John chapter 6 and our reading
will begin with verse 22 and read through verse 59. The first part of John chapter
6 has to do with the miraculous
feeding of 5,000 men, not counting women and children, with one
little boy's lunch. Just one little lad had two fish
and I forget how many pieces of bread. Two small fish, I'm
sure. And the next event, beginning
at verse 15 through verse 21, The disciples, they're on the
opposite side of the Sea of Galilee from Capernaum. The disciples
take the boat that they used to get to that side of the lake,
and they start back across this huge lake. And the Lord Jesus
retires in privacy somewhere in the hills surrounding that
place. And our Lord comes to them in
the midst of this terrible storm In verse 20, he said, it is I,
be not afraid. Every storm in our lives is there because God in Christ
put it there. And in case you've forgotten,
He maketh no mistakes. None. If it's me or you, he makes
no mistake. And the people that were across
the lake the previous day are mystified as to where the Lord
Jesus has gone, and so they take boats to get across the sea,
and they come to Capernaum, and we'll pick this up in verse 22. Now, before we do, Let's beg
the Lord's help, without which there is no profit, no improvement,
no eternal good to be found anywhere in this book, except the Lord
put His all-powerful blessing upon it. Lord, thank you for letting us
gather in this place this morning. Thank you for the wonderful hymns
of Zion. Lord, without you and your grace
and mercy in Christ, we would have nothing at all to sing about.
But in Christ, in the grace of God, in the perfect righteousness,
and saving death of our Lord Jesus Christ, all is well, all is well. Lord, we come this morning to
your book, to your word, Some of the most awful and some
of the most amazing statements anywhere in our Bibles are certainly
found in this chapter. But Lord, unless you see fit
to meet with us, unless you put your blessing upon your Word
and give us spiritual eyes and spiritual ears to see and hear
the voice of our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus, we will have
gathered here in vain. Help us, we pray. We are so backward and ignorant in the reading of your Word.
We beg for help from on high. Grant Your grace to this poor
preacher that he might speak and be used of You to the good
of men's souls. We beg in our Savior's name,
Amen. Now before I start to read verse
22, I want to make one little brief statement. It's not new. Somebody said, if it's new, it's
not true, and if it's true, it's not new. But here are three little
phrases that I think capture the essence
of John 6. We have, in effect, people coming
to Christ. Now, here is what is to be found
in this chapter. Number one, anybody, anywhere, may come to
Christ. Anybody. However, this passage also teaches
no one can come. Now, do you know the difference
between may and can? May means that you have full
permission to come to Christ. But the word can refers to our
ability. And that is where we're deficient
and lacking. No one can come. And I'll prove
that to you in several statements, and you just have to look for
them as we read it, because I can't catch them all. I'm sure I didn't
mark any of them. Well, I don't say they're not
marked, but these are old marks. No telling how long they've been
there. The third thing is this, and
of this we are wonderfully, wonderfully thankful, are we not? Well, you've
got to find out what it is first. Someone, no one, anyone may,
no one can, someone must come to Christ. Because God and His
Spirit of grace and truth bring us to Christ. Somebody's coming. It might not be me, but somebody's
coming. Alright, verse 22. The day following, when the people
which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was
none other boat there save that one wherein his disciples were
entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the
boat, but that the 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 or boats, and came to Capernaum seeking
for Jesus." Now that sounds so wonderful and delightful. The
problem is they were seeking Him for the wrong reason. And when they had found him on
the other side of the sea, they said, Rabbi, when did you come
here? Jesus answered and said, Verily,
verily, amen, amen. I say unto you, you seek me not
because you saw the miracles, but you're seeking me, why? Because
you did eat of the loaves and were filled." Isn't that amazing? If you know anything about what's
taking place in our country, you know that people are moved
politically as well as religiously on this principle. It's what's
in it for me. What's in it for me. Verse 27, labor not for the meat
which perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting
life. which the Son of Man shall give
unto you, for Him, Christ, has God the Father sealed. Then said
they unto him, What shall we do that we might work the works
of God? Seeing you will not help us,
nor feed us every day that rolls by. You just tell us how to do
the work of God and we'll do it. And here's our Savior's response. Now, if you don't have verse
29, well, if you mark your Bible, first of all, if you don't have
verse 29 marked, you ought to give it the highest category
you can come up with. Jesus answered this unbelievable question. Just tell us what to do that
we might work the works of God. Jesus answered and said unto
them, This is the work of God. What is that? What is the ultimate
work of God? It's not creation, though creation
is certainly necessary to fulfill it. What is it? that you believe on him whom
God has sent, the Lord Jesus, the sent one. This is the work
of God. And what does that mean? It means
exactly what it says. Nothing more and nothing less.
This is God's crowning work, to give poor, hell-deserving
sinners faith in His Son to believe. And don't you forget this, this
is God's work. This ain't something a preacher
can do for you, nor any other person. Not the Pope, not Billy
Graham, not anybody. It's the God of heaven and earth.
that enables poor, undeserving sinners to believe on his Son. Their response in verse 30, They
said therefore unto him, What sign show you then that we may
see and believe you? Now this is incredible. They saw 5,000 plus women and
children the previous date be fed on one little boy's lunch
and there were twelve baskets full left over. And they say,
well prove to us who you are so we'll believe on you. No,
that's not how faith comes. Not at all. Then they continue, 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,
verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from
heaven." Now, in our translation, we have no way to find out how
the Lord Jesus knew unless you say, well, He's got There's no limit to what he knows. And that may indeed be the only
reasonable answer to the question, but it might have been in the
language that they were talking about Moses and not about God. So our Lord says, Moses gave
you not that bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true
bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which
comes down from heaven and gives life unto the world. That's Christ. Then said they unto him, Lord,
evermore give us this bread. Just like the Samaritan woman
in John chapter 4, when our Lord said that he had water that she
knew not of. Oh, she says, well, give me some
of that water, she said, and I won't have to come here and
draw water to drink. Purely selfish on her part. And
she missed totally what the Lord Jesus was meaning. And so the
case is here. Evermore give us this bread.
Verse 35, And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. That's our title for this morning.
I am the bread of life. He that comes to me shall never
hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst." Now
be careful how you translate that statement. Believers never
tire of eating the bread of life. And they not only don't get tired
of it, they continue it all their days. And the same is true of
the water of life. I am the bread of life. He that
comes to me shall never hunger, and he that believes on me shall
never thirst. He'll never go anywhere looking
for spiritual food, because he's found it all in Christ. But I
said unto you that you also have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father gives me
shall come to me, and him that comes to me I will in
no wise cast out. 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 has sent me, that of all which He
has given me, all the sheep that the Father has given the Son,
all the poor sinners saved by God's grace, of all which you've given me,
middle part of verse 39, I should lose nothing. but should raise
it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me." This is the will of God concerning our Lord Jesus
Christ that everyone which sees the Son and believes on Him may
have everlasting life. In fact, I would say you already
have life. That's the reason you believe
and trust. and rejoice in Christ, and I'll raise him up at the
last day.' The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am
the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, Is this
not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?
How is it then that he says, I came down from heaven? Jesus
therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves,
No man can, there's that verb we were talking about in the
second explanation of this chapter, anyone may and no one can come
to me except the Father which has sent me draw him. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore,
that has heard and has learned of the Father comes to me, comes
unto me. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believes on me has everlasting life. And the verb for has everlasting
life is in the past tense. Is it not? Indeed it is. He that believes, that's a present
tense. Hath is past tense. We believe because God in Christ
by His Holy Spirit has given us everlasting life. And that life is a life of faith. Faith in and on the person and
work of our Lord Jesus. Verse 48 again, I am that bread
of life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes
down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. 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." A
whole world of lost sinners saved by grace. The life of the world. Verse 52, The Jews therefore
strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his
flesh to eat? What is the problem? Whoever these people are, and
however many there are of them, they do not have any spiritual
faculties at all. That's every man's state by nature. We're blind and dumb to a whole
world of spiritual things. And the gospel comes to us in the spiritual realm. The natural man cannot see, nor
believe, nor hear. Where was I, 55? For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. Our Lord is not speaking of cannibalism. He is talking about spiritual
things in regard to Christ and God and ourselves. He that eats my flesh and drinks
my blood dwells in me, and I in him. As the living Father has
sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eats me, even he shall
live by me. Christ is our life. He is our
food, our drink, our life, our all. Verse 58, I think is where it
was. This is that bread which came
down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and are
dead. He that eats of this bread shall
live forever. Now this one more verse. These
things said the Lord Jesus in the synagogue. as he taught in
Capernaum. And I remind you that in Matthew chapter 11, the Lord
Jesus gives the strongest condemnation to Capernaum. You remember that? He said, it will be better for
Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for you. And
here's why. Here's why. Probably more miracles and more
preaching and teaching by the Lord Jesus in that one town than
in many others combined. This was His headquarters after
He left Nazareth to begin his public life and work. Now, I want you to put your place
here at John chapter 6, and let's just remain there for the whole
time. I'd like to reinforce what we have just read. And to do so, I need to use certain
verses So I'll just pick them out. The first thing is this,
in verses 33-35, For the bread of God is he which comes down
from heaven and gives life unto the world. Therefore, our Savior
is declaring that he is the bread of life. Then said they unto
him, Lord evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them,
I am the bread of life. He that comes to me shall never
hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst. Oh, the infinite importance of feeding spiritually on Christ
and on Christ alone. That's the only food for our
souls. The only food. Secondly, verse 27. Going backwards now. Don't get
worried. I realize that. Going backwards to verse 27. The last phrase in verse 27 is,
for him, that is Christ, has God the Father sealed. Him has God the Father sealed. Labor not for the meat which
perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life,
which the Son of Man shall give unto you. For him has God the
Father sealed. matter of sealing. The Lord Jesus
is declared to be the only mediator between God and men, the man,
the God-man, Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2.5. And this is His office alone
as our mediator. Just like Job said, to be our
mediator, he must be able to put his hand on Job and on Job's
God. And that's exactly who the Lord
Jesus is, because He's God and man in one person. One single
person. One little person. Now going
back to verses 28 and 29, these people that had such high hopes,
in fact, I forgot to mention this earlier, They had even planned
to take the Lord Jesus by force and make Him be their King. Now
boy, that is neat, isn't it? If that isn't stupid, I don't
know what it is. This is idiocy. We're going to
make Christ do something? I'm afraid we've come full circle
and are right back at this point today. People think they can
gang up on God and get Him to do anything they want Him to
do. They think prayer is to change God's mind. That ain't the case
at all. It's to change us. He doesn't need changing. In
fact, He cannot change. But that's another story. Verse
28, "...then said they 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. Sinner, won't you please believe?
That's going in the wrong direction. We ought to be praying to our
God in heaven to bring them to faith. And that's the only way
it can be achieved. Now, I was brought up in a religious
environment just like many of you. And everybody is supposed
to come down to the front when they get about 12 years of age
and join the church and are baptized and everybody tells them they're
saved and we're still the mean rascals we were before. Ain't
been no change. Now you know that. Some of you a lot younger than
me know that. And there ain't nobody in here
old enough not to have remembered that. Because this has been going
on a long time. I was born in 1943. That's a
vintage year for sure. But the gospel had gone from
the country Baptist churches in eastern North Carolina when
I came into this world. It took me a long time to find
it out. I was getting close to 30 before I ever found it out. God sent a little book my way.
called The Sovereignty of God by A. W. Pink. And what that
man had to write about turned me upside down and inside out. And it didn't take me long. No better sense, you know. I
was still in my twenties. And I preached what I'd been
reading and studying. And a few months later, the chairman
of the deacons came to see me and he said, Rupert, he said,
if you'll just go back to preaching what you used to preach, he said,
you can stay here forever. I said, Leonard, that ain't going
to happen. So we took our walk-in papers
and didn't know where we were going or what we were going to
do. And that was a long journey. This was about 1971. Several churches later, I wound
up at this one. November the 1st, 1981. This
is the work of God. I say it with absolute boldness. It's God's work, not man's work. God is the giver and we are the
receivers. And we don't have anything that
God needs or wants to bribe Him to do this for us. He does it
because it's His own eternal purpose. These people that He
gave to Christ, He gave them to Him in our eternity past in
the precious covenant of grace. And they live from the first
generation to live on this earth till time is no more. And we
have no idea how long that is, but we know that right now the
gospel is preached and God still saves sinners. They cannot save
themselves. Yet in this very county this
morning, there's more owl walking and trying to get people in tears
and emotionally heated up and all this kind of junk. Oh, it
is sick. Sick, sick, sick. If you can
put up with that, you can't put up with this. Thank God for that. Number four, verses 39 and 40. Now, I want to read this more deliberately
and slowly. Verse 39 and 40. And this is the Father's will,
which has sent me, that of all which He has given me, all the
sheep, all the people, that God the Father has given to God the
Son in that covenant. Their very names. Now you understand
that God doesn't have to put things in a book in order to
remember it. But our very names were given to Christ in old eternity,
before there was ever a human being with this same name. That of all which he has given
me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day. Now this is talking about people
like you and me, that we die before Christ comes back. So
our body goes to the grave, and when our Lord returns, He returns
with us who have died and our soul has gone to glory. He returns
and a new body is joined to that soul. You understand? At least that's
how I think it is. I don't really want to know anything
else about it, but that's how I think it is anyway. Verse 40,
And this is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which
sees the Son, sees it with the spiritual God-given eye, and
believes on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day." The last day. Now the loss of one soul for
whom Christ died would forever tarnish his crown in glory forever
and ever and ever. If he loses one, he might as
well have lost a million, or two, or ten, or a hundred million,
or whatever. It makes no difference. If he
can lose one, he can lose them all. But I tell you, this book everywhere
declares there to be none missing. There ain't no such thing as
the circle being unbroken. The problem is that we think
everybody in a given church is members of that circle, and that
ain't the case. Or we think everybody in our family is in that circle
in heaven, and that ain't the case. Are you in that circle? And am
I in that circle? And I ain't got nothing for you
to do to get in that circle except call on God in Christ and beg
for mercy. I've heard these fair sinners Now, I want you to put this verse
down beside that one, verse 45. I forget how many times in this
chapter the Lord Jesus uses that expression at the end of verse
44. I'll raise him up at the last day. But it's repeated a
number of times. I think this is the third time
already, and I see another one. But in verse 45, it is written
in the prophets, And they shall be, this is Isaiah by the way,
they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that has
heard and learned of the Father does what? Comes to Christ. Everybody that God teaches comes
to Christ. Alright, number five. Now this is one of the most difficult
of those first three statements that I gave you. Nobody gets
particularly upset when you say anyone may come, doesn't matter
who they are or where they're from, or what they've done for
that matter. Anybody can come to Christ. But
no one can? That sticks in the crawl, you
know, right? Wherever that is. We don't even
have a crawl, do we? Oh well. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every person therefore
that has heard and has learned of the Father comes unto me. comes to be. Well, I dare you this afternoon to
read the rest of that chapter. You'd be surprised what comes
next. A whole bunch of people that thought they were Christ's
disciples quit following And he turned around and said to
the apostles, he said, will you also go away? And those famous
words out of Peter's mouth, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have
the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that
you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Where are we
going to go if not to Him? That's the question. Where are
we going to go if it ain't to Him? There's only hope in one place,
and that's in Christ. Amen. Now, I was complaining about
no music on the last stanza. Well, this one doesn't have any
music at all. It's number 466. My wife tried a bunch of different
tunes that are the same meter and supposed to work, I don't
think they did. We couldn't find one that we
thought we could stay with it. 466, Christ liveth in me. Let's see, let me unhook some
stuff here.