Joy, we're gonna miss you. Thank
you for your work here. Good morning. If you'd like to
open your Bibles with me, we're going to be in John chapter six
to begin with, John chapter six. I guess you noticed That Joe
Terrell wrote that hymn that we just sang. What a blessing.
The Lord gave him that before he took him home. We'll have
to put that in our spiral book and sing it more often. I was very encouraged by that
word. I've titled this message, is the work of God? What is the work of God? You have your Bibles open to
John chapter 6. Our Lord speaking to these men
that he had fed says labor not, in verse 27, for that meat which
perisheth. Don't look to God just to satisfy
those temporal needs that you have in this world, but rather
labor for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life. which
the Son of Man shall give you, for it is he that the Father
hath sealed." Well, they didn't understand what the Lord was
saying because their response to that was, then said they unto
him, okay, you told us to labor, for the meat which endureth unto
everlasting life. What work can we work to achieve
that? How can we, what labor, what
shall we do? What shall we do that we might
work the works of God? What labor can we perform? And the Lord Jesus said to them
in verse 29, this is the work of God that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. And Paul under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit wrote in Romans chapter 10, that men have a zeal
for God. The natural man, the religious
man has a zeal for God but that zeal is without knowledge. For
going about to establish their own righteousness they remain
ignorant of the righteousness of God. For Christ Jesus the
Lord is himself the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe it. Now these religious people were
wanting to know what work they could do in order that they might
work the works of God. These are the very ones that
the Lord defines in Romans chapter 10. Ignorant of God's righteousness,
they go about trying to establish their own righteousness by their
own works. It is natural. We come into this
world with a works mentality, a works heart, a works doctrine
already written on our hearts. We believe by nature that there's
something that we must do in order to earn favor with God. The Lord tells us in Ephesians
chapter 2 that it is by grace you see they missed what the
Lord said when he said which the Son of Man shall give you
for it is he whom the Father hath sealed all they heard was
labor for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life okay what
do we do what do we do what work can we work to work the works
of God for by grace you saved? That's a gift through faith and that not of yourself. He's
talking about faith in Ephesians 2.8, faith is the gift of God. Faith is the miracle of grace
that God does in our heart enabling us to believe God, believe everything
God says. For by grace are you saved through
faith. We're not saved by our faith
but we're saved through faith. It is faith that's the empty
hand that receives the gift. Nothing in my hand I bring, only
to the cross I cling, only to Christ. I can't offer God anything
for my salvation. I can't do a work that would
in any way obligate God to save me. What work can we work that
we might work the works of God? What can we do? For by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God not of
works. lest any man should boast. If there was something that I
could do to obligate God to save me or somehow work the works
of God and cause him to merit me with salvation, then I would
have something to boast in. I could take credit. And you
listen to the people that were defined in Romans chapter 10
who are going about to establish their own righteousness being
ignorant of the righteousness of God the very first word out
of their mouth is I. I did this and I did that and
I prayed this prayer and I and I, I, I, I. That's the problem
that the natural man has, he has an I problem. Turn to me to Psalm 64. Psalm
64. The Bible describes our sin problem
with three words. Transgression, that is disobedient
to the law of God. Iniquity. That is falling short
of what God requires. And sin, and that is what we
are by nature. In other words, transgression
is the bad things we do, iniquity is the good things we do to try
to earn our salvation and sin is what we are. Now, look at verse 6 in Psalm
64. They search out iniquities. This is what the natural man
does, this is what we all do. We look at something we've done,
a prayer we've prayed, something we've kept ourselves from, something
we've performed some religious duty, going about to establish
our own righteousness. We search out iniquities. They accomplish a diligent search. We diligently search for some
way to be right with God. How can a man be right with God? Both the inward thought of every
one of them and the heart is deep. We go deep into the well
of self-righteousness trying to find something that would
give us hope of being saved. But God, here's my hope this
morning that God would do this. But God shall shoot at them with
an arrow. Suddenly shall they be wounded. This is the arrow of God's word. This is the arrow of the gospel
of God's grace piercing the heart of the self-righteous. So they make their own tongue
to fall upon themselves. All that see them shall flee
away. Those who were going down deep
into the well of self-righteousness trying to find something that
would satisfy God are now taking sides with God against themselves.
Now they're agreeing with God with their own tongue that in
me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Now they are agreeing
that man at his very best state is altogether vanity. Now they
are agreeing with God that all of their righteousness is or
is filthy rags before God. They've taken that tongue and
they've confessed before God. that they're sinners and because of that other men
don't want anything to do with them. The ones who are going
about trying to establish their own righteousness don't want
anything to do with true bona fide sinners because our confession
robs them of the hope of their salvation because their hope
is in a false hope. And once we confess that with
our tongue that we're sinners before God, they don't want anything
to do with us. They're going about trying to establish their
own righteousness. And all men shall fear. And these
are the ones that have been shot with the arrow and they shall
declare the work of God for they shall wisely consider his doing."
His doing. This is the work of God that
you believe on him whom he has sent. The Lord Jesus didn't say
to those men, this is the work that you can do for God. He said,
this is the work of God. The work of God is that you would
be able to believe. Verse 10, the righteous, those
who have had the work of God done in their hearts, those who
have been brought to confess with their own tongue that they're
sinners and that they have nothing that would in any way force the
hand of God, or obligate God or merit them any favor with
God? They're the righteous ones. The
righteous now shall be glad. Oh, I'm so thankful that I don't
have to go down into the well of my self-righteousness anymore
and find something that would give me a false hope. I'm thankful
that the work of God has been done in my heart and I'm glad in the Lord, and
I shall trust in Him, in Him, and all the upright in heart
shall glory in Christ. See, the gospel of God's free
grace in the glorious person and in the accomplished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only message that gives to God
all the glory. Every other message of salvation
puts on man something that he can do. What work can we work
to do the works of God? This is the work of God. Lord,
you said to labor for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life. Yes, and I also said, which the
son of man shall give you. For he it is that the father
has sealed. He's the one who is pleasing
in the sight of God. Listen to what David said in
Psalm 111 verse two. The works of God are great and
sought of all them that have pleasure in them. We don't take our pleasure in
the work that we've done for God. We take our pleasure in the work
of God and we give to him all the glory. The clearest evidence of man's
sinful fallen nature is not the bad things that he does. We all watch the news, we've
got a couple police officers in here with us this morning
and they've seen some bad things. And we've all witnessed bad things
that men can do but that is not the clearest evidence of man's
sinful nature before God. The clearest evidence of man's
sinful nature before God is his self-righteousness. Is that man
thinks that he could do something to obligate God. that man has
set himself up on the throne of God. It's not his transgressions that
proves his sinfulness, it's his iniquity. It's the thought that he takes that he could somehow force the
hand of God that he somehow has a free will that God wants to
save him but that God's hands are tied and God in fact can't
save him until he puts his stamp of approval on it. That's the
clearest evidence of our depravity and that's the spirit in which
we all come into this world believing that somehow we can do something
to save ourselves. You're in the Psalms, if you
will turn with me to Psalm 111. Look at verse two. This message is attempting to,
I'm attempting to answer the question, What is the work of
God? Because if God doesn't work,
no one's going to be saved. We're all going to die if God
doesn't do a work. And the Lord Jesus answered that
question. When these men ask Him, what work can we work? to
do the works of God. You said to labor, what can we
labor? And the Lord Jesus said, this is the work of God. This
is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent. Psalm 111 verse two, the works
of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure
therein. His work, His work, His work
is honorable. In another place, the scriptures
tell us that He shall make the law honorable. He's the end of
the law for righteousness. That's the work, the work that
God requires is perfection, perfect obedience. That's what the Lord
Jesus came to do. His work is honorable and glorious
and His righteousness, His righteousness endureth forever. He hath made
His wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion. He hath given meat unto them
that fear Him. He will ever be mindful of His
covenant. Looking back to the previous
hour, when we were saying that faith is believing, that what
God sees is the way it is. You and I can't see the covenant
of grace. We can't see God the father,
not with our natural eyes. We can't see God the father electing
a people according to his own will and purpose before time
ever was. We can't see the Lord Jesus entering
into a covenant promise with his heavenly father agreeing
to be the redeemer for those whom the father chose. We can't
see the Holy Spirit entering into that covenant. But we have
promising to make those whom the father chose and make those
whom the son would redeem willing, willing in the day of his power,
elected of the father, redeemed by the son and regenerated by
the Holy Spirit. We can't see that with the eyes,
with our natural eyes, but we see it through the eye of faith.
Why? Because the Lord has declared it. Scriptures are full of that
covenant. And now here's what the... He's mindful of His covenant. He's faithful to His promises. There's my hope. And when I believe
not, He remaineth faithful for he cannot deny himself. He has showed his people the
power of his works that he might give them the heritage of the
heathen. The works of his hands are verity
and judgment and all his commandments are sure. This is the work of God. Go back with me, if you will,
to John chapter six. I wanna point out a verse in
John chapter six. This sermon that the Lord preached
in Capernaum, and we're going to be looking at it now for probably
the next couple of months, there's so much in this one message.
But the Lord's still speaking in verse 44 to the same people
who ask him. What work can we work that we
might do the works of God? He's still speaking to the same
crowd. And he says in verse 44, no man can come to me except
the father which hath sent me draw him and I will raise him
up at the last day. It is written in the prophets,
and Isaiah wrote this in Isaiah 54. It is written in the prophets
that they shall be all taught of God. That's the work of God. The work of God is that he would
teach me. I can go to seminary. I can spend
my life studying the Bible and reading dead theologians and
commentaries and debating doctrine with men and never have the work of God done
in my life. The work of God is when God teaches
me. And what God teaches a man, another
man could never teach him out of. This is the work of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard. How do I know if God's taught me? How do I know if I've
been taught of God? How do I know if the work of
God has been done in my heart? Well, the Lord answers it right
here in this simple verse. Every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Coming to Christ is not our work
for God. Coming to Christ is the evidence
of the work of God. Men make it work out of faith.
They make it work out of coming to Christ. You hear it all the
time, pray this prayer, make a decision, accept Jesus, invite
him into your heart. You do your part, God's done
his part, and God will save you. No. The work of God is to be
taught of God and the evidence of having the work of God done
in my heart is that I've heard and I'm coming. I'm coming to
Christ just like he is not going to as he's revealed in scripture. In verse 69 of this same chapter,
these same people, by the way, by the end of the chapter, they
say to the Lord Jesus, this is a hard saying, who can hear it?
And they leave. They depart from him. And he
looks at his disciples and he says to the disciples, will you
leave me also? And Peter says, Lord, to whom
shall we go? To whom shall we go? You alone
have the words of eternal life and we know and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the Son of God. We've been taught, you've
taught us. We've heard the voice of God.
We've been brought to believe. The work of God has been done
in my heart. And the evidence of that is that
I believe that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And
the next verse, verse 70 of this same chapter, Jesus looks at
them and said, did I not choose you? That's why. In Philippians chapter 2, the
Apostle Paul writes these words, work out your own salvation in
fear and trembling. There's that word work, labor
for that meat which perish, which endures unto everlasting life.
Work out your own salvation, your own salvation, not somebody
else's. How easy it is for us to Look
at somebody else. Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. And the next verse says, for
it is God who worketh in you, causing you to will and to do
of his good pleasure. You can't work out what God doesn't
work in. And what God works in is the
work of God. And the evidence that God has
done a work in my heart is that some things are being worked
out. What are the things that are being worked out? In other words, what is the evidence
that the work of God has been done in my heart? Well, the first evidence is that
I see myself apart from the Lord Jesus Christ as God sees all
men. I see that all of my righteousnesses
are as filthy rags before God. I see that I'm a sinner. Now,
again, transgression is a violation of the law of God. The Bible
says that the law of God has been written on every man's heart.
The Ten Commandments are written on every man's heart. Every man
knows right from wrong. And when a man violates the commandment
of God, he knows it. He has a God-given conscience
that convicts him that he has broken the law of God. He knows
he's done wrong. You don't need the Holy Spirit
to convince you when you break one of God's commandments, that
you've broken the commandment. You got a conscience for that.
What you do need the Holy Spirit for is to convince you that your
righteousnesses are as filthy rags before God. That you are
at your very best state altogether vanity. That in you, that is
in your flesh dwelleth no good thing. That's the spirit of God.
The Lord Jesus said, it's expedient for you that I go away, for if
I go not away, the Comforter will not come. He's talking to
the Holy Spirit. But when he comes, he will convince, convince
the world of sin because they believe not on me. Lord, it's my unbelief that's
the cause of all my problems. And Lord, there's a part of me
that never believes. There's a part of me that can't
believe. It's this old sinful man that I'm carrying around.
It's this dead corpse, this body of flesh that I carry around. He doesn't believe and he's my
problem. And I don't know how to separate
him from my new man except for what you've given me in your
word. but the two are living together
in the same space. And so Lord, I do believe, but
help thou mine unbelief. Lord, you've convinced me of
my sin because of my unbelief. of righteousness because I go
to my Father. This is what the Lord, this is
what the Holy Spirit will do. I have no righteousness outside
of the one who's seated at the right hand of God interceding
for me. He's my righteousness before
God. I have no righteousness. This is the evidence that God's
taught me something. He's made me to be a sinner of
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He's convinced me that
the prince of this world, the devil himself in all sin and
death has been judged by Christ on Calvary's cross. And that my sins been put away.
This is a work of the spirit of God. When the Lord had that Syrophoenician woman
come to him pleading with him that he would cast demons from
her daughter. He said it's not, he looked at her, she was a Gentile.
He looked at her and said, it's not right that I should give
the children's bread unto dogs. The disciples had already publicly
embarrassed her and they had already encouraged him to send
her away. And now he calls her publicly a dog. Now what's the
evidence that God had done a work in her heart? The words that
came out of her mouth. That's the evidence that the
work of God had been done for her. That's the evidence that
she had been taught of God. The words that came out of her
mouth were, truth Lord, what you said about me is true, I'm
a dog. And the dogs eat the crumbs that
fall from the master's table. What work can we do that we might
work the works of God? This is the work of God. This
is the work of God. They shall all be taught of God.
This is his work. And when he does his work, we're
like that publican in the temple praying next to the Pharisee.
Remember what the Pharisee said? Oh, he was one of those that
was going about trying to establish his own righteousness. He said,
God, I thank thee that I'm not like other men. Oh, he said,
I fast and I tithe and I'm not like that publican over there.
The publican would not so much as even look up but smote himself
upon his breast and when he prayed, he prayed thus, Lord, have mercy
upon me, the sinner. And the Lord Jesus said, which
one of these two men went back to their houses justified before
God? It was a rhetorical question,
the answer was obvious. It was the one who had had a
work of God done in his heart. This is the work of God. And
this is what Paul was talking about in Philippians chapter
two. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it
is God that works in you, causing you to will and to do after his
good pleasure. If a work of God has been done
in my heart, I've taken sides with God against myself. I've
agreed with God that everything about me is sinful. I'm not just
shame of the bad things that I've done. I agree with God that
I'm a sinner and that the best thing that I've ever done, if
God judges me, if God was to stand me before his law of justice,
based on the best thing that I ever did, I'd go to hell for
it. Now that's the truth. I need a righteousness outside
of me. I need an advocate with the father. I need one who is
himself the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that
believeth. Here's the evidence that God
has done a work in my heart. He's made me to be a sinner. This is a faithful saying. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's the reason
he came. And Paul went on to say, and
Paul wrote these words at the end of his life. I mean, he had
sacrificed so much doing work for God. He spent his whole life working
for God, being beaten, being left for dead. being abused,
traveling, being hungry, yeah. Of whom I am chief. That's what he said about himself
at the end of his life. I'm the chief of sinners. The
evidence that God had worked in him, causing him to will and
to do his good pleasure was the working out confessing before
God, this is the work of God that you believe. This is the
work of God that you believe. God, you've got to do a work
in me. You've got to do a work for me.
I can't rely on any works that I do. Lord, if I've done all that I
can do, I come to the end of my life and what do I confess? I'm an unprofitable servant.
And if I stand before God in the day of judgment and he looks
at me and he says to me, I was hungry and you fed me and
I was naked and you clothed me and I was a stranger and you
took me in, come enter into the kingdom that's been prepared
for you. I'm gonna say, Lord, when did I do those things? The
child of God doesn't take notice of the works that he's done for
God. He glories in the work of God
that's been done for him. This is the work of God that
you believe. He's not saying to us, if you
believe, then you've done the work of God. No, he's saying
that is the work of God in you, your ability to believe. Two thieves on that cross represent
all of humanity. And they were both hurling insults
at Christ. And then all of a sudden the
work of God was done in one of their hearts. That was the miracle. That was
the miracle. What do you have that you did
not receive? A man can receive nothing except to be given to
him from heaven. The Lord has to make a distinction.
The Lord has to do a work. Now, before we go any further,
let me say this. Some will take this message of God's sovereignty
and salvation and become very fatalistic about it. They say,
well, God's got to do a work for me, then I just wait and
see what happens. If God does a work for me, I'm
not going to be waiting. I'm going to be coming. I'm going
to be coming. And the work of God was done
in the hearts of one of these thieves and he said to the other thief, we're getting
what we deserve, but this man has done nothing amiss. He's
righteous. And then he looked at him and
he said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Lord,
I'm a sinner. I need mercy. This is the evidence of the work
of God. The Lord Jesus said, I did not
come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. He said
to those Pharisees, the harlots and publicans are gonna enter
into the kingdom of God before you. The scripture says the Lord
Jesus Christ is a friend of sinners. The only people that we see the
Lord Jesus being wroth with and showing contempt for are the
self-righteous. Sinners always felt welcome in
his presence. Sinners always fled to him. Here's
the evidence of the work of God done in my heart that he's made
me to be a sinner. The well need not a physician,
but they that are sick. The evidence that God has done
a work in my heart is first of all, he's made me to be a sinner.
Second of all, he's caused me to seek him. He's caused me to
seek him. What God commands, God must provide. And the evidence that he's done
a work is my ability to do what he commanded. So when the Lord says, seek me,
David put it like this. There's an article, I think,
in your bulletin about this this morning. David put it like this. He said, Lord, you said to seek
thy face. And my heart said unto thee,
Lord, thy face do I seek. You see, David's ability to do
what God commanded was the evidence that God had done a work in his
heart. And if we have no interest in
doing the things that God commands, then we're only giving evidence
that God has not done a work in our hearts. What is the work
of God? This is the work of God that
you believe. The Lord said, seek me with all
of your heart and you'll find me. God commands you and I to
seek him with all of our hearts. He commands us to knock. And
he says, if you keep knocking, the door will be opened unto
you. And if you keep asking, it'll be given unto you. And
if you keep seeking, you will find. That's his promise. What
is the evidence that God has done a work in my heart? Lord, I'm knocking, I'm asking,
I'm seeking. I wouldn't have any interest in doing that unless
you did work in my heart. The woman with the issue of blood,
she had spent all that she had on physicians and she was worse
off now than she was to begin with. In other words, she had
gone to all the religious experts. That's what men do. They're trying
to figure out what work can I work? And so they go from one religious
expert to another religious expert trying to figure out what work
they can do. And now what did she say? Oh, if I could just
touch the hem of his garment, I could be made whole. And she
got on her hands and knees and crawled through a crowd and she
touched his garment and the Lord Jesus stopped in his tracks and
he said, who touched me? And the disciple said, Lord,
what do you mean who touched you? Everybody's touching you.
It's all people all around you. They're all trying to get part
of you. No, he said, virtue has gone out from me. Grace has gone
out from me because someone touched me seeking me. Why did she do that? Because
the work of God had been done for her. And the evidence that
God had done a work in her heart was that she was seeking him. Blind Bartimaeus, they tried
to shut him up. And he cried all the louder,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon me. He would not be
shut up. He didn't know exactly where
the Lord was. He knew he was somewhere nearby and he cried.
And the more they tried to show him up, the louder he got. Be
of good cheer, Bartimaeus, he calleth thee. And he dropped
his robe right there and went to the Lord And the Lord said,
Bartimaeus, what would you have me to do for you? Oh Lord, that
I might see, that I might see. He was seeking the Lord. Seek
the Lord, brethren, seek the Lord. This is the working out
of that which has been worked in. The confession that you're
a sinner, the desire to seek him. We have on a plaque of the
back wall, a quote from John chapter 12, there were some Greeks
that heard about the Lord Jesus and they came to the disciples
and what did they say? Sirs, they addressed the disciples,
these fishermen as sirs and these were Greeks, these were men of
influence and renown and these were just Jewish men. And they
said to them, sirs, we would see Jesus. Would you please give
us an audience with Christ? Would you introduce us to him? This is the work of God that
you believe. And the evidence is not that
I'm gonna seek him and that'll be my work, that'll be my contribution.
No, no. This is the work of God. that
you seek Him, that you believe on Him. Mary sat at the feet of the Lord
Jesus, and she desired that one thing that was needful. Why? Because God had done a work in
her heart. This is the work of God, that
you would seek Him, that you would sit at His feet. That Ethiopian
eunuch, came all the way from Ethiopia, went to Jerusalem. He was a man of wealth. And he
met with the religious leaders in Jerusalem and he left Jerusalem
with a copy of the Bible, which would have been extremely rare
and expensive to have. And he's reading the Bible. What's
he doing? He's seeking the Lord. Why is
he seeking the Lord? Because God has done a work for
him. The work of God had been done
in him. And Philip preaches the gospel
to him from Isaiah 53. And the Ethiopian eunuch says,
what doth here to me be baptized? If thou believe us with all thy
heart, thou mayest. And what did that Ethiopian eunuch
say? I believe, I believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the son of God. I do believe. Why did he believe? Because a work of God had been
done for him. This is the work of God. These
people were looking to do a work for God that they might obligate
God. And what they didn't see was
that they needed God to do a work for them. And it would be evidenced,
it would be evidenced by their confession of being a sinner
and by their seeking Him. The Queen of Sheba, left all
the way down there in the South of Sudan and came all the way
to Jerusalem because she had heard that there was a King,
Solomon, and that his wealth and wisdom exceeded all others. And after meeting Solomon, what
did the Queen of Sheba say? I had heard of thee, but not
half the story was told me. Your wisdom and your glory and
your wealth and your beauty and your court is so much more. Well,
she was seeking the things of God. Why did she seek? Why do some seek and some don't? Because the work of God. So I
say to you, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I say to you, seek
the Lord. I say to you, confess. before God that you're a sinner.
And it's the command of God that carries with it the ability to
do that which God works in us. Paul and Silas were falsely accused
and thrown into that prison in Philippi and beaten. and chained
to the wall and the angel of God came and the doors were open
and the fetters fell off and the jailer came running in with
a torch and had his sword and was gonna kill himself and Paul
cried out, he said, don't harm yourself, we're all still here.
We're all still here. That Roman jailer was not gonna
suffer the execution of his superiors for having lost his prisoners. He was gonna just commit suicide. And that Ethiopian, I mean that
Philippian jailer fell at the feet of the Apostle Paul and
said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And Paul didn't say
to him, well, you know, there's really not anything you can do.
Just go back to your house and see if God does something for
you. That's not what he said. He said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And this is the work of
God that you believe. And with the command to believe
comes the ability to believe. And some believe and some believe
not. And some heard the command to
believe and they bowed and some said, we'll not have that man
reign over us. Giving evidence. as to who God
did his work for and who he did not do his work for. When Peter preached on the day
of Pentecost to those Jews who had taken part just a few days
earlier in the crucifixion of Christ, they're the ones who
cried, crucify him, crucify him, and Peter stood up and he preached
Jesus and he said this same Jesus whom you crucified God has made
to be both Lord and Christ and the scripture says they were
pricked in their hearts and they cried and said what must we do
what must we do to be saved Peter didn't say well nothing you can
do no he said repent and believe. Change your mind about who you
are. Change your mind about who God
is. Now, repentance is a grace of
God. Faith is a grace of God. It's a miracle. But it is the
evidence that God has done a work for us. And so God commands all
men everywhere to believe. Some will believe and some will
not believe. The one who believes is only
giving evidence that God has done a work for them. When Moses was leading the children
of Israel out of Egypt and they got to the Red Sea, the Bible
says that the Egyptians were right behind them and God raised
up a great pillar of cloud And here's the miracle of that
cloud. The Bible says that that cloud
followed them all through the wilderness for 40 years. But
to the Israelites, that cloud was a light and to the Egyptians,
it was utter darkness. That cloud was Christ. And to God's elect, he's the
light of the world. And to the unbeliever, he's just
darkness, just foolishness, no interest. This is the work of God that
you believe. Believe. For by grace, you are
saved through faith and that not of yourself, It's not of our works, it's of
his work that he might get all the glory. And child of God,
let us not forget that last verse, that next verse, verse 10. For
we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works
that we should walk in them which he hath ordained that we should
walk in. The child of God, oh, they work,
they give, they serve, they do what they do as unto the Lord
with all their hearts. They want to honor God with their
lives, but it is God that's working in them, causing them to will
and to do of his good pleasure. And it is God that gets all the
glory for whatever they do. They all confess, I am what I
am by the grace of God. by the grace of God. This is
the work of God. Tom? 224, let's stand together.