If you will, take your Bibles
now and turn back with me to John chapter 6. I titled the message this morning,
The Meat That Never Perishes. That's what our Lord said to
them. There's a reality we must all
come to face. We're living in a perishing world. It was not created for eternity. It was never purposed for eternity. It was just purposed for a brief
time to manifest the glory of God and the salvation of His
people. and that through the person and
work of his dear son. Paul tells us that the earnest
expectation of creation, what do we expect from creation? How do we regard creation? How do we regard this work? Well,
the earnest expectation of creation waiteth for the manifestation
of the sons of God. It's what it was built for, it's
what it was created for. That's its purpose. For creation
was made subject, not willingly, but by reason of him who subjected
the same in hope. Listen to this. David said, of
old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens
are the work of thy hands. They shall perish. They're going
to perish. But thou shalt endure. Yea, all
of them shall wax old like a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou change
them, and they shall be changed. If there's one reality which
human history is painfully aware, which is fully documented, it
is that we're perishing. We're all gonna die. We're gonna
die. We don't like to think about
it, although we're told to. The earliest record of genealogy
in the Bible says Adam lived 930 years, and he died. That's a long time, isn't it?
Think about that. But he died. Seth lived 912 years,
and he died. Enos lived 905 years, and he
died, and Cainan lived 910 years, and he died, and on and on it
goes. After giving that roll call of
the fateful over in Hebrews chapter 11, it said these all died, in
the faith, but they died. They died. We're here at most
for just a brief stay and then we move on to eternity. The soul
is eternal. Everything here, everything around
us, everything above us, everything about us is perishing. It's perishing. And God helped this poor perishing
sinner to see the reality of this world. The picture on the sea is that
of a sinner in a frail vessel crossing to the other side. He
starts his journey without the presence of his Savior. And somewhere
along the way, his Redeemer comes to him, makes himself known,
and climbs up in the vessel with him and stays with him to the
other side. Now the lesson this morning is
about the meat that never perishes. And make no mistake about it,
it is our Lord's subject throughout this chapter. He's talking about
real saving faith. That's what he's talking about.
He tells us in verse 29, this is the work of God that you believe
on him whom thou sent. You saw the miracles, you saw
all these things, he said, and yet you believe not on me. He's the way, he's the truth,
he's the light. And that's what he talks about
all through here. He talks about this. So let me
show you a few things as we go through these verses to think
about. First of all, there's a meat
that will not satisfy. It will not endure. In verse
26, he says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not
because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the
loaves and were filled. You sought me for carnal benefits. Labor not for the meat that perisheth. There is a meat that perisheth. Let me tell you something here.
He's not here suggesting that you quit your jobs and throw
caution to the wind and go through life just waiting for food to
suddenly appear on your table. That's not what he's teaching
here. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians and he said that if any would
not work, neither should they eat. So he's not telling you
here not to work and not to eat or that you have no need of the
food. If they had no need of food,
he wouldn't have fed them. He just fed these people. We're told to work with our hands
that which is good so that we may have to give to them which
have not. But temporal necessity is not
the subject of this chapter. That's not what he's talking
about. I don't want to try to use this chapter for that, only
to warn you about taking things the wrong way. Faith and life are the subjects
of this chapter. He tells us here that all those
carnal necessities are going to perish. That bread we eat, that meat
we eat, that drink we drink, it's just temporary. And they play no part in the
salvation of sinners. Our Lord said to the Pharisees,
what goes into the mouth? You remember they got on to him
about eating corn on the Sabbath day or whatever, they were always
on him about something. But in this particular case,
he told them, he said, it's not what goes into the mouth that
devours a man, it's what comes out of his heart. To put it bluntly,
whatever you eat goes in one side and comes out the other. Yes, I need food and drink, and
yes, I need clothes and shelter, but none of these things have
anything to do with faith and eternal life. By all means, labor for these
things, but don't give yourselves wholly to them. You have a greater
need than this. There is a meat that will not
endure, can and may reach a place of comfort financially. Many
have. They have houses and lands and
holdings that keep them and their families comfortable in this
life. But these things have no bearing
on the eternal state of a man's soul. The rich man, he fared
sumptuously in this world, didn't he? He had everything, anything
he wanted he had. He had. But in hell, he was miserable. And he was tormented. While poor
Lazarus, who suffered in this life, his whole life, he suffered
from poverty and sickness. He suffered in this life, but
then, after this life, he lay comforted in Abraham's bosom. And then secondly, we have a
greater need. This is what I want to talk to
you about. Our need is greater than what goes in our mouth.
It's greater than what we put on and wear. It's greater than
our houses and lands and businesses and all these things. We have
a greater need. Now my understanding is that
thousands came to it, poor and halt and blind, but they had
a greater need than that. This was just an outward show
of that real need within. There's not a creature on earth
as needy as a sinner. He's needy. And now what David
said, we're poor and needy. He's born under the curse of
a fallen daddy. Scripture said, by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. By the offense of one judgment
came upon all men the condemnation. We're born under the curse of
a fallen daddy. We go astray as soon as we be
born speaking lies. I have a nature which of itself
will not seek God. They're none that seeketh after
God. Those who are under sin, that's who Paul's talking about
there in Romans chapter three. Whether he's religious or whether
he's not religious. Whether he's a Jew or a Gentile.
They're none that seeketh after God. Naturally. Born with a nature which of itself
will not seek God. This nature will not receive
the things of the Spirit of God. This is something of the Spirit
of God. I'm told in here that every word
is inspired by the Spirit of God. These men didn't write these
things as they just sat around and thought them up, but the
Spirit inspired them to write. Holy men of God were moved by
the Holy Ghost. But I have a nature. It not only
won't seek God, but when the things of God are in play right
in front of them. There was things of God going
on before these people. His Savior was being ratified
and confirmed right before their very eyes. But they wouldn't receive the
things of the Spirit of God. and they could not understand
the mysteries of God. Eye hath not seen or ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man the things which
God hath prepared for them that love him. It's a nature which
Satan can take captive at his will, a nature that lusts after
forbidden fruit, a nature that is self-absorbed. The carnal
mind, God says, is enmity against God. It hates God. It hates His
law. It hates correction. Oh, my soul,
how we hate to be corrected. I don't care how good it is.
We don't like it. We don't like it. It's not subject
to the law of God. Neither, indeed, can be. And Job said, man is of a few
days and full of trouble. Nothing but trouble. Trouble,
trouble, trouble. At his best state, the scripture
said he's altogether vanity. Is there any creature more needy
than a sinner? Huh? He needs everything. What
don't he need? He needs everything. He has nothing. What have you gotten, Paul said,
that you haven't received? And if you received it, why do
you act like you didn't? He's a needy creature, and if
God does not, in mercy and grace, intervene, he'll perish with
the rest of this perishing world. We've got a greater need than
our hearts and minds can possibly discern. What do we need? We need a substitute. Don't we? See, I never thought anything
about that when I was growing up. They told me my need was
at the front of the church. They told me my need could be
met by walking down the aisle, by repeat after me, praying through,
they called it. Pray the sinner's prayer. I need a substitute. I need someone
to die in my stead. I need someone to go before God
with my sins laid on Him and pay the uttermost part. I need
a substitute. I need a representative. I need
to be put in an eternal union by which He can live my life
and die my death and raise me from the dead. I need a high
priest after the order of Melchizedek who can save to the uttermost
all who come unto God by him. I need a great king to set up
dominion in my soul and graciously reign, reign in me unto life
eternal. I need a faithful husband to
take me into eternal union with himself and provide for me and
defend me and love me forever. I need a righteousness A perfect,
unbroken righteousness, one without flaw, without blemish, one upon
inspection of God is found acceptable. Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. I need for God to receive me
into His arms as a son. You can't imagine. the father
himself, running out there to the prodigal son, can you? Running. And fell on him and kissed him,
loved him. I need a justification. I need
for God, once for all, without appeal, to justify me forever. And I need a preacher. I need
a man sent from God to tell me the truth, to point me to Christ,
to establish my election, and bring to me the seed of regeneration. Labor not for the meat that perisheth, because we got a greater need. There is a meat to labor for
that endureth unto everlasting life. All through this chapter,
our Lord talks to them of himself being the meat, being the meat. In verse 51, he said, I am the
living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, he'll live forever. And the bread that I shall give
is my flesh. Before our Lord went to the cross,
he went into that, what they called the upper room, and gathered
around that table, and he took some unleavened bread, and he
just broke it off, and he passed it out. And then he took a cup
full of wine, and he passed it around. And he said, as often
as you eat this bread, this is my place. which is broken for
you. This is my body, this is my flesh.
And you're gonna eat it because it's a picture. You're gonna
show my death. You're gonna show me as your
substitute. Gonna show me as your redeemer
every time you eat this bread. And then I want you to drink
this wine because it's the New Testament in my blood. This is
my blood. And as often as you do it, do
it in remembrance of me. And that's what he's telling
them here. Who he is, I'm the meat. You want to labor for something,
labor for this. This is something that won't
go away. You can show this. My wife used to clean houses
for a living. Most unrewarding work that there
ever was. Because whatever you do, the
next week it's undone. You have to do it again and do
it again. And she told me one time, she
said, you know, you can go by and show me houses you built
25 years ago, 30 years ago. And she said, that's rewarding.
But I can't show you anything that I did. It's done in a few
days. It's over and gone. You can labor
for this meat, and it's never going to go away. It's never
going to go away. 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'll raise
him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed and
my blood is drink indeed. He's the object of our faith.
This is what we eat. I can't eat anything else. Start talking about man and man's
will and man's works and the oldest mother and the youngest.
I can't eat that anymore. He's the object of our faith.
That's who our hunger for. Not literally, he's not talking
about eating his flesh as a cannibal would eat flesh, but spiritually. And this great multitude who
so desperately sought him and followed him and would have taken
him by force and made him their king, when they heard these words,
verse 60, they said, this is a hard thing. Is it? This is a hard thing. Who can hear it? And our Lord said, does this
offend you? Does this disturb you? Does what
I'm saying shock you? Does this go against your religious
traditions and understanding? Verse 62, what and if you shall
see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? You think
this is shocking. Now it made perfect sense to
them that a lamb be slain and its flesh roasted on an altar
and those priests be able to eat that flesh. That made perfect
sense to them. They didn't have a bit of problem
with that. They didn't understand what it meant, but they didn't
have a problem. or that holy showbread baked
by the priest and set in that tabernacle. But to believe on the Lamb of
God pouring out his soul unto death was more than they could
handle. They just could not understand
it. And they turned away, it says, verse 67, and walked no
more with him. And our Lord turned to the 12. And he said to them, just as
he says to us this morning, will you also go away? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Lord, to whom shall we go? His words were spirit and they
were life. Whom shall we go? Thou hast the
words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. There is a meat worthy
to labor for. It's hard sometimes in this busy
life and everything in the world going on, and believe me, you
get older, it just gets worse. It don't get any better. Well,
you're retired, you don't, oh, you wait till you retire and
tell me about it. There's a meat to labor for that
endureth unto everlasting life, and Christ is that meat. He says in Colossians 121, and
you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the
gospel which you have heard. How did he reconcile us? In the body
of his flesh through death. This chapter is about gospel
meat and gospel drink. A spiritual meal that comes from
God consists of flesh and blood. That's what he's talking about.
His flesh and his blood. And that representative man who
died our death and satisfied the justice of God whose blood
was poured out for our sins and was taken into heaven itself
to obtain eternal redemption for us. That's our food and drink. The preaching of that bloody
cross. Perishing sinners is foolishness, but unto us which are saved,
it's the power of God. It's what we long to hear. A man told me years ago, he said,
okay, Christ died for our sins, he was raised on the third day.
Can we move on now? Huh? Move on to what? Isn't that what Peter said? We
can go, where are we gonna go? You're my life. You're my acceptance
with God. You're my representative. You're
my high priest. You're my king. Where we going
to go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Move on to what? That's what
I asked the fellow. I said, it says in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you're complete in
him. Why would I want to go anywhere else? And then moving on to what this
whole unbelieving multitude did. They walked no more with him.
That tells me I had somebody else walk with. His flesh is the glorious person
of the Son of God come into the flesh to save sinners. Those
who have carnal needs come from time to time, but having no need
of the Savior's substitute or their Redeemer, they soon move
on. And they're generally offended by something they hear in the
gospel. Before our Lord went to the cross,
he called his disciples to eat, and he said, here's what you
eat, my flesh and my blood. And then fifthly and finally,
how does our labor, how does one, how does a man
labor for this meat? How do you labor for the meat
that does not perish? How do you labor for that? Well, if his words are spirit
and life, and we know that they are, let me go where they're
spoken. That's what he told his disciples
when he went out to speak. They said, he that heareth you,
heareth me. You're my representative. Secondly, let me learn to listen
instead of talking. Let me listen. Be still, isn't that what Moses
said? Stand still, be still. Quit yakking,
quit whining, quit talking, and just see the salvation of the
Lord. I told Henry one time, I said,
if you got any advice for me as a young man, and I'm going
with you out in these places to preach, I said, please, please
tell me. He said, learn to be quiet. I thought, what? Learn to be
quiet. Shut up. That's what he was telling
me. Just shut up. Listen. Listen. Thirdly, let me ask for his intervention. Don't sit around waiting on it.
Ask him. Ask him. You know, he talked about that
one fellow just kept knocking on the door. Guy didn't want
to answer the door anymore, but he just kept knocking, kept knocking,
kept knocking until he finally come to the door. What do you
want here? That's why we need to seek him.
Just keep knocking. Keep knocking. Call on him. Ask him for his intervention.
And don't quit asking until he gives it to you. And then fourthly,
let me study what I hear. Prove all things and hold fast
that which is good. Study what I tell you this morning.
Don't go home and say, well, he said it, I know it's right.
No, you go home and prove it. Go home and, I've given you scripture
references for every scripture I've stated here this morning.
Go and read them. Read the context in which they're
stated. Study what I'm telling you and
see if it's true. Let me study what I hear and
prove all things and then hold fast that which is good. Oh, I'll tell you what my desire
is. It's to find myself remaining in his presence, patiently waiting for him when
everybody else has left. I want to be in that little group
that was still standing there. All that great multitude walked
away. Oh, let me be in that little pew. Let me be. That's where
his elect are. Right there. Right there at his
feet. They got nowhere else to go.
He's their life. He's their life. What would our life be without
him? I don't care what you do or how much you have or how much
land you have or what you've done, your station, whatever. None of it's gonna be worth anything
apart from him, is it? He's everything. Oh, let me be
found right there among them. Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And then when he, had risen from the tomb. And they were
so depressed and walking down that road. And the Lord didn't
reveal himself to them. He just come up to them like
a stranger. And he said, what are you going
on so about? Yeah, we thought this Jesus of
Nazareth that they crucified, we thought he was the Christ. And he said, oh, fools, slow
in heart to believe all that God has written of me. And he
went back there in the books of Moses, all the way back in
the book of Genesis and went all the way through the scriptures,
all the way through the Old Testament. And when they got up to where
he was, he made like he was gonna go on Finally, he did go on. But they looked at each other
and they said, boy, didn't our hearts burn within us as he walked
along the way and opened the scriptures unto us? That's what
I want. That's what I want. When this
becomes your food, your hearts will burn within you. You can't
help it. You can't help it. I don't care
who's preaching. Man, when he pulls that treasure out of the
ground, it's treasure. treasure. We just flower pots. God put his treasure in. And
most of the time, the trouble is trying to get the pot out
of the way so you can see the treasure. That's what it is. Thank you.