John chapter 6, I want to read
from verses 36 through verse 40. And I've entitled today's
message, Salvation by the Will of God. Salvation by the Will
of God. The Will of God. A lot of times
you'll hear people talk about wanting to know the will of God
for their lives. It's a good thing that we would
want to know the will of God for our lives. And I know I have
often thought that way growing up and even thought that, well,
let's say, should I go to college? Should I Should I get married? Who should
I marry? Where should I live? Where should
I go to church? All these questions. What kind of occupation should
I have? Should I be a laborer or an engineer or a manager?
You know, all these things. And it is good to know the will of
God for our lives. But the fact of the matter is
God's will is is really described in scripture
as either secret, we cannot know, or it's revealed, we can know
it. And that's why I chose this song
here in page 79. It says, I'm not skilled to understand
what God has willed, what God has planned. So there's many
things about God's will that are beyond our comprehension.
and we're gonna see some of those today from scripture, they're
going to be beyond our comprehension. And yet God, it's not beyond
his comprehension. But the writer of the hymn goes
on to say, though I don't understand what God has willed and what
God has planned, and I would add in many cases, I only know
this one thing, at his right hand is one who is my Savior. That's the will of God. And so that's why I've entitled
this message, Salvation by the Will of God. Now, there's many
things about God's will, and I wanna give you just a brief
introduction to that. I'm not going to spend a lot
of time on it, but it's necessary for us to understand the will
of God for this reason, to show us that God is greater than we
are. That's something we always have to be shown. God is greater
than we are. You remember Job, and Job was
a man who God said, he's upright, he's doing everything right.
And yet, God allowed Satan to afflict Job. And in his great
affliction, Job's wife, obviously frustrated by the fact that Job
was suffering and had nothing negative about this to say to
God, she told him, why don't you just curse God and die? And
to that Job responded in Job chapter two in verse 10, he said,
have we received good of the Lord's hand? And shall we not
receive evil also? Job understood this, that it
was God's will that his people receive good from him. But in
giving them good, God also brings trouble in our lives and that
trouble It seems evil to us, but God, according to His will
now, says, in His revealed will, says, all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. And that word purpose has a big
underline because that really means God's will. everything
according to God's word, and that's revealed, right? We can't
know the will of God. I don't understand. It's complex.
It's deep. By nature, it's God himself and
his purposes, his mind, his decrees, what he ordains, and I can't
understand that. Yet I do understand this. There
is one who is my Savior. There's one who stands at God's
right hand, and he is my Savior. God's revealed that, and that
all things work together for good, because he is my Savior. All right, so that, if we understand
those two points about the will of God, that it's beyond our
comprehension, and yet, in that will, it is saving by Christ,
and we, therefore, can trust God. So let me also add a couple
of other things about God's will that are true from scripture.
Now, as I said, God's will can be categorized as either a will
we are not told, it's secret. For example, I don't know who's
going to be president of the United States next year, but
this I'm certain that it is exactly what God wants. And because God
is good, and He always does what's right and good, and because of
who He is in His character revealed to us in the Lord Jesus Christ,
I'm perfectly content to allow Him to do whatever He wants.
And I'm happy that He does whatever He wants. It might seem evil
to us, whoever it might be, because of our opinions, And we might
see injustices in the land, and it may give us great concern
and cause for great prayer and so on. But we can still trust
that the one who rules this world does his will at all times. And
so let me take you to a couple of scriptures that teach us this
in Isaiah chapter 45, beginning in Isaiah chapter 45. It says
in verse 5, of Isaiah 45, I am the Lord and
there's none else, there's no God beside me. I girded thee
though thou has not known me. He's talking to a ruler named
Cyrus. And you can see that in verse
one of the same chapter. He's talking about a man on earth
and he doesn't know the Lord and yet God has girded him as
he says here. And this is why God has done
this, that they may know from the rising of the sun and from
the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and there is
none else. I form light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
So what this is showing us is that God does what he wants.
And whatever it is, God did it. Do you see that? Whatever it
is, ultimately, God takes responsibility for it. And there's never a place
where this is more clear than in Acts chapter 2. Let me take
you to that text of scripture as well, Acts chapter 2. And
in verse 23, it says, Acts 2.23, that Christ, being delivered
by the determinate counsel That means God's counsel, what God
thinks in his heart. Within God, there is a counsel. He doesn't seek for counsel outside
of himself. He himself is his own counselor,
his advisor, his guide, he himself. And it's a determinate counsel.
God never thinks, let's see, will that work? Let me think
it through. Oh, no, that won't work. I back up. I'll try a different
route. Will that work? No. Ah, here's
a way that'll work. That's the way we think. But
God knows the end from the beginning. He doesn't have to take contingencies. He doesn't have to put a place,
a plan in place that says, well, if man does this, then I'll respond
this way. Otherwise, I'll just do what
I want. That's the foolishness of man. Here he says that Christ
was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. He was delivered. Delivered how? Well, into the
hands of these men, he says. You have taken the one God delivered
to you, delivered up, didn't spare him, but delivered him
by his determined counsel and foreknowledge. You have taken
and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. So what they did was
wrong. And yet God determined to use
their sin to accomplish his good. You see, was God right in that? Was God, did God do something
wrong in relying on and using the acts of sinful men to accomplish
His will? And did He excuse them because
they did it because He determined that they should do it? No, He
held them accountable for it. And what they did was wrong.
because it violated God's revealed will. Yet it was God's secret
will that they, by their own wickedness, would be the instruments
of cruelty and punishment and suffering for the Lord Jesus
Christ. They would bring reproach and
shame upon Him out of their own wicked hearts and cruelty and
everything that came with the crucifixion, and it would be
all according to God's determinate will. His will is always done,
it was determined by God. So God does everything that he
wants, and everything that happens is according to his will, and
he even uses, in fact he uses this very often, the sinful acts
of wicked men to accomplish his will. And what it shows is that
whatever we do, even though it's wrong, God will use it to his
good, therefore he is sovereign, do you see? If God can do whatever
He wants, even when we go against His revealed will, then it shows
that God has power over us, doesn't it? Look at Proverbs, the book
of Proverbs in chapter 21. In Proverbs 21, he says this. In verse one, Proverbs 21, verse
one, the king's heart Not just that poor guy out there who's
making a street out of bricks, who really didn't have enough
ability to get an education, not just him, but the king. The king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord as the rivers of water, he turns it whithersoever
he will. The king's heart, the one who
rules. That would include any rulers
in our country, in our nation, in our world. God turns their
hearts wherever He wants them to go. That's God being sovereign,
isn't it? Just like these wicked men who
took Christ and crucified Him, God Himself could turn them however
He would, and He did. Remember Joseph? He was taken
by his brothers and sold as a slave. And as a slave in the land of
Egypt, he had to serve Potiphar. And then he was cast into prison,
falsely accused. And all of that, all that was
done and came upon Joseph. And Joseph said this about it
all. God sent me here to save much people alive. God sent me
before you to preserve your life. You meant it for evil, God meant
it for good, you see. So God does whatever he wants,
everything that's done is according to his will. Even the wickedness
of man serves God. He says in Proverbs 16, I didn't
read that to you, but let me quote it to you. In Proverbs
16, verse 4, the Lord has made all things for himself. Yea,
even the wicked for the day of evil. And so we see that whatever
God does, it's in his hands. He says in Proverbs 16, listen
to this in verse 33. The lot, a lot means like dice. When you roll dice, that's like
a lot. It's chance, it's what we would
call chance. Well, the lot is cast into the
lap to see what does the dice say? It's a seven. Well, that means this. No, he
says the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing
thereof is of the Lord. There's no chance, is there? There's nothing, and when I was
in college, I had to study statistics and probability and all that
stuff, and it hurt my head. The good thing is there's nothing
random, nothing random. Science says there's random acts
and there's all these things we can depend on the randomness
of things. No, this is God working. Creation itself, gravity, everything,
the movement of molecules and little pieces that we can't just
really know about called electrons and little parts of tiny particles. God moves all those, all the
time. Even the big things, the movements
of the sun and stars and everything, it's all in his hand. He upholds
it, he sustains it by his almighty word. All right, so God does
what he wants. Everything that's done is according
to his will. Nothing happens apart from his
will. And even the smallest of matters
that seem like chance to us is in his hand. Even the king's
heart is in his hand, everything. And he accomplishes his will
in it all. Let me read also to you in Acts
chapter four, one more verse here like this. In Acts chapter
four and verse 27, Speaking to those about those
people who took the Lord Jesus Christ and crucified him it says
in verse 26 of Acts 4 The kings of the earth stood up and the
rulers gathered themselves together against the Lord and against
his Christ Okay, this is men trying to fight against God For
of a truth Against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel were gathered together, notice, for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. You see, everything
is done according to what God determined to be done. I heard Todd Nyberg say, do you
believe in absolute predestination? Absolutely. It's true. In Psalm 135 and verse 6, it
says, to him, it says in verse 6 of Psalm 135, whatsoever the
Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth and in the
seas and all deep places. Now, this is good news, isn't
it? Why is this good news? Well,
look at Psalm 145. Psalm 145 and verse five. He says in Psalm 145, verse five,
notice this is why this is good news. I will speak of the glorious
honor of thy majesty and of thy wondrous works. Men shall speak
of the might of thy terrible acts, and I will declare thy
greatness. They shall abundantly utter the
memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy." Aren't you
glad he rules? When David was facing a choice
of whether to be turned over to his enemies or suffer, at
God's hand he said, let me fall into the Lord's hand, because
with the Lord there's mercy, but not with man. not with man. He says, The Lord is gracious
and full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy.
The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all
his works. All thy works shall praise thee,
O Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak
of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power. to make known
to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty
of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. The
Lord upholds all that fall. and raises up all those that
be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon Thee,
and Thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest Thine
hand and satisfyest the desire of every living thing." Now listen
to this. The Lord is righteous in all
His ways and holy in all His works. What do we learn about
the will of God? That like God, God's will is
holy. There's nothing tainted in all
that God does. Does he create light and darkness?
Yes, it's holy. Does he create good and evil? It is holy. When God does it,
it's right. I remember when my son Jonathan
was little, maybe three or four years old, I was trying to explain
these things to him. I should have just said, I'm
not skilled to understand what God has willed. but I gave an
illustration. Let me say this about illustrations.
Illustrations are really not a good idea, and I'm not really
creative enough to come up with good illustrations, so that kind
of sidelines me, but I'll say this, that God has given enough
illustrations in scripture, they're God-sanctioned illustrations,
that those are the ones we should use. Nevertheless, I'm gonna
give one with that caveat. I said to my son, I said, now
dad, daddy can cross the road because I understand what it
takes to get across the road. And it's not wrong for me to
cross the road. I know how to do it safely according to the
laws of traffic, but you're just a child and you cannot cross
the road by yourself because you could get hurt and die. And
you don't understand how to read signs yet. So that helped me
at least understand the difference in some small way of how God
can act in ways which are holy, but which for me would not be
right to do. I can't create evil without it
being evil. I am full of evil. Okay, so let's
just leave it at I'm not skilled to understand. Now, given the
fact that God's will is always done, he does his will in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, in
all deep places, in the seas, wherever, we see then that everything
that God does in the lives of his people, working together
for our good, even though it contains what we consider bad,
is actually good. because God did it. In Psalm
107, this is evidently the case where people throughout that
Psalm, Psalm 107, you can read it in your own time, God brings
men into trouble. and they're at their wits end,
and then in their trouble, they call unto the Lord, they cry
to Him, and He delivers them out of their trouble, and He
finishes that, He says, oh, that men would praise the Lord for
His goodness, for His marvelous works to the children of men.
You see, the trouble that God brings is to bring us to Christ. And that's good, even though
it means for us trouble in our present temporary circumstances. All right, I say all that as
a preface to what we're gonna look at in John chapter six.
Now let's turn to John chapter six and look at verse 36 of John
six. I should clarify, too, also,
that in God's will, some of it's secret. We don't know what God's
will is for tomorrow, really, in detail, do we? Will I be alive
at the end of tomorrow? I don't know. But I don't have
to know, do I? In fact, if I did know the future
without knowing God, it would be miserable, wouldn't it? If
I didn't know God who holds the future, who directs it to accomplish
His will, then knowing the future would not be a benefit, would
it? It would be a liability, a problem. We would go, that's
why people get depressed, thinking about, well, is the sky gonna
fall? Is the sun gonna go dark? Are the oceans going to overflow?
God says, yeah, the mountains will be carried into the midst
of the sea, but we will not fear because God is our refuge, you
see. So it's not knowing what will happen that's important.
It's knowing God who directs everything that happens. And
this is often the case that we want to trust in some assurance
given to us by some supposed or self-acclaimed expert. Oh,
I know that your loved one is in glory, you know, because.
Well, I don't care what you think. I really only want to know what
God says. And see, that's what makes the
difference between comfort from God and comfort from men, from
our own selves. But here we have the very words
of God, the very words of God himself in our nature, the Lord
Jesus Christ. So God's secret things are hidden.
His revealed things are given to us to know them. And the things
that are revealed in God's will are in two parts. One, the things
that God ordained to happen and will be carried out, which we
don't have anything to do with. And then the things that God
has commanded us to do and which we will be accountable for to
Him if we don't do them. and that's where we are concerned,
isn't it? That's where we're concerned
here. Look at John chapter six and verse 36. Jesus said, I said
unto you that you also have seen me and believe not. These men did not believe Jesus
Christ. Did He say something that was
wrong? Did He lie to them that they shouldn't believe Him? Had
He given them any reason why they wouldn't trust Him or believe
His Word? Had He ever failed to speak the
truth? You know, we sometimes doubt
what someone says because we think, well, you might not know
what you're talking about. There's other things that, if
you knew, might change what you just said. Or we think they might
have a motive which makes it in their best interest not to
tell us the whole truth, or maybe even change the way things are,
the facts, in order to get a result that they want. So we can't necessarily
trust people, can we? But Jesus Christ is the truth. He cannot lie. And so these men,
when we don't believe Him, we're calling Him, we're claiming that
He is a liar if we don't believe Him. And that's wrong, isn't
it? To accuse Christ of being a liar
is proving that we ourselves are sinners and we're the liars
because He's only true. And so these men did not believe
him. He said, I said, you do not believe
me. You saw me, but you don't believe
me. They saw the miracle of him breaking the bread and feeding
5,000. They should have said, whoa, that is a miracle only
God could have performed. And therefore, they should have
sought more from him than just food. But they said, oh look,
food. Let's just stick to the food,
okay? I don't care what else you have, I only want your food.
Cuz food's what I really want. I mean, if I have food, I'm content.
You see, they failed to perceive that Jesus, who made the food,
was the one who gives everlasting life through a living bread,
living food. And so they didn't seek Him for
what He truly is and was. Their need stopped short of their
own sin against God and their need for life. So they didn't
come to Him for that. But that's the reason He came.
That's who he is, he's the bread of life sent by God in order
to lay down his life that we might live. Remember last week,
he died that we might live. Now, here he says, you don't
believe. Okay, was it Jesus' fault that
they didn't believe? Had he not given them sufficient
evidence? Had he not done something convincing,
like making the bread? Well, he had. He had given plenty
of evidence. His word was true. He spoke from
God. What could be more clear than
to speak from God as a man? And yet they did not believe
him. It wasn't his fault. Whose fault then? It was their
fault. And that's why they were to be
blamed. They were guilty of failing to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If we believe Christ's words,
if we believe that he's speaking the truth, what will we do? Well,
we'll be obedient to what he tells us to do. We'll trust him,
won't we? If you believe what I'm saying,
If you believe that I'm speaking the truth, then you'll take what
I'm saying as the truth and you will be obedient to it. Now,
I'm telling you that God's word is true. That Christ is the truth. And what he says must be believed. And if we fail to believe it,
it's our fault. That's the revealed will of God.
He says, this is the work of God that you believe on him.
That's the work God has. That's what he wants. That's,
if you will, God's revealed will for you is to believe on Christ. That's his revealed will for
you. But you failed to do what God has revealed. You failed
to keep his commandment. In 1 John 3, verse 23, this is
his commandment that we believe on the name of his son, Jesus
Christ, and love one another as he's given us commandment.
That's a command. We should believe it. If we fail,
then we fail to keep God's revealed will. All right. Now we're gonna
come to the next part of God's will, which is his revealed will
that he's given to Christ to do. And this is a will that we
do not contribute to. This is a will that he does out
of God's goodness, out of God's compassion and mercy, out of
his righteousness, out of his holiness. In fact, God's will,
like God, is eternal. It doesn't change. It's always
done, and it cannot change. And he can never fail in doing
his will. So what he's given Christ to
do here is comforting to know, because God has done it, it's
right, it can't fail, it can't change, and God gets all the
glory for it. That's the will of God, you see.
And so he says, you don't believe, but verse 37, in contrast to
that, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Do you see the difference here?
You don't believe, that's your fault. You're to be blamed for
it, you're guilty. I didn't say anything wrong.
Everything I said is right. I've even given miracles, and
you failed to believe, but All who the Father has given to me
shall come. They shall believe, you see.
What made the difference then? Did God spread an even coat of
grace across the entire human race and said, now I'm going
to give you a certain amount of influence. And if you respond
to that influence, then you'll be saved. But if you don't, you're
damned. And therefore, some do and some
don't. And we get it down to where it
looks like the only difference is that some were able to respond. Maybe they were motivated and
they were born with that motivation or they got it through some meditative
process. We don't know. They just came
up with it. That's false. The difference here is given
by Christ. The difference between those who do not believe and
those who do believe and come to Christ, that's what faith
is, is what? The will of the Father. The difference is always God. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus. No man, it says in Romans chapter
11, verse 33 and following, it says, Who has first given to
him, and it shall be given to him again? For of him, and through
him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. All things are of God, 2 Corinthians
5.18. All things are of God who hath
reconciled us to himself. When we were without strength,
God did something. He reconciled us to Himself through
the death of His Son, you see. This is the will of God revealed
and performed, not by us, but in spite of us, according to
what's good, what seemed good to God. He did it in his son,
and he says, this is the Father's will. All that the Father has
given me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Now we who are sinners, when
we come to Christ, when we come to Christ looking to him, what
do we think? Will he receive me? I'm a sinful
man. My faith, I can't even untangle
the thoughts of my own mind to know whether I'm believing or
not. I'm a mess. I'm confused. Will I be rejected? He said that Jesus Christ by
Himself has purged our sin, that when He offered Himself to God
in blood that He obtained our eternal redemption, that by one
offering He has made holy forever those that God has set apart
and given to Him, and that by one offering He perfected forever
those that God had given to Him, who sanctified. He said those
things in Scripture. Well, can I rest on that? Can I trust that? Can I trust
that it's all what God did in Christ? He says that if you so
come to Him, looking to Him, relying on Him, depending on
Him to save you from your sins. He will not cast you out. But
what about my... He will not cast you out. What
about my weakness? He will not cast you out. He
will come with all saving power according to His will and His
strength, not yours. The Lord is my strength and the
Lord is my salvation. Whom shall I fear? You see, we
come to God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
is faith. Not by His blood plus something
we bring, but by His blood alone. And Jesus promises, I will not
cast him out. No, not in any wise, because
he was given to me by my Father. And then in verse 38, For I came
down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him
that sent me. The will of Christ is the will
of His Father. He didn't come to do something
independent of His Father. He couldn't. God's will was in
His heart to do it. And He came and He did it. That's
why He came. And that means that it is God
the Father's will to save sinners. And He gave His Son. He reconciled
us to Himself by the death of His Son. He did it. He delivered
Him up for us all. He was delivered for our offenses. He was raised again for our justification. God has justified His people.
And He did it through the Lord Jesus Christ. This is God's will. This is the revealed will of
God. We failed, didn't we? We failed
to do the revealed will of God. What did God do? It was always
His will, before we failed, it was always His will to bring
His Son and to do His will that would deliver us from our failure
to keep His will. What blessing is that? What a
comfort is that? And he says in verse 39, And
this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which
He hath given me I should lose nothing. much should raise it
up again at the last day. It's laid on Christ, our salvation. Listen to this, you trembling,
poor sinner who knows that your faith is so weak that you can't
seem to find it. You're directed to the Lord Jesus
Christ, and He says, God's will for me, Christ, not for you,
but God's will for me, is that He sent me so that all those
He has given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again
at the last day. Raise up all those God has given
to Him. Not going to lose one. Can Christ
fail to do God's will? Can He fail in it? No, He's Almighty. And this is the point of this,
is that God's will cannot fail and He gave it to Christ in order
to do it because Christ cannot fail. It's certain, it's accomplished
by Him alone. And then he says this, well,
he says, I'll raise it up again at the last day. That tells us
something about the end of time, doesn't it? That's a revelation.
God's revealing what we could not know, but he says this is
his will and he's going to perform it. He's gonna raise up his people
who now in their lifetime have come to Christ and relying on
him, dependent upon him for everything in salvation. He's going to raise
them up at the last day. When we die in ourselves, when
we die and our body is laid in the ground, what is that for
the believer? Now, not for those who don't
trust Christ, but for the believer. You know what that is? That's
not death to a believer. It's stripping away what prevents
us from coming into glory. It's taking away the sinful,
dead part of us in order to release us. It's called redemption unto
life. And so he strips away first,
and then at the last day, he clothes us. in a new body that's
like His glorious body, so we're going to be just like the Lord
Jesus Christ, and He's going to perform it. This is God's
will. He will do it. It will occur
on the last day. Well, isn't there going to be
like seven years of this, and a thousand years of that, and
then something else? No. It's the last day. I'm not
skilled to understand what God has willed, what God has planned,
but I do know this, Christ is gonna raise His people up on
the last day. Isn't that clear? Verse 40, this
is the will of Him, we're saved by God's will, that sent me,
Christ was sent to do it, that everyone which seeth the Son
and believes on Him may have everlasting life and I will raise
Him up at the last day. Now we have many ups and downs
in our lives. Christ says, you keep your expectations
on God's will and on Christ's power and faithfulness to do
that will to raise you up at the last day. You see, if you
are directed in all of your expectations, if Christ is your hope, you have
no cause for fear, do you? Here he says, this is the will
of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son. Now that
word, seeth, it means, and if you look it up in the Blue Letter
Bible, it explains it, it means a spectator. You know what a
spectator is, someone who observes. Usually in like the Olympics,
people watch the athletes performing. Or like at a baseball game or
a football game, you watch the athletes performing and you have
somebody that you're usually favorable, you want them to win. I would really like them to win,
not them. And so you're cheering for your
team. That's a spectator. Here the Lord Jesus Christ is
the one who is the performer. He's the champion. He's the captain. The battle is His. And what are
we? We're observers. We watch and
we listen to what God has said that He has been given to do. This is God's revealed will.
It's God's command to him to perform. We failed to perform
what God revealed and commanded us to do. We're guilty and God's
going to hold us accountable. But here, God, according to his
will, we didn't know it until God revealed it. has laid upon
Christ his will to perform, and that will is his alone to perform. We couldn't add to it. We can't
contribute to it. We have no power to do it. We're
without strength. Then the Lord Jesus Christ comes
and he undertakes. He goes to God with our sins. and his own sacrifice of himself
in suffering under the just wrath of God for us, and he answers
everything that God requires of us. And he says, when we as
spectators observing that, we see the son believing on him. Now we know that there's much
required for us to truly believe Christ and we know that there's
much required in order for God to give us life and to maintain
our life and to maintain whatever it is that God requires for our
life like faith and repentance and righteousness. But the Lord
is saying, looking upon Christ and seeing everything that God
requires of me met by Him, the bread of life, I then take Him
as everything God requires from me for life and to sustain it
and to bring me into everlasting life. I trust Him. And I see myself without strength. And yet I see him having all
power, faithful, unfailing, true. and all the glory belongs to
Him, and I ascribe to Him everything in my salvation, and I rely on
Him, I depend on Him, I come to Him, Lord, I have no strength
in this matter, the battle is Yours, save me by Your grace
alone. Asking Him, coming and relying
upon Him, do for me what I cannot do. I would mess up the smallest
part, leave nothing for me, and that's faith. You see, God has
to give us that too. And so I come even for the faith
required. That's the will of God coming
to Christ for everything. And Jesus says, so seen and so
believing on him has already present possession, everlasting
life, because that's the life of God operating in us to trust
Christ. I will raise him up at the last
day. I'm the bread of heaven, that's what he's saying, the
living bread. I came down to give life to all those God gave
to me to give life to. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for
the life that Christ is. He is our life. Thank you for
the truth required. to be revealed to us that He
has revealed. Thank you for the way that He
fulfilled to bring us to God, even our Father. And thank you
for everything that you gave Him to do for your good will. Thank you that your will never
fails because you laid it on Christ to do it all. And though
we have failed and sinfully failed, and we are accountable, yet He
has taken up our obligations and given an answer In the answer
of himself, his life laid down that we might live. Everything
required for our life is in him. Lord, help us to come to him.
And even in that coming, we pray for your grace. Enable us, Lord,
to look to Christ only. In his name we pray, amen.