here we'll make it plain. Okay
let's turn back in our Bibles to John chapter 6 You know earlier in this passage
of Scripture there is a great multitude, 5,000 men, possibly
a crowd of 7,500, possibly a crowd of 10,000 people, but a great
crowd followed. It looks good, doesn't it, that
they followed the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only did they follow
him, they heard him teaching and then miraculously they were
fed That great multitude of people were fed by two little fish,
two little sardines and five little loaves. A boy's lunch
fed a multitude and there were 12 basketfuls left over and the
Lord Jesus sent his disciples across the Sea of Galilee and
caused a storm to rise to the point where they were fearful
of life itself. And then he came walking on the
waves. And he entered that little ship
and verse 21 says immediately the ship was at the other side.
So here we have in the darkness of the Sea of Galilee we have
a remarkable declaration of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ
hidden from all of the world but revealed to his disciples
that he walks upon the sea and he calms the waves and he If
you go to Matthew's account we'll call Peter to come out to walk
with him on the waters and Peter did walk on the waters until
he stopped looking at the Lord Jesus Christ and started looking
at the waves and he sank beneath the thing and he prayed. He prayed
as he was thinking the best prayer in all of the Bible. Lord save
me. Lord save me. If the Lord's ever
saved you, you'll be praying that prayer until your dying
day. And of course, verse 22 is where
we'll begin in our reading this morning. When the people saw on the other
side of the sea that there was none other boat there save the
one where unto his disciples were entered, and that Jesus
went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples
were gone away alone, howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias
nigh unto the place where they did eat bread. After that the
Lord had given thanks. When the people therefore saw
that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took
shipping and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus. And when they'd
found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him,
Rabbi, Master, Teacher, when camest thou here? Jesus answered
and said, Verily, verily, truly, truly, solemnly, I say unto you,
you seek me, not because you saw the miracles, but because
you did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labor not. Don't strive, don't exercise,
make this the exercise of your life. Labor not for meat, labor
not for food which perishes, but for the meat which endureth
unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto
you. For him God the Father sealed,
He authorised, He declared Him as the One who was to come, the
Messiah. Then they said unto Him, What
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered
and said unto them, This is the work of God, that you believe
on Him whom He has sent. before we have our break to contemplate
the way the Gospel accounts are written. Again and again and
again you see people having a revelation of the deity of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is God with us. This is God in human fashion. He reveals that he is God. and he reveals himself and people
come like this group of people, they come and they seek him and
in many cases they meet with remarkable circumstances in his
presence. And then those events cause him
to reveal who he is and why he came. And what they reveal again
and again and again, that these are spiritual pictures of the
Lord and his salvation. The crossing of the sea is a
spiritual picture. As Simon pointed out with Jonah,
they're spiritual pictures. And God is spirit, and the only
way you'll ever understand these stories is if you have a spiritual
understanding of them. See, these are all, the Bible
is a spiritual book written by the Holy Spirit, and they're
spiritual pictures set on an earthly stage. This creation
exists for the display of the glory of God in the salvation
of his people. This creation exists so that
the Lord Jesus Christ could come and be hung on Calvary's tree. This creation continues to exist
because of the reality of that event. These are glorious pictures. If you think back through John's
Gospel you have picture after picture of the Lord Jesus Christ
displaying his glory. The water being turned into wine. Nicodemus saw the cleansing of
the temple and the other people in Jerusalem saw the miracles
that the Lord Jesus Christ did. The woman at the well heard those
remarkable words from the Lord Jesus Christ. The crippled man
was healed by a word from our God. He received a creation that
was never there before. The noble man had his son healed
from a distance. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
have to go down to Capernaum. And here we have the miracle
of the feeding of the 5,000 people. and the Lord Jesus Christ yet
again revealing his glory to his people. And these people
are as blind as bats. They ate, they saw the most remarkable
event they'd ever seen in their lives, and they saw the food,
and they saw a miracle working man and didn't They didn't see him. You see,
when we fell in our father Adam, we lost the way to God. We lost the truth of God and
we lost the life of God. And these miracles continually
picture the common state of all mankind as they're born into
this world. Nicodemus was an incredibly intelligent
and incredibly moral man. He knew the scriptures off by
heart. He'd lived such a remarkable life that you would think If
you were in his presence, how wonderful this man is. If you'd
seen him playing with his grandchildren and teaching people, you would
have been in awe of him. And then we have the woman at
the well as immoral and as decadent and as depraved and as lost as
a Jewish person could possibly think. Then in John chapter 8
you have an openly wicked daughter of Abraham, that woman caught
in adultery. You have in John 5 that nobleman,
he was powerful but helpless. You have the crippled man who
was hopeless, 38 years of waiting and waiting. In John chapter
9 you have a man born blind. You have in John chapter 11 a
dead man called Lazarus in a tomb rotting away and here in this
particular story we have 5,000 people fed on a miracle. Fed
on a miracle. You see, we are all in our little
vessel, crossing the sea. And all of us, and it doesn't
matter the circumstances of our lives, it doesn't matter whether
you're as intelligent, as moral as Nicodemus, or you're as dead
as Lazarus, or all of the others in between, there must be a sovereign
work of God. And that sovereign work of God
is likened in the scriptures so often to a storm that comes,
a storm that rages, a storm of conviction when the Holy Spirit
convicts us, convicts His people of sin and righteousness and
judgment. And what's the sin that He convicts
people of? When that storm comes into your
life you realise that unbelief is what you are, unbelief is
how you live. And you'll also realise that
you can't do anything about it. See, it's possible, isn't it,
for people to see. These men saw an ape but didn't
see the Lord Jesus Christ. These men did something which
was wonderful, really, the first time. We have a group of Jews
that actually sought the Lord Jesus Christ out, a group of
Jews that followed him, and even when he's gone missing, they
go searching and go across the sea to try and find him. But
they are pictured here before us. of how desperately we need
the Holy Spirit to be our teacher, how desperately we need God to
come, how desperately we need the work of God. This is the
work of God. This is a work from God. This
is a work that honors God. This is God's work alone, that
you believe on him who he has sent. So we need light, from heaven to see the light
of the world. We need eyes of faith to behold
the Lord Jesus Christ. And unless, unless those spiritual
works are done, we'll be as lost as these people were. At the
end of this story, you need to remember that this whole crowd
walked away Jesus Christ did not follow them. They followed
him, but he let them walk away, a crowd of people. And then he turns to his disciples
and says, there's the door. He didn't come to win a popularity
contest. He came to save his people from
their sins. He came to reveal who God is
and how God saves sinners. And we are lost. And in this darkness of the world,
what did Adam and Eve do? The first thing they did, they
acted in unbelief, didn't they? They didn't believe God, they
believed Satan. What were Satan's first words?
Did God really say? The first response of Adam and
Eve, or Eve was, isn't it? Well, we can have a discussion
about that. And such was the fall of man. What was the first
activity of fall of man in Genesis chapter three? You go and hide,
and you go in your hiding, you go and you start working. you start working to cover what
you see now as your sin and shame. You see, throughout the scriptures,
and throughout John's gospel in particular, we have so many
people who see the creation but miss the creator. And that's
the case of all of Adam's children. We're not above them and we're
not better than them. Don't think that you've achieved
something by yourself. This is the work of God. the
work of man, no matter how intelligent you are. These people like us,
we eat the provision of God and we miss the provider. We see
the Lord Jesus as a miracle working man, but we fail to see him as
the God-man, saviour. We see the earthly benefits from
God, but fail to see the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is
a spiritual kingdom. He's not a king like people want
to make him a king. When was he reigning and ruling
most sovereignly? When he was on a cross, brothers
and sisters, when he appeared as weak as you could possibly
imagine him, according to the scriptures at that moment he
was defeating Satan and making a mockery of him. And he was
defeating the greatest enemy that you and I have. He was taking
our sins upon himself and taking them away. King, a naked man
hanging on a cross, nailed to a cross between two thieves with
a crown of thorns, the crown of the curse of a broken law
upon him, but the crown that mankind gave him, a crown of
scorn. We need We need spiritual eyes
to see and I pray that as we come to this remarkable story,
we'll just ask God once again to be the teacher. He's promised
to teach his people. He's promised to teach his people
and lead them into all the truth. That we might see what God is
doing in this world. You see, God gathers his people
together. And it looks ordinary, and the
world could pass it by, just like they passed him by. Is it
nothing to you, the Lord Jesus said of them in Lamentations
1, is it nothing to you all that pass by? We see a bunch of little
people gathered together, and we fail to see that it's the
habitation of God by His Spirit. We see the Bible as a book of
rules for living, but we fail to see that it is a book that demands
100% holiness. It's not about what we do, it's
about what God does. God must do it all for us. That's
all the laws do. The laws just condemn us. He is the way to live in this
world. We see, like these people did,
that it would be great to have Jesus as a King. and it would
be helpful to society to have him as a king, and there's no
doubt in the world about that. But they fail to see the real
king and they fail to see him ruling and reigning. People are
looking for an earthly kingdom and the kingdom of God is If
the Lord Jesus Christ that you worship is not absolutely sovereign
king over all things and everything that wriggles in this universe,
he's never going to be in the future. He's a king now, that's
why he wouldn't let them make him king. So these disciples
had to spend hours in that darkness to learn that the storm brought
the Lord Jesus Christ to them. It brought them to the end of
themselves. It brought them to the end of
their abilities. And we need to be mindful as
we read this story that these people followed him. These people
sought him. These people saw things. The Lord Jesus Christ is found
and can be found in this day. He's found where he gathers his
people together. He's found where he proclaims
his gospel. He's found as he takes his people
out of this world and he transfers them out of the kingdom of darkness
into the kingdom of his dear Son. These people followed the
Lord Jesus and they wondered how on earth he got there. They
were wondering about physical circumstances, not who he was.
They found him. Listen to the Lord's warning
in verse 26. Jesus They asked him how he got there. They weren't asking about him,
they were asking about the circumstances. Jesus answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw
the miracles, but because you did eat the loaves and were filled.
Is it possible to see a miracle and not see a miracle? That's
exactly what he's saying, isn't it? It's possible to have your
belly filled. What a remarkable miracle. How
much food to feed 7,000 people or so. And have 12 basketfuls left over.
Every one of them went away with a full belly. And they saw and
felt their full bellies and didn't see him. Oh, brothers and sisters,
how much we need the Lord to come in his spirit and be our
teacher and a revealer. Notice what he says. He doesn't
ask them their opinion. He tells them what they're thinking.
Always, throughout the gospel accounts, he now sees our thoughts. Does that comfort you? I find
it extraordinarily comforting. I love the fact that God sees
all that I am and looks on me with love and grace and mercy
because God sees me hidden in his son. And God put away all
my sins a long, long time ago. And when God sees me, he sees
me as his son. When God sees me, he loves me
as his son. So it is with every child of
God. These disciples are just like
us, aren't they? They're weak and wavering and
fickle and fallible, but the Lord says immediately they're
on the other side, immediately they're in heaven. God takes
his people to heaven in a heartbeat. He sees your thoughts. He knows your thoughts from afar. And to these people, these people
that will walk away from him, he says in verse 27, labor, strive,
be energized. Labor not for the meat which
perishes, but for the meat that endureth unto everlasting life,
which the Son of Man shall give you. For him has God the Father
sealed. Isn't it remarkable? The Lord
Jesus Christ says that he's going to give. The Lord Jesus says,
I'm going to be a giver. What an encouragement to come
to him. Labor not for that meet the perishes. its glory, its riches, all perish
away to nothing and they are forgotten. They are forgotten. Naked you come into this world
and naked you go from this world. Death strips men of all they've
collected in this world. There was a rich man, isn't there,
in the parable. The rich man says, I've had a
great harvest and I'm rich, and what am I going to do? I'm going
to tear me down the barns and I'll build build bigger barns
and then I'll have a life of ease. That's how we live in this
world, isn't it? We do our work and now I'll buy my motor home
and I'll travel around and Club Med awaits me. All I need is
a nice pool and waitresses and others to look after me. What
did the Lord say of him? Thou fool, this night your life,
your soul, God owns, God controls the souls of human beings. Let me tell you the name of a
famous man from last century, Prosper de Mestru, you ever heard
of him? What a remarkable man. He traveled the world, He was
one of the wealthiest men in Sydney. He had shops and wharves
down by the sea. He had a huge mansion out at
Paddington. He had a ballroom in it and he
had hot and cold running servants. And he had a property in the
country and he had a town in that property in the country.
A town with a church and seven pubs and doctors and other things.
You ever heard of it? And his son won the first two
Melbourne Cups and should have won the third. Ever heard of
him? His name was Prosper Demester. He built our house. You have
to dig really deep to find him in the history books. And yet
for a while, it just vanishes, brothers and sisters in Christ,
isn't it? There's one thing that lasts unto eternal life. This
is the meat that endureth unto everlasting life. In John 6.33,
for the bread of God, that which sustains life, is he which cometh
down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. He says in verse
35, I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. This
world is a restless world, isn't it? People are tossed on all
the storms of this world and they never find satisfaction,
no matter how much they collect of it. There's never enough.
But listen to what people do. He says, listen to how we are
until the Lord opens our eyes. He said, don't you labour for
that perishing meat, but you labour, you exercise yourself
in the meat that lasts for everlasting life. which the Son of Man shall
give you." And what's the immediate response of natural man? What must I do? Listen to them
in verse 28. Then they said unto him, What
shall we do? What shall we do? He's offering a gift. He's giving. He's saying there is a gift to
be given. He's not offering it. There's
a gift to be given. And their response is, what shall
we do that we might work the works of God? That same word
that's used, labor. So it's every man's response
to the declaration of the gospel and the reality of who God is.
I've got to do something. That's our first response, isn't
it? Do this and live. If I do these things, I'll be
right with God. What shall we do? What shall
we do? Obey this and live. Follow these religious rules
and you shall have eternal life. They even called them the works
of God. What can we do? What can we do with our sinful
hands that can equate to the works of God? Brothers and sisters,
Paul in Romans chapter 7 says that every time he does anything
that looks like good, sin is right there with it. When the
Lord brings all of those people before his judgment throne on
that last day, all of the righteous will say, we didn't do anything.
We didn't do anything. He did it all. What must I do? What must I do? The answer of the Lord Jesus
Christ to our doings is His glory and grace. We're gonna have a
break now and we'll come back and look at it. But this is the
work of God. This is the work of God. This is the work that comes from
God, this is the work that honours God, this is the work that God
creates, this is the work that God produces, that you believe. We believe on him whom he has
sent. May the Lord enable us to seek
him and to see what Simon called the lying vanities. Lying vanities,
the emptiness of this world. I love Mr Hart's hymns. I'll just read a few stanzas
from this one. Gracious God, thy children keep. Jesus, guide thy silly sheep. He's not complimenting us when
he calls us sheep. Jesus, guide thy silly sheep. Fix, oh fix,
our fickle souls. Lord, direct us, we are fools. Bid us in thy care confide, keep
us near thy wounded side. From thee let us never stir,
for thou knowest how soon we err. Lay us low before thy feet,
safe from pride and self-conceit. Be the language of our souls,
Lord protect us, we are fools. We are fools, but thou art wise. Son of David, open our eyes. Hold thy lambs secure from harms
in thy everlasting arms. Amen. Let's have a break. Thank
you.