Good morning. Turn with me again
to John chapter 6 if you would. Look at verse 28. Now he had
just said in verse 27, labor not for the meat which perisheth,
but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which
the Son of Man shall give you, for Him hath God the Father sealed. And then they asked him this
question in verse 28. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? It seems that
when a sinner is interested in heaven and interested in spiritual
things, by nature they think that something is required of
them that they might be saved. And no doubt that the old self-righteousness
of the natural man is ever occupied with his own doings. A carnal
mind is no doubt flattered when it feels that it is doing something
for God. For their work, their doings,
the fallen man and woman, also naturally think that they're
entitled to reward. It's amazing, if you talk to
folks who are always talking about what they're doing for
God, they're the very ones that believe in rewards in heaven.
These folks imagine that salvation is due them, because they've
earned it. And Paul said that very thing
in Romans chapter 4 verse 4, he said, Now to him that worketh
is the reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. Isn't it remarkable that men
try to bring God into a humbling position of a debtor to themselves? But we're all guilty of it to
some degree, and the question here, what shall we do that we
might work the works of God, it really almost seems unbelievable
that men would dare ask such a question, especially after
what the Lord had just told them in verse 27. Which was, labor
not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life. And then he said this so that
it was clear without any doubt, which the Son of Man shall give
unto you. This is something given unto
a sinner. Salvation cannot be earned. It cannot be deserved. It cannot
be merited. It's the gift of God. It's not
of works, lest any man should boast. The carnal mind, which
Paul tells us is enmity against God, is unwilling to come to
the place of a pauper, to a place of a beggar, to receive everything
for nothing. That's a wonderful thought, isn't
it? To receive everything that God has for nothing. Nothing
to you, everything to Christ. The sinner wants to do something
to earn salvation. We see it over and over again
in the scripture. Christ told that woman at the
well, you remember, we saw it not long ago in John chapter
4. He said, if thou knewest the gift of God. She didn't know
the gift of God. He said, if you knew who it was
that saith unto thee, give me to drink, you would have asked
of me, and I would have given you living water. It was the
same with that rich young ruler who came to the Lord Jesus and
he said, good master, what good thing must I do to inherit eternal
life? It was the same with the Jews
on the day of Pentecost when Peter told them that they had
crucified the Lord of glory. They were pricked in their hearts,
the scripture says, and they asked men and brethren, what
shall we do? It was no different with that Philippian jailer.
That poor man would have killed himself if Paul hadn't stopped
him. His question, sirs, what must
I do to be saved? And it was answered with the
same words, and it's as it's always answered with. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's it. That's all you can do. Even the
prodigal son, after he came home, after he came to his senses,
he asked the father, and I never thought much about this, but
he said, make me as one of thy hard servants. In other words,
make me one who works for what he received. What did the father
do? He didn't make him as one of
his hard servants. He killed the fatted calf and
he put a ring and a robe on him. It's a gift. And here in our
text, the same question is asked, what shall we do? And notice
the phrase, and what shall we do that we might work the works
of God? And as I read that verse again
this morning, I thought to myself, man's kind of like that little
pinky toe that goes wee, wee, wee all the way home. Wee, wee,
what must we do? It's just amazing how men would
rather do than believe. Why is that? Because it strokes
man's pride and it endeavors to deny his total ruin. Ruin sinners refuse to believe
that they're without strength. The only work, and you can search
the scriptures from beginning to end, and the only work that
God will accept is faith in his son. Verse 29, look at it. And Jesus answered and said unto
them, this is the work of God, that you believe on him whom
he has sent. Same answer to the same question,
what must we do? What patient grace the Lord has,
what blessed simplicity. Believe on Him whom He has sent. He stated that one thing that
God requires of sinners and that's to believe on Christ and Him
alone. He alone can meet your deepest
need. The statement, this is the work
of God, means this is what God requires. It's not the work of
the law. It's not doing something good
for God. I'm thankful for that, aren't
you? But it's simple faith in Christ. All for simple faith
in Christ. Christ is the Savior appointed
by God, and faith in Him is that which God approves. and without
which nothing else can be acceptable in His sight. So you mean that
men and women will enter heaven without good works? You mean
to tell me that you can go to heaven being a wretched sinner?
Well, no. Your works have to be perfect.
They've got to be without a flaw. They've got to be as holy as
God or you'll never enter into His presence. How can that be
accomplished? Striving daily after holiness? No. No, that's a doing. That's a doing. Only believe. Bow to the work that's already
been done. Bow to the finished work that
Christ has already accomplished on your behalf. So, are we willing
to abandon our doings, our work, our righteousness, and bow to
His? Our efforts always fall short,
always fall way short. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. No man deserves God's mercy.
We're all mercy beggars. No man deserves God's grace.
It's unmerited favor, undeserved favor. We can't deserve it. It
ceases to become grace if we deserve it. Mercy's free. No man can obligate God. God's
not obligated to us. He's not obligated at all to
do anything except deal with us in justice. Now He's obligated
to do that because He's a just God. And I said this recently
in a message, if He saves us or damns us, He's gonna be just. He's gonna be just. He's gonna
deal with us in justice. If He deals with us in mercy,
that justice falls on Christ. And if He deals with us in wrath
and condemnation and judgment, that's gonna fall on us. Now,
which would you prefer? God's gonna deal with us as a
just God, and no man in the flesh can please God. I hope we understand
that. Even people who are saved, people
who know God, cannot please God in the flesh alone. It's Christ
that makes us acceptable unto God. We're accepted where? In the beloved, in the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's Christ that makes your prayers
acceptable. Heaven would be as brass when
it comes to our prayers if it wasn't Christ making intercession
for us. It's Christ that makes our gifts
acceptable unto God. It's Christ that makes your works
acceptable. He's our great high priest. It's
Christ that makes your faith acceptable. There's nothing that
you and I, in and of ourselves, nothing in us that's acceptable
to God. To be accepted, it must be perfect.
We can't do anything perfect. We've never done anything perfectly. Everything we do is mixed with
sin. We've never said, we've never
thought, we've never done anything perfectly. So, no man in the
flesh can please God. The scripture's clear about that.
In the flesh dwelleth what? No good thing. Your sins won't
keep you from Christ. I remember Brother Mahan telling
me that so plainly one time. He said, your sins won't keep
you from Christ, but your goodness will. Your righteousness will
keep you from Christ, but your sin won't. Salvation is all of
grace, and it's for those who have nothing to pay. It's for
those who have no good work to work. What good work must we
do? Can't do one. Can't do one. Salvation, redemption, forgiveness. It's not for innocent people,
it's for guilty people. Mercy is for miserable people.
Salvation is for sinners. Our Lord one day was eating with
publicans and sinners and the religious Pharisees asked His
disciples, why is your master associating with those folks?
And do you remember what our Lord said? He heard them, or
He knew their hearts, one of the two. And He said, they that
be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. And then
He said this. He said, you go and learn what
that means. Have we learned yet what that means? I'm asking myself,
have I learned what that means? Those that be whole have not
a need of a physician. I think I have. We don't go to
the doctor when we're well, do we? We go when we're sick. He's
not come to call the righteous who work. He came to call sinners
who cannot work. He came to call sinners to repentance. God has nothing for those who
are righteous in their own eyes. Who did Christ die for? Christ
died for the ungodly. Who did Christ come in the world
to save? He came in the world to save sinners. What can a sinner
do? He can take the place as a sinner
at the feet of Christ. That's about it. and take sides
with God against our sin. What can a sinner do? Well, he
can seek the Lord. The Word of God commands men
to seek the Lord. It condemns men and women who
do not seek the Lord. The Scripture is clear. Seek
ye the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near.
God's Word says, you shall seek me and find me when you search
for me with all your heart. Well, I thought the Bible said
that man can't seek the Lord. There's none that seeketh after
God. No, the Bible doesn't say that man cannot seek the Lord.
The Bible says that they will not seek the Lord. Big difference. Big difference. The Bible says
there's none that seeketh after God. Man, by nature, will not
seek after God. God has to do a work of grace
in his heart before he'll ever seek the Lord. Men should seek
the Lord. better seek the Lord. I think
about that Ethiopian eunuch. You know, he was somebody as
far as the world was concerned. He was in charge of the Queen's
treasury, and he was seeking the Lord. And he had gone all
the way to Jerusalem in a chariot to inquire after the Lord. And
when he was on his way back home, and he hadn't learned a thing
from those religious fellas there in Jerusalem. Not a thing. And
he's sitting there and he's looking in the Word of God. He's like,
well maybe I can find Christ here. Maybe I can find salvation
here. And then God sent him a preacher.
Isn't it amazing? Isn't God so good? I never learned
a thing in religion until God sent me a preacher. I mean a
real preacher. God sent that Ethiopian eunuch,
a preacher who knew the gospel, and his name was Philip. And
Philip asked him, he said, do you know what you're reading?
Do you understand what you're reading? He said, how can I unless I have
some man show me? That's why God gives preachers.
It's by the foolishness of preaching that the Lord saves those that
believe. That's just the way God does
it. And the preacher, a true preacher, a real preacher, a
God-called preacher, he's not puffed up about what he does.
He's humbled by it. He says, trust me, he says, who's
sufficient for these things? I love what I do, and I'm thankful
that God's called me to do it, but I'm telling you, it's an
awesome responsibility. I'm not sufficient for it. Cornelius,
you remember Cornelius? He was seeking the Lord. He was
a devout man, but he was a troubled man. He was a sincere man, and
God sent Peter to him to preach the gospel to him. That woman
with the issue of blood, boy, don't think for a minute she
wasn't seeking Christ. She had spent all that she had,
the scripture said, on physicians and grew worse. Friends, you
and I can spend all we have, all our time, all our efforts,
and just grow worse. We gotta get to Christ. She was
seeking Christ. I can assure you that. She was
seeking the great position. You better believe she was. For
12 years she bled. For 12 years she hemorrhaged.
How do I know she was seeking Christ? Because of what she said.
She said, if I can but touch the hem of his garment, I shall
be made whole. Now that's seeking the Lord.
She came crawling on her hands and knees through that crowd.
I can just see her, I've dreamed about it. I've seen her. If I could just touch the hem
of his garment. And she finally reached out and
touched him and she was made whole. She was seeking the Lord.
My advice to seeking sinners is not seek a feeling, don't
seek a feeling. You might find one. Don't seek
an experience. Experiences are like feelings.
They come and go, and they're deceiving. And I've heard folks
say most of my life, we're seeking a church. I've been asked, I
can't tell you how many times, from folks in other areas, do
you know a church in my area? Still get emails and stuff from
folks that listen on Sermon Audio and say, do you know a church
in my area? No, I don't, sadly. Amanda texted me yesterday, they're
stuck there in Salt Lake City in Mormon country. She said,
Dad, do you know of a church in Salt Lake City? I said, honey,
I don't. You know a church in my area?
No, and if there's not one, then move to where there is one. Don't
seek a church, seek Christ. Go to where He's found. I know
of folks who've moved away from the gospel and then pray that
God might start a gospel church where they move to. You know
what? I kind of doubt it. I kind of
doubt if He will. I really do. That's one of the
biggest problems we have today. People are going to the altar.
People are going to the front. People are going to the church.
People are going to the priest. People are going to the preacher.
People are going to the soul winners. They're going to the
law. They're going everywhere but
to Christ. What can a man do to work the works of God? Nothing. Believe. What can a man do to
inherit eternal life? Nothing. Believe. What can a
sinner do in order to be saved? Nothing. Believe. Well, he can
ask for mercy. He can beg for mercy. That's
something a sinner can do. When he's a mercy beggar, he'll
do it. Isn't that so simple? Just ask for mercy. Just ask
the Lord to save you. Look at verse 30. They said,
therefore unto him, what sign showest thou then that we may
see and believe thee? What dost thou work? And how
well this shows forth man's unbelief, how impossible it is for the
natural man in and of himself to believe on Christ. and His
finished work just by simple faith. You remember what the
Lord told the disciples? A young child came unto Him and
they were all upset like, you know, our Lord don't have time
to deal with these little children. He said, unless you come to Me
as one of these in just simple faith believing. You know a child
will believe anything, won't they? They'll believe anything.
That's the way we need to come to Him. Just believe His Word. Lord, You said it. I believe it. No
matter how ridiculous it seems to me, everything's going to
seem ridiculous to me because I'm a fool. But if you say so,
I'll do it. It's just a simple thing. The
Lord said, believe. And they replied, show us a sign.
Man, isn't that us by nature? God, give us something we can
see along with it. How sad is it that sinners must
either see or feel something before they'll believe? proof
of it right here. They said, what sign do you show
us that we may see and believe you? Well, he had just fed 5,000
people with five loaves and two little fish. What sign? Was that not a sign enough? What
sign then do you show us? Where are your credentials to
authorize your mission? Well, that was another question
I was asked quite a bit by folks. Where did you go to seminary?
Where did you get your credentials at? From God, I hope. From sitting under a man that
knew God and preached Christ for many years. I hope that's
my credentials. If God didn't call me, I pray
he'd take me out of this thing quick. I don't want to be here
without him. I'm just being honest with you,
I really don't. I can't tell you how many times during the
day I think, my, what am I doing? Man over my head. And as I said,
this question, what makes it even sadder is the fact it was
asked on the very day following the feeding of the 5,000. That
just seems unthinkable to me. But it shouldn't. I would have
said the same thing. Only a few hours before they'd
witnessed, I believe, one of the greatest miracles our Lord
ever performed. And they benefited from it. Matter
of fact, so much so, the Lord said, you seek me not because
of the miracles that I did, but you seek me because you were
fed. And I'm just convinced that that was the best bread and fish
that they'd ever put in their mouth. And yet, does not our
own sad history testify that this is true to life? We're not
much different than they are. We're no different. We're surrounded
by a multitude of evidences that God exists. You ever look at
the stars at night in the sky and doubt that there's a God?
You ever think about every day the sun coming up? Men have gotten
good now. They can tell you the minute
that it comes up. You can look on your phone and say, well,
it's going to sunrise this morning at 643. Who's behind that? God is. What proof do we have
that there's a God? Just look around. We enjoy countless
tokens of His love and faithfulness. We witness His delivering hand
time and time again. How many times has the Lord delivered
us from trouble? Yet some fresh trial comes, something
which upsets our plans, something that removes an object that's
dear to our hearts. We ask ourselves, does God really
care? Have you ever asked that question? I thought it, does God really
care? Perish the thought. Is that any
different, really? Is that any different than asking
God for another proof or another sign that He does care for us?
Oh, that God might truly enable us to believe on Him. I'm telling
you, it all comes down to that. What must I do? Can you believe? No, not unless you enable me.
Then Lord, help thou my unbelief. Enable me to believe. Make me
believe. Believe that all things come
from his sovereign hand, that all things work together for
the good of them that love the Lord, who are thee called according
to his power. I want to believe God. I really
do. Don't you? So my constant prayer is, Lord,
help thou my unbelief. Because I don't believe him like
ought to. And then I even thought about
that. We say, Lord, help thou my unbelief. And then sadly,
we try to believe that he will. Lord, help thou my unbelief.
Lord, will you really help my unbelief? We're a mess, ain't
we? I tell you, if you don't believe
that God is merciful, you just look at His patience with us.
The Lord is patient, He's long-suffering, He's merciful, and He's gracious.
Alrighty, well, that's probably a good place to stop. We'll pick
up there next time, Lord willing.