is sure. Let's pray
together.