Alright, go with me if you would
back to John 21. John chapter 21. Every time that we gather together
for the purpose of worship, every single time, There are some critical things
that must take place. If we are going to enter into
a true heart and spirit of worship. Some critical things must take
place. I believe I think about these
critical things every time I prepare a message. I desperately want
these critical things to take place because they must, they
must take place. Number one, our Lord must be
glorified. He must. I mean He must. He must receive
all the glory every time we come together. Every time. He must receive all the honor. He must receive all of the credit
for doing all of the work. He must be glorified. He must increase. He must. If we're going to truly worship,
if we're going to worship, He must. The second thing is we
must receive none of the glory every time we come together.
We must receive none of the credit for the work of salvation. None
of it. I mean none of it. We must decrease. He must increase. And we must decrease. If we're going to worship Him
and not worship ourselves and not worship how much we've grown. We all want to grow in grace
and grow in love and grow in these things. But if we're going
to truly worship Him, then it needs to be all about Him. All
about Him. Now, along with that, this is
my sincere desire for every time we come together. John 21 verse 15 says, So when
they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas,
lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second
time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, yea,
Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed
my sheep. He saith unto him the third time,
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because
he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto
him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Every time we come together,
my deep, deep desire is for Him to be glorified and for us to
be fed. That is my deep desire. I want to be fed. I want to be fed. I was driving
over here tonight asking, Lord, please feed me. Please feed me. I already know what the notes
say. I already know everywhere we're turning. Please feed me. I want you to be fed. I do not want you to drive all
this way and not be fed. God's sheep must be fed. He said to all of His preachers,
if you love Me, Feed my sheep. If you love me, feed my sheep. It's our commission. Every man
who stands, it's our commission. If we have been called to be
sowers of seed, then we need to sow the seed to the sheep. That's what we need to do. Look with me, if you would, at
Acts chapter 20. Acts 20, verse 28. It says, Take heed therefore
unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath
purchased with his own blood. What a calling. What an honor. He said, if you
love me, feed the sheep that I have purchased with my own
blood. I purchased them with my own blood. Feed them. Feed them. Now that brings me
to this question. What do God's sheep feed on? What do God's sheep feed on? If my calling in my commission
is to feed the sheep, then what do they eat? What truly feeds God's sheep? What nourishes them? What sustains
them and satisfies them? To put it into one word, Him,
Christ. We feed on Him. We feed on Him. We are strengthened. Everything
about these poor, fickle beings is strengthened. Spiritually
strengthened. Our faith is strengthened. Everything
is strengthened on Him. We are filled on Him. We are satisfied on Him. Spiritual
malnourishment. That's a real thing. That's a
real condition. Spiritual malnourishment comes
the moment we start feeding on something other than Him. Something
other than the man. The minute we get off on some... I don't care what it is. The
minute it's no longer the man, Spiritual malnourishment comes
along. Turn with me, if you would, to
Psalm 34. Psalm 34, verse 8. Says, Oh, taste and see that
the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in Him. Taste Him. Taste His goodness. Taste and see that the Lord is
good. The Lord is so good. Every now
and then, we enter into that. Every now and then, we get a
good bite of that, and we swallow that. Every now and then, it
really hits us. The Lord is so good. He is so
good. We have a few light afflictions
here and there, but He is so good to His people. So good. We're not begging bread. He gives us so much and He draws
us so near to Him. God's sheep feed on His goodness. They do. We come here to hear
one more time. about just how good the Lord
has been to sinners like us. That's the reason we come here.
Just tell me one more time about how kind He is to the undeserving. Just tell me that one more time.
Is there anything that you would rather hear about? Is there anything
you would rather hear a man stand in a pulpit and tell you about
than how kind Christ has been to sinners? He is so kind to
sinners. That woman at the well ran crying,
come see a man, come see this man. Peter said, if so be you have
tasted that the Lord is gracious. We feed on his grace. We feed
on His amazing grace, the goodness of His grace. That is what thrills
our soul. It thrills our soul, His sovereign
grace. Whenever the Lord in kindness
brings us to a place where we see something of who we truly
are. I mean really get a good glimpse of who we truly are.
That's the moment we absolutely fall in love with God's sovereign
grace. That He will be gracious to whom
He will be gracious in spite of us. In spite of us. Who did He choose to be gracious
to? wretched, miserable, unworthy sinners. That feeds my soul. That honestly feeds my soul.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ, by grace you are saved. That's good. That's good. By grace you are
saved. We feed on His goodness. We feed
on His grace. Turn with me if you would to
Psalm 90. Psalm chapter 90. Psalm 90 verse 14 says, Oh, satisfy
us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all
our days. Honestly, do we not feed on His
mercy? Do we not delight ourselves in
the fatness of His mercy? He said in Isaiah 55, delight
yourself in the fatness of the same covenant of mercy that I
made with David, the sure mercies of David. In the covenant of my blood,
those same mercies belong to you. Those same mercies. This Word says, He says to us
through His Word, you are as wretched as you think you are. You're actually more wretched,
infinitely more wretched than you think you are. But I made a promise. That's
what the word says. You are infinitely, infinitely
much more wretched than you think you are. But I made a promise
to shed my blood. I made a promise to pay your
debt and to not give you what you deserve. And I'm going to
uphold my promise. I'm going to keep my promise.
That's what his word says. I'm going in mercy to keep my
promise. Listen to this. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, period. That's the declaration. No condemnation. Why? Mercy. Mercy. God in mercy transferred the
condemnation from us to Christ. A true sinner is going to say,
if a man ever gets a hold of his sin, he is going to say,
well, he may have done that for me yesterday, but I sinned again
today. God has provided mercy for every
single day. Every single day. It starts over
brand new. Every single morning. Brand new
mercy. Every morning when a sheep of
God wakes up, this is what his soul feeds on. There is still
no condemnation in Christ. We come back into this place
to hear another announcement. We come back to hear another
declaration. Last time it was, there is no condemnation in Christ. This time it is, there is still
no condemnation in Christ. I don't care what you did this
week. There is still no condemnation in Christ. We are nourished,
we are strengthened by the wonderful news of His mercy, the goodness
of His grace and His mercy. All right, let's go to Matthew
chapter four. Matthew 4 verse 1 says, Then
was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted
of the devil. And when he had fasted forty
days and forty nights, he was afterward and hungered. And when
the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command
that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It
is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." God's sheep feed. They live by and they feed on
His Word. This Word. Every word that has proceeded
out of the mouth of God. It's the truth. It is the truth. God's people feed on His Word. David said, How sweet are thy
words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Again, Peter said, As newborn
babes desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow
thereby. It's through this Word that we
hear of His grace. This is how we hear again of
His grace. It's through the Word that we
hear of His mercy. It's through this Word that we
hear of all the precious promises He's made to us. He said, I'll
never leave you. I'll never leave you. Now, Sunday,
I was standing in the foyer with a few of you, and I don't mean
to embarrass anybody, But Molly was one person in particular
who was standing in the foyer and she has this little baby
inside of her tummy. And we were all standing there
talking and this illustration came up and we were all thinking
about this illustration. Once she delivers this child,
the illustration doesn't stand anymore. But as long as that little baby
is in her, all of this is built on and based on being in Christ. This is only in Christ. As long as that little baby is
in her, she can right now say to that little baby, I'll never
leave you. I'll never leave you. Where I
go, you go. Where I sit, you sit. I've prepared a place for you that where I am, you may be also. That's what our Lord says to
us. I'll never leave, you're in me. I know you can't, that
baby doesn't understand what it is to be in her. And we don't
understand what it is to be in him. But he says we are, and
if he says we are, we are. I'll never leave you. Everywhere
I go, you go. Everywhere I sit, you sit. I've prepared a place for you,
I love you with an everlasting love and nothing can separate
you from it, nothing. We feed on His Word, the sweet
promises of His Word. Turn with me to John chapter
6. John 6 verse 51 says, I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The
Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give
us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life,
and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat
indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living
Father hath sent me and I live by the Father, so he that eateth
me, even he shall live by me. 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. God's sheep feed on the life
he lived and the death that he died. We feed on His broken body
and His shed blood. We are honestly sustained. We
are actually spiritually sustained by Jesus Christ crucified. If we don't have Jesus Christ
crucified, we don't have life. If we don't hear Jesus Christ
crucified, we're not here in life. If we don't feed on Christ
crucified, we're not feeding on life. We feed on Him. We feed on what He has done for
us. 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, O glorious
day." We feed on that. Doesn't it energize you to think
of His return? What if it's in just a minute? What if it's before the message
is over? We're making all these plans
and doing all these things. He said, I am the living water.
If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. Feed on me. Feed on who I am. He told the
woman at the well, if you drink of the water that I give to you,
you'll never spiritually thirst ever again. Never again. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
10. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 1 says, Moreover, brethren, I would not
that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were
under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat
the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual
drink, For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them, and that rock was Christ." Do you know who that rock was?
That rock was the one who feeds my soul. We feed on Him. We feed
on the goodness of His grace. We feed on the absolute delight
of His mercy. We feed on the sweet promises
of His Word. We feed on the life He lived
and the death He died, His broken body and His shed blood. And
look at 1 Corinthians 12, verse 13. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 13. For by one Spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether
we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one
Spirit." We truly do feed on His Spirit. He said, when two
or three are gathered in my name, I'm in the midst of you. I'm
right here in the midst of you. He is in His Spirit just as much
in the midst of us now as He will be in glory. When His Spirit is in the midst
of us, we know it and we feed on it. When His Spirit is in
the midst of us, we feed on it. God's sheep feed on it. We have these brief meals. We have these brief moments when
our hearts and our souls know we're feeding on Christ. We have
these brief, brief moments when we know we are feeding on Christ. God's sheep feel so fulfilled. after they have fed on the Spirit,
and fed on the Word, and fed on the glory of their Lord. Now in closing, even though God
has ordained for men to physically minister the meal through the
preaching of the Word, even though God has ordained for that to
be the case, He said in a place that we are about to read and
in many other places, that He is the One who is feeding the
sheep. Even though He has ordained men
to be servers and serve the table and pass out the plates, He is
the One who is feeding His sheep. He said, I will feed them. I will feed them myself. Isaiah
said, He shall feed His flock like a shepherd. He's the one
doing it. If we are fed, He is the one
feeding us. And even though God's sheep feed
right here, right now on this earth, this is only a foretaste. Even though we do feed right
now, All this is, is an appetizer. That's all it is. This is just a foretaste to the
meal that is about to come. The eternal feeding that is about
to come. This great eternal supper. It's almost here. It's almost
here. I can just see Him telling His
angels and His ministers, set the table. Our Lord told us about it in
Ezekiel 34. Go with me over there and we'll
close with this. Ezekiel 34, this is just such
a sweet and wonderful chapter. Ezekiel 34, verse 11, For thus
saith the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, will both
search my sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out
his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered,
so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of all
places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And
I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from
the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed
them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the
inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture,
and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be. There
shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they
feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will
cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that
which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and
will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which
was sick, But I will destroy the fat and the strong, and I
will feed them with judgment. And as for you, O my flock, thus
saith the Lord God, Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between
the rams and the he-goats. Seemeth it a small thing unto
you to have eaten up the good pasture, but you must tread down
with your feet the residue of your pastures? And to have drunk
of the deep waters, but you must foul the residue with your feet."
He's talking about those who consumed the fatness of this
earth. His sheep were lean on this earth. Verse 19, As for my flock, they
eat that which you have trodden with your feet, and they drink
that which you have fouled with your feet. Therefore thus saith
the Lord God unto them, Behold, I, even I, will judge between
the fat cattle and between the lean cattle, because you have
thrust with side and with shoulder, and have pushed all the diseased
with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad. Therefore
will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey. And
I will judge between cattle and cattle, and I will set up one
shepherd over them." Who do you think that is? The Lord is my
shepherd. and He shall feed them. Even
My servant David, He shall feed them, and He shall be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their
God, and My servant David, a prince among them, I, the Lord, have
spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant
of peace, and will cause the evil beast to cease out of the
land. And they shall dwell safely in
the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and
the places round about My hill a blessing. And I will cause
the shower to come down in His season. There shall be showers
of blessing. and the tree of the field shall
yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and
they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the
Lord when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered
them out of the hand of those that serve themselves of them."
And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall
the beast of the land devour them, but they shall dwell safely,
and none shall make them afraid. And I will raise up for them
a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger
in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.
Thus shall they know that I, the Lord their God, am with them,
and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith
the Lord God. And you, my flock, the flock
of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God. You know what that sounds like?
Well-fed sheep. That's what it sounds like. That's
what all of us are going to be for all of eternity in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We're going to be well-fed sheep.
Our Lord said you are never going to hunger ever again. Never again. There's not going
to be any room for hunger. We're all going to be too fed.
Too fed. That's good news. That's good
news. We can feed on that. All right,
let's all stand together.