I'd like to read from Psalm chapter
106, starting in verse 1. Praise ye the Lord, O give thanks
unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever.
Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can show forth
all his praise? Blessed are they that keep judgment,
and he that doeth righteousness at all times. Remember me, O
Lord, with the favor that thou bearest unto thy people. Oh,
visit me with thy salvation, that I may see the good of thy
chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that
I may glory with thine inheritance. We have sinned with our fathers.
We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. Our fathers
understood not thy wonders in Egypt. They remembered not the
multitude of thy mercies, but provoked him at the sea, even
the Red Sea. Nevertheless, he saved them for
his namesake, that they might make his mighty power to be known. Dear Heavenly Father, how glorious
it is the salvation of one ungrateful, wicked sinner. How much more
glorious is it that you chose a nation of people and delivered
them from their sins? We ask that you forgive us of
our murmurings against you and that you cause us to remember
thy mercies. Remember our children and our
loved ones that they might know you. In Christ's name we pray,
amen. Let's stand again. We'll sing
hymn number five from the Spiral Bound Hymnal. Number five. Come ye sinners poor and wretched,
weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you,
full of pity, joined with power. He is able, He is able, He is
willing, doubt no more He is able, He is able He is willing,
doubt no more Come, ye needy, come and welcome, God's free
bounty glorified. True belief and true repentance,
Every grace that brings us nigh Without money, without money
Come to Jesus Christ and buy Without money, without money
Come to Jesus Christ and buy Let not conscience make you linger,
nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requireth
is to have a need of him. This he gives you, this he gives
you, Tis the spirit's glimmering beam This he gives you, this
he gives you Tis the spirit's glimmering beam Come ye weary,
heavy laden, bruised and broken by the fall. If you tarry till you're better,
you will never come at all. Not the righteous, not the righteous,
sinners Jesus came to call. Not the righteous, not the righteous,
sinners Jesus came to call. Be seated again. All the fitness he requireth
is to have a need of him. This he gives you." Oh, how we hope when we gather together
that the Lord will create in our hearts a need. A need. Let's open our Bibles together
to John chapter 4. John chapter 4. When the Bible uses the word
meat, it's not always referring to the flesh of animals. And
when it uses the word bread, it's not always referring to
something made from grain. Generally, these words are used
to represent food in general, food in general. That which is
necessary to sustain the life of the body. And it's used symbolically
or allegorically for the bread of life that is required to sustain
our spiritual life. And so, in our text this morning,
the Lord Jesus uses it in that regard. The disciples have gone
down into Sychar to buy meat. to buy food, they've left the
Lord Jesus at the well for that divine appointment with a woman
who would meet him and ultimately know him as the Christ, the one
who told her all things whatsoever she ever did. The disciples have come back
to the well and they see the Lord speaking to this woman,
but they dare not ask him what sort of conversation he might
have had with her, for they didn't think that there was any place
for a Jew to interact with a Samaritan. If you remember, this woman was
amazed that the Lord would have initiated a conversation with
her. You're asking me for a drink? Don't you know that the Jews
have nothing to do with the Samaritans? And the disciples proved that
to be true by coming back, not having brought a single person
with them. They knew who they had left at the well. They knew
that the Lord Jesus was none other than the Christ, the son
of the living God. and they breathed not a word
of it. They went down into Sychar and
they bought food and they brought it back. And all they can do
is be amazed that the Lord is speaking with this woman. And in verse 31, and in the meanwhile,
his disciples prayed him saying, master eat. But he said unto them, I have
meat to eat that you know not of. Therefore said the disciples
one to another, hath any man brought him ought to eat? They didn't know the Lord was
using the word meat metaphorically. He's gonna tell them what his
meat was. or is, they're still thinking
about physical things. And Jesus said unto them, my
meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his
work. That's my sustenance. You, Eat to live. I live to eat. That's still true. It's still true. We eat to live. We eat to live
physically. I hope that we don't live to
eat. But we eat to live spiritually. And what a blessing it will be
when we find ourselves in the presence of our Lord living to
eat. In verse 35, say not ye there
are yet four months and then cometh the harvest. Behold, I
say unto you, lift up your eyes and look to the fields for they
are white already to harvest. What is the Lord doing here?
He's rebuking his disciples for not having told anyone in Sychar
about him. And he that reapeth receiveth
wages and gathereth fruit unto eternal life, that both he that
soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein
is that saying true, one soweth and another reapeth. I sent you
to reap that wherein you bestowed no labor. Other men labored and
you are entered into their labors. We all have different tastes
when it comes to physical food. And each of us individually,
our tastes change when it comes to food. We don't want to eat
the same thing at every meal. We want some variety. But that
which is of the flesh is flesh and the flesh profiteth nothing.
When it comes to our spiritual meat, there's one There's one
food. Illustrated by what the children
of Israel experienced in the wilderness when for 40 years,
every morning for 40 years, they woke up to manna. Manna for breakfast,
manna for lunch, manna for dinner. Every day it was nothing but
manna. Now in this manna was everything required to sustain
their physical life. But more importantly, this manna
pictured for them what they could not see. The manna that God would send
from heaven, that manna that was pure, white, sinless, that
manna that was sweet like honey, that manna that was round, eternal,
perfect, and able to sustain all of life. until finally they complained
to Moses and they said, we loathe this white bread. We're sick
and tired of manna. We want to go back to Egypt where
we feasted on leeks and garlics and onions and melons. Now think about it. Here they
were, Eating angel's food, eating the bread of life, eating that
which came down from heaven every day. And what they want to do,
their flesh wanted to go back and eat that which came from
the ground. That which grew under the ground
and that which grew on the ground. And therein we have a clear picture of our flesh and our spirit. the body and the spirit, the
old man and the new man, that which is fleshly and that which
is spiritual. And if you need some evidence,
if you need some evidence of how sinful we are, consider this
for a moment. Consider how mindful and how
diligent we are to feed our flesh. We don't let very many hours
go by when those hunger pains say to us, stop what you're doing,
feed me. I'm talking about legitimate
food, I'm talking about food that our bodies require, I'm
talking about things that are necessary. And in contrast to that and to
our shame, how long we can go and how insensitive we can become
to our need for spiritual food. What happens to the body when
we don't eat? It becomes weak. Eventually,
it becomes emaciated. But for the grace of God, our
souls would become that. But the Lord, in his mercy, creates
a need. Oftentimes, he will use affliction.
Oftentimes, he will He will show us His mercy and His grace and
His goodness and His kindness. One way or the other, He creates
a need and causes us to come again and again and to feed on that bread that comes
from heaven. Our Lord lived to eat that bread. All of his sustenance, he had
to eat physical bread to sustain his body. But his whole life was consumed
with the will of his father. I have meat to eat that you know
not of. You can't possibly understand
how All of my joy and all of my hope and all of my comfort
and all of my strength comes from doing my father's will and
finishing the work that he sent me to do. Turn to me over just a page or
two to John chapter six. John chapter six. You know, speaking of physical
hunger, they tell me that those initial
hunger pains that we experience after a few hours of not eating
are not really our body requiring food, but rather they are our
bodies saying to us, you are depriving me of that which I'm
addicted to. Now, and if you don't eat, those
hunger pains go away, why? Because your body has plenty
there to feed off of for quite a while. We don't really need
to eat as often as we do. But our flesh goes through withdrawals
because it is addicted to food. And that's what those initial
hunger pains are. They're just withdrawals. And
I say that for this reason. Wouldn't it be a blessing if
we were addicted to heavenly food? You know, the Bible speaks
of a good addiction. When Paul was writing to the
church at Corinth in chapter 16, He addresses several different
individuals in the church and speaks a word of encouragement
to them. And he says, he singles out the church, the household
of Stephen. And he says this, he says this
of the household of Stephen. He says, they have addicted themselves
to the ministry of the saints. they have become addicted to
ministering to the needs of the saints. Oh, if our hearts were more addicted to the bread
of life and that their hearts would do what our flesh is so
quick to do, Cry out, feed me more often, feed me. You see,
that's where the Lord Jesus was. He was addicted to his father's
will and to finishing the work that the father had sent him
to do. And he could find his sustenance
and his life nowhere else. He lived to eat. What a blessing it's gonna be
when we know what that means. I have meat to eat that you know
not of. You can't possibly fully understand
what it is to live to eat. One day you will. One day you
will. You will live for all eternity
with no other desire and no other purpose than to feed off the
bread of life. Not gonna be like this life at
all. You have your Bibles open to
John chapter six. Look with me, if you will, at
verse 27. Labor not for the meat which
perisheth. Now the Lord had just fed the
5,000 and he rebuked them because he said to them, you're following
after me so that you can have your bellies full. You are just
men of flesh. You're only interested in fleshly
things. You've devoted your whole life
to acquire fleshly means. Oh, now let me pause for a moment,
brethren. We've got jobs, we labor, we
have families, we have children, we have responsibilities, we
have homes. There's a lot of time and effort
and work that goes in to providing the physical needs of this life. The Lord's not denying that.
What is he saying? He's saying, don't make this
your life. Don't make this your life. These things are necessary
in their place, but Christ is your life. And so he's saying, labor not
for that meat would perish it. Don't make the things, the temporal
things, those things which are temporal are temporal. They're
passing away. Only the eternal is last forever. We are men of flesh and we are
men of spirit. If we're believers, if we're
believers, we have a new nature. We have a new spirit. If all
that we have is the flesh, then that's all we can do. They that
are of the flesh, they do mind the things of the flesh. That's
their only objective is fleshly things. But they that are after
the spirit, the things of the spirit. Lord, strengthen my inner
man. Lord, make my spiritual man hungry. Create a need in me. I will spend
my life, like these disciples, pursuing fleshly things, the
meat of this world. Lord, give me some understanding
of what that meat is that I would, by my natural man, know not of. Labor not for the meat which
perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life, which the Son of Man shall give you, for him hath God the
Father sealed. He is sealed by the Holy Spirit.
He's the anointed one. He's the Christ. He's walking in the full power
of the Spirit of God, accomplishing the will of God in everything
he does, and pursuing the finished work of his Father in all of
his thoughts and words and deeds. Oh, what a... The Lord's saying,
follow after me. In verse 27, verse 28, then said
they unto him, what shall we do that we might work the works
of God? And Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work
of God that you believe on him whom he has sent. You see, you're still thinking
fleshly if you're looking for something that you can do in
order to merit favor with God. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ
is the work of God. Now he's not saying you are able
to accomplish the work of God when you believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's saying this is the work
of God that you believe. Your ability to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ is the work of God. That's God working in
you, causing you to will and to do after his good pleasure.
Otherwise we'd be just like the children of Israel in the wilderness.
We loathe this light bread. We're tired of manna all day
long. They said therefore unto him,
verse 30, what signs showest thou then that we may see and
believe thee? What doest thou? What dost thou work? Our fathers
did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, he gave them
bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily
I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but
my father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread
of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto
the world. Then said they unto him, Lord
evermore give us this bread. And 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. Now this is the same thing he
said to the woman at the well in John chapter four, when he
said, you drink of the water that I shall give you shall never
thirst again. He's not talking about physical
thirst. She would spend the rest of her
life going to that well and drawing water for her physical needs. But she would never thirst again
for that which her soul thirsted, her spirit thirsted, life with
God. And that's what the Lord's saying
here. Oh, you're going to have to feed your body? You're going
to have to labor in this world? You're going to have to work?
You're gonna have to provide for your physical needs, but
we're talking about spiritual things here. We're talking about
that meat, that bread, which came from heaven, satisfies the soul once and for
all, so that you don't need to go anywhere else. You don't need to go to the law.
don't need to go to your intuition, your opinions, your feelings,
or the opinions of the world, you just keep coming back to
the same well and the same manna time and time and time again. And you'll never tire of this
bread. It'll just become sweeter and
more sustaining and the more you eat it, the more addicted
to it you'll become. And the quicker your soul will
tell you it's time to eat again. And those long periods of lapse
that you were perhaps able to experience at one time, the Lord
will shorten them as you grow in grace and in the knowledge
of Christ so that you'll have to eat more frequently. Look at verse 53 in that same
chapter, John chapter six. Then Jesus said to them, barely,
barely, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the son
of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. who so eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the
last day." Those listening to him are going
to say, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? And they're
going to leave. Why? Because they're still thinking
that he's talking about physical meat. How can he, how can we
eat his body? Is he, is he suggesting some
form of cannibalism? No. No. He's talking about the sustenance
of our spiritual life. Our souls before God is the life
of Christ. My body. What I've done in my
body. My perfect obedience to my Father. Why? Because I lived my whole
life to eat. That's all I live for. I live
to eat the will of my father. I live to finish his work. And
that's what God requires. And eating of my body is looking
in faith to me and to my perfect life and my perfect obedience
and my perfect sacrifice for all of your righteousness before
God. It's just that, That's what we celebrate at the
Lord's table. This is my body, which has been broken for you.
And it's unleavened, it's without sin. It's not like our bodies. For my flesh is meat indeed. And my blood is drink indeed. He was obedient to the father. Philippians chapter three, even
unto death. He was obedient unto death. And
Hebrews chapter five, verse eight says, though he were a son, yet
he learned obedience by his death. This was, This is what he came
to do. This was his life. This was all
of his life. This was the only thing in his
life. And every thought and every purpose that he had was to fulfill
the will of his father and to finish the work. And he finished
the work when he laid down his life on Calvary's tree. Verse 57, John chapter six says,
the father, as the living father has sent me, I live by the father. So he that eateth me, even he
shall live by me. You're gonna live by me. I'm going to be your life before
God. This is my beloved Son in Him,
I'm well pleased. Hear ye Him, look to Him, believe
on Him, follow Him, rest your soul in Him. This is that bread
which came down from heaven. not as your fathers did eat manna
and are dead. He that eateth of this bread
shall live forever." That's why Paul said for me to
live as Christ, to live as Christ. In other words, my life before
God is Christ. He is my life. And to die, is
gain. Because in drawing my last breath
in this world, I'm going to find out what He meant when He said,
I have meat to eat that you know not of. Because from that moment
for the rest of eternity, I'm going to be living to eat like
He was. I'm going to be made like Him.
No longer am I going to be plagued with this world and with this
flesh and with all the distractions and sin that come. I'm going to know by experience
what he knew when he lived in this world. These things said he in the synagogue
as he taught in Capernaum, many therefore of his disciples."
Now the word disciples here is not talking about the 12. It's
just talking about those that were following him. There were
crowds following him. Disciple means a follower. And
there were throngs of people that often followed the Lord
Jesus. And then he would say things like this and they would
get offended at him and leave. And many of his disciples, when
they heard this, said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? Who can hear
this? Who can hear that the only life
that I have before God is the life of Christ? Who can hear
that everything that I do apart from the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ, standing as my substitute and in my stead
before God, as all of my righteousness and all of my justification before
God, that everything I do is sinful? Who can hear that? That I have to eat of His flesh
and drink of His blood? Or there's no life in me? Surely
I can have some life without all of that. And they were offended. And when Jesus knew in himself
that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, doth this
offend you? What and if you see the son of
man ascend up where he was before? The Lord Jesus is going to send
back to the father, take his rightful place at the right hand
of the majesty on high. Hear his father say to him, sit
down here at my right hand until I make all thine enemies thy
footstool. What if you see him ascending
back into heaven? It is the spirit that quickeneth.
These things must be made alive in our hearts by the Spirit of
God. We can't make this happen. We
are men of flesh. The flesh profiteth nothing.
The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are
life. Here's our hope, is that the Lord would take His word
and he would make it irresistible and effectual to our hearts.
He would give us faith to believe every word of it and rest all
our hope in him. But there are some of you that
believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that
believed not and who should betray him. And he said, therefore said
I unto you that no man can come to me except it were given unto
him of my father. And from that time, many of his
disciples went back and walked no more with him." You can't
believe, you can't follow, you can't come. by the power of your own will
and works, but only by the power of God. Men will make a work out of faith,
no question about it. Faith is their contribution.
God did his part, now I gotta do my part. I got to do something
to make what he did work for me. And they will end up in a works
gospel depending on something that they did for the hope of
their salvation. And that's what the Lord's saying.
He's got to do that. If you're going to have faith,
he's got to give you that. And when he does, he's going
to get all the glory. He's gonna finish the work. You watch a movie and after the
movie, there's this long list of credits that come up. And
everybody that participated in that movie is gonna get their
name in the credits. And then comes the end. Well,
here's God's movie of redemption. The credit, the Lord Jesus Christ. Period. The end. Nothing can be added to it. Nothing
can be taken from it. He finished the work that the
father sent him to do. That was his meat. That was his
sustenance. That was his purpose. Look at John chapter five. At verse 30. Verse 30. I can of mine own self do nothing. Now you and I do a lot of our
own selves. The Lord Jesus is saying, Every
thought that I think, every word that I speak, everything that
I do, I'm not doing it of myself. As I hear, I judge. And my judgment is just because
I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which
has sent me. Everything I say, everything
I do came from my heavenly father. And that's what God requires
of you. And that's what he requires of me. How can it be when so
much of what I think and so much of what I say and so much of
what I do didn't come from God, it came from me, it came from
my flesh. Look at chapter six. Verse 38, for I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the father's will,
which hath sent me. that of all which he hath given
me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again in the
last day." What do we see in what our Lord's
saying here? Sovereign election? Particular, successful, accomplished
redemption? Irresistible grace? This is what he came to do. And all that the Father gave
me, all that the Father gave me will come unto me. And all
that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. Turn with me
to John 17. John 17. Our Lord, interceding for his people. And
in chapter 17 of verse 4, he says to his Heavenly Father,
I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. Father, Who of us can pray that
prayer? Who of us can be so bold and
presumptuous to say that I have, Father, I've glorified thee on
the earth. Every thought that I've ever
thought, every word I've ever spoken, every deed I've ever
performed, Father, has been to your glory. Oh. We would never dare go before
God, but we can say, in Christ, in Christ, I stand perfectly righteous in
the presence of God Almighty. I have an advocate with the Father.
I have a substitute. I have one that bore all my sin
and put it away by the sacrifice of himself. I have one who finished
what the Father sent him to do. And when he bowed his head on
Calvary's cross, he cried, it is finished. Father, into thy
hands I commend my spirit. He was completely confident that
he glorified the Father to his dying breath. He was obedient
even unto death. Not only was the Lord Jesus obedient
actively in keeping the law perfectly, but he was obedient passively
when he went to the cross and the law demanded justice. And
he received the wrath of God in his body upon that tree. His passive obedience was that he satisfied God's divine
justice and quenched the fire of God's wrath on behalf of his
people. I have me to eat that you know
not of. Oh, you've tasted a little bit
of it. You've tasted of the heavenly gift. You've experienced what
it means to want to do God's will and to finish the work that
he gave you to do. And you eat here and there bits
and pieces, crumbs that fall from the master's table to satisfy
your hunger, but live to eat? You don't know what that means
yet. The debt's been paid, brethren. The enemy has been conquered.
The battle has been won. The job is complete. The glass is full. Nothing can
be added to it. Justice is satisfied. God the
Father is well pleased. Righteousness is established. Redemption is accomplished. The end. The end. And there's but one credit. And
it all goes to him. And we dare not try to squeeze
our name in small print below his. He gets all the glory. Our Heavenly Father, thank you.
Thank you for the accomplished work of thy dear Son. Thank you
for the Holy Spirit that gives us faith to rest our hope in
Him. Lord, forgive us for Christ's
sake, and give us hope and rest in him. For we ask it in his
name. Amen. Adam. 103. Let's stand together. Number
103. number one of three One day when heaven was filled
with His praises, one day when sin was as black as could be,
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, dwelt among men, my
example is He. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day, He's coming. Oh, glorious day. One day, they left.