My text this morning is found
in John chapter 6 in verses 28 and 29. My subject is the miracle of
faith. Before I get to the text, I want
to briefly describe the events that had transpired the day before
and the character of the men that our Lord was addressing
here in these verses. The day before, the Lord had
done some great miracles. It doesn't name all the miracles
that He performed. John himself said at the end
of his Gospel, he said if everything that the Lord did was written
down, the world couldn't contain the books. every miracle that
our Lord performed, I'm convinced He didn't always perform before
men, number one. And number two, they just weren't
all written down. There were so many. Can you imagine
a crowd of 5,000 people and the Lord healing those among them?
You know, somebody comes here. I met this fellow back here this
morning, and I met some visitors here last week, and just two
or three, and I forget their names after a little while. Can
you imagine just trying to remember all the miracles that our Lord
performed? And He did this every day. He
went about doing good, healing the sick. He raised the dead. He cleansed lepers. A paralyzed
man took Him by the hand and raised Him up. Two blind men, He healed them.
Another blind man, blind boy to mass. You can go on and on
with the miracles that our Lord did. And people saw these miracles. They saw them. And these were
God's confirmation that this was His Son. This was his son. This was that prophet that was
to come. And these men knew a little bit
about that. They knew that because of these
miracles that he was performing, they judged and thought in their
own mind, okay, this is that prophet that should come. But
their whole concept of the kingdom of God was wrong. They were right
as to the evidences of his coming, but they were wrong in their
concept of the kingdom. They thought a man like David,
a man of low stature, of low renown, was going to come into
the world and be anointed like David was, and God was going
to raise him up through the ranks and make him king and restore
Israel to its former glory and beyond. That's what they thought
the kingdom of God was all about. And so when they saw our Lord
feed these 5,000, they followed Him because they saw the miracles,
and they were hoping to see more, and they did. And they watched
Him take this little lunch sack, two fishes and five loaves of
barley, and feed 5,000 men plus the women and children, and then
take up 12 basketfuls of remains. And they said, this is that prophet
that was to come. And we're going to take him by
force and make him king. We're going to take him right
now and make him king. Make him king. The kingdom of
God is at hand. We're going to make him king. And the strangest thing happened.
The Lord left him. The Lord left him and went off
by himself. The Lord, knowing their thoughts
and intents, departed from them into the mountain alone." There's
three doctrines here I just want to mention before I get to my
text that's taught here in the feeding of the 5,000. First of all, when God ministers
to men, Christ Himself is manifest as the source of their bread
and their meat. When I talk about standing up
here and preaching to you, I understand my message is Christ. He's the
source. I'm not the source. He's the
source. I'm the means. He's the source. When God ministers to men, Christ
himself is manifested as the source of their bread and meat.
Secondly, here's another doctrine. that God is pleased to use means
for the feeding of His sheep. He distributed these fishes and
loaves to His disciples. And He said, now you go feed
them. You go feed them. And they did. They did. And then thirdly, that no man
by his own power can make Jesus Christ anything. Huh? That's why He left them. That's
why He left them. Religion tells folks that they
can make Jesus their Savior and then they can make Him their
Lord. You can't make Jesus Christ anything. He's already Lord. He's already Savior. You can't
make Him anything. Here's what the Scripture says,
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
this same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. What's
that mean? He's King and He's Savior. You crucified Him. You didn't
make Him anything. God did. In fact, what you did,
you did what God's hand and God's counsel determined before to
be done. You can read that over in Acts
chapter 4. That's what you did. But you didn't make Him King.
And you didn't make Him Savior. God did. Question is, is He your
Savior? Huh? We're told in Psalm chapter 2
that the heathen rages about this. He don't like this. He
don't like the idea of a sovereign Christ. He don't like the idea
of God appointing a Savior to save whom He will. The heathen
rages about this. He don't like it. He don't like
it. He gets up in arms about this.
And the people, the people, they imagine a vain thing. The kings
of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against His ordained, saying, listen
to this, let's break their bands. Let's get out from under their
rule. Let's break their bands asunder and cast away their cords
from us. Now you listen to this, he that
said it in the heavens, he'll laugh. Yet have I set my king upon my
holy hill of Zion. Not a man, not a group of men,
not a nation, God set him as king on his holy hill in Zion. And then again in Romans 14,
7, Paul said, for none of us liveth to himself. You thought
you did, didn't you? Huh? We act like we do. Here's what I'm going to do. Two weeks from now, I'm going
to buy this piece of land. And two years from now, I'm going
to do this. And three years from now, I'm
going to do that. And five years. Really? You better listen to the Scriptures.
No man liveth to himself. Well, that's all about the believer.
That's not what it says. It says no man liveth to himself,
and no man dieth to himself. Whether we live, therefore, or
die, we're the Lord's. Listen to this, verse 9, For
to this end Christ both died and rose and revived, that He
might be Lord both of the dead and the living. Most unbelievers think to themselves
that because they are not believers and they are not willing to submit
to his authority that God's not doing anything with them and
can do nothing with them. Well, if that's what you believe,
you think about this. Acts 4, 27. This is what I was
quoting. I quoted you a little piece of
this a while ago. He's talking about those who crucified the
Lord, and now Peter's preaching to them. of a truth against thy
holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius
Pilate with the Gentiles, and all the people of Israel were
gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done." Listen to what Solomon said. This is not
some isolated passage here I'm grabbing to try to nail down
a doctrine. Listen to this. Solomon said,
the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of
waters. How come the Mississippi turns
left and then turns right and then flows north a little bit
and then goes south a little bit? How come it winds up in
New Orleans? Because it's in the hand of the
Lord. And just as that river is in His hands, so is the heart
of the King. And He'll turneth it whithersoever
He will. Huh? Listen to this, Proverbs 16.1,
the preparations of the heart in man. And the answer of his
tongue is from the Lord. Now, I'm telling you, you can't
make him what he's not. He's already Lord. And this whole
world is running around trying to think about what they can
do for Jesus. That's not it. It's what He's
going to do with you. He's Lord. He's Savior. These
men were going to take him by force and make him what they
wanted him to be. And he left them. He left them. And I tell you, any group who
gets together and starts talking about making him this and making
him that, he's already departed. Ichabod's written on the door.
He's gone. He's not there. It can't make Him anything. All
of His offices and works were given to Him by God with His
full and willing agreement before the foundation of the world. And this power was given to Him,
John 17, too, that He should give eternal life to as many
as the Father has given to Him. Now, here comes these foolish
men with their false concepts of salvation and trying to make
some small talk with the Savior. When did you get here? Boy, I
tell you, the Lord stopped them in their tracks, didn't he? He
said, you're not here because you saw my miracles. You seek Me not because you saw
the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were
filled. You didn't see My miracles and see that they were a confirmation
of God of My Messiahship. That's not what you saw. You
didn't see My miracles and see in them how God saved sinners.
He saved sick folks, blind folks, helpless men and women. He didn't
cure anybody of a headache. You can cure yourself of a headache.
He raised the dead. Huh? That's a picture of how
God saves sinners. They're dead in trespasses and
sin. He gives sight to the blind. Isn't that where we're at? We're
blind, ain't we? Huh? Called us out of darkness
into his marvelous light. You didn't see my miracles and
perceive the redemptive will of God being accomplished. You
partook of the benefits, and that's why you're here right
now. John 6, 27. Don't labor for the
meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures unto
everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give you. For Him
hath God the Father sealed. And then here's my text. They
said, what can we do? to do what you do. What can we
do? He said, this is the work of
God that you believe on Him, that you believe on Him whom
He has sent. Faith is the work of God. That's right. Faith is the work
of God. As surely as God was necessary
for the cleansing of the leper and the casting out of the demons
and the healing of the paralyzed man, giving sight to the blind,
even so in the giving of faith to chosen sinners. He said, by
grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. And I'll tell you, if he had
a finger in it, if he had a finger in it, he'd wag on it throughout
all eternity. I've heard men, we used to have
testimony nights in the religion I raised in, and they'd get up,
and I've heard men say this. Well, I can tell you one thing. No, you can't. One thing I did, and they go
back to the hour and the day and whatever it was. Faith is not something inherent
in men. Our Lord said to His disciples,
they saw that rich young ruler walk away. He was rich. He was
smart. He was well-known. He was well-loved. He had all the potential that
the churches today are looking for. And the Lord sent him away
with his tail tucked between his legs. And they turned and
looked at each other, and they said, if he can't be saved, who
then can be? And our Lord perceived what they
were saying. And here's what he told them,
with men it's impossible. Huh? Do you believe that? It's impossible. But with God, all things are possible. With
God, even a worthless maggot like me can be given faith. You see that? That's what the
Scripture teaches about faith. It's a miracle. It's a miracle. Well, Preacher, you don't really
believe that God chose a people to hear and believe, do you?
He said He did. Now, here's what it comes to. Do you believe God? Or do you
believe men? Paul said, let God be true in
every man's life, including himself. Do you really believe that God
chose a people? That's what He said over in II
Thessalonians 2.13, God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. Whereunto He called you by our gospel. Because He did,
He called you. It says, we have obtained this
inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
That's what it says in Ephesians 111. Peter said, we are lit according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the spirit and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. And there's what it says over
in the book of Acts. He said, as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. Do I believe God chose the people
to hear and believe and save their souls? He said He did. And I believe God. I believe
God. And then there's my text that
I had last Sunday that I preached to you. We're not appointed to
wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. And then what about this one?
Over here in John chapter 6, he goes into a little more detail
on down the road. He said, all that the Father
has given me is going to come to me. What's this coming to
him all about? That's faith. Come unto me, all you that are
weary and heavy laden. I'll give you rest. You'll find
rest for your souls in me. This coming, he's talking about
faith. Who's going to believe? All that
the Father has given me. And that's what I'm saying. Faith
is a miracle. This is the work of God that
you believe on Him whom the Father has sent. God sent Him because
He purposed salvation in Him. That's what we've learned. God
purposed to save men in Christ. He didn't purpose to save men
in a Baptist church. He purposed to save men in Christ. God sent him because without
him, nobody's going to be saved. God sent him because he trusted
everything he had into his care. Otherwise, he'd have burnt this
world to cinders when Adam fell. Faith is a miracle, and as such,
it is the work of God in you. Well, how is faith a miracle? How is faith a miracle? Let me
give you five things. Way more than that, but we don't
have time for it this morning. Let me just give you five things.
It is a miracle of faith that a man who is an unwilling rebel is made willing in the day of
God's power. Is that not a miracle? If a man
had gritted his teeth and clenched his fist and wasn't going to
have any part of this, That man on the cross, here he sat. This
one was railing on Christ, and he was railing back. And that
one would rail on Christ, and he'd rail back. All of a sudden,
this unwilling rebel become willing. And he quit railing. And he started
talking to the other guy. And he said, you and I are guilty.
He ain't guilty of anything. He started defending him. This
is an unwilling rebel. Been a rebel all of his life.
That's why he was on the cross. He was a rebel. All of a sudden, he's not. Psalm 110, verse 3, Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. Willing to what? Walk down an aisle? Go down the
Roman road, join the church, go to the pool? No, sir. They shall be willing to submit
themselves to the word of God and the gospel of God's sovereign
grace in Christ. Willing. Willing. Willing to let God be true in
every man liar. Willing to submit yourself to
God's messengers. Who's he think he is? Why? He's up there telling things
that this whole world, it's contrary to what the whole world is preaching.
Who does he think he is? He thinks he's God's messenger.
That's who he thinks he is. If you want to know the truth
about it, you'll always find God's messengers in the minority. Always. Always. How many men that day at the
line before they're going to go into Israel, was in unbelief,
and how many was in favor of God, huh? There wasn't a handful. Caleb,
Joshua, huh? Just a handful, just a handful,
just three or four. What happened to the rest of
them? Their carcasses rotted in the wilderness. Paul said to the Thessalonians,
this is in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 if you want to read it. I think
it's down about verse 6. But he tells them in verse 5,
I think it is, he said, I know your election of God. I know
that you've been chosen of God before the foundation of the
world, because when my gospel came to you, it didn't come in
word only, but it came in power and in the Holy Ghost. Now listen
to this. And you've become followers of us and of the Lord. We're not talking about going
two different directions when a man follows the Lord and follows
his messengers. They're both on the same page. Willing to submit yourselves
to God's messengers. Paul said, I know your election
of God because that's the very thing you did. Willing to hear
and learn. Willing to come and avail yourself
of the means. Willing to believe, but put you
in opposition. to your friends and family, willing
to act on God's testimony as established fact, be it good
news or bad. Who was the old prophet that
came with Eli? I can't remember anymore. Came
to him. I didn't want to tell him his
two boys was dead. But he told him. You know what
he said? It's the Lord. It's the Lord. Let him do what
he will. Huh? That's faith. And I tell
you, that ain't something you're born with. That's something given.
That's something given. All right, here's the second
thing. The second thing about true faith,
this miracle of faith, This thing that is miraculous is that an
ignorant sinner who understands nothing is given an understanding. Huh? I'll tell you the first
time I heard this, I thought there's nothing in that makes
sense. There's nothing in this that makes sense. Why would you
even preach such a thing, people? Huh? That's what my brother told
me the first time he ever heard what I believe. He said, well,
if I believed what you believe, I wouldn't preach. I don't have
any understanding. I tell you, once you have an
understanding, you understand that if you didn't believe this,
you wouldn't preach. Why would you preach? Man's totally
depraved. He fell in at him. There's none
that understand it, none that seeketh after God. What's preaching
got to do with anything? Huh? But when he gets an understanding,
that God has purposed to save a people for his glory and send
his son to be their savior and redeemer and intercessor, and
that by virtue of that, the Holy Spirit is sent into the world
to quicken men's hearts and give them an understanding, then,
yes, now I see, now I understand why I ought to go preach. Does
that make sense? This is the miracle of faith,
is that a man who understands nothing, none that understands,
all of a sudden understands. Isn't that something? God gives him wisdom. He gives
him wisdom. And Paul tells us something about
The condition of men over in Ephesians 4, verse 18, having
their understanding darkened. Being alienated from the life
of God through the ignorance that's in them because of the
blindness of their hearts. Brethren, I don't preach to men
assuming that they have the ability to believe. or the ability to
understand what I'm preaching. I preach to men believing that
God will give His elect an understanding. That's why I preach. He promised
that He would. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Now, you either believe
that or you don't. I believe God. In 1 Corinthians 2, 7, it says,
now we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. It's a mystery. Everybody don't understand it.
Everybody don't get it. They hear it, and what in the
world is he coming from? We speak the wisdom of God in
a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, now listen, which God ordained
before the world under our glory. Which none of the princes of
this world knew, for had they known it, they wouldn't have
crucified the Lord of Glory. If Aliapilot knew who he was,
he wouldn't have crucified him. If the high priest knew who he
was, he wouldn't have sold him out. Judas knew who he was, he
wouldn't have got the 30 pieces of silver. The princes of this
world didn't know him. They did not know who he was. As it's written back in Isaiah
64, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man, mankind, the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him. Now listen to this. But God hath
revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God. No such thing as blind faith.
Faith knows and understands what it believes. All right, thirdly,
the miracle of faith is that a man born in sin, that's what
David said, he was conceived in iniquity, born in sin. Here's the miracle of faith,
that a man born in sin might be born again. by the truth."
Huh? That's right. Born again. Nicodemus wrestled with that.
He said, I don't know what you're talking about. You're talking
about I'm going to crawl back up in my mother's womb and be
born again. What are you saying? I'm saying what I'm saying. except you be born again, you
can't perceive the Kingdom of God. You've got to be born again. Peter said, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope. by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead to an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled,
and it fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation. It sounded like
a miracle to me. The new birth is manifested by
the revelation of Jesus Christ. All of a sudden, Christ, we learn
that that's not his last name. Everybody's talking about Jesus
Christ, and they use that term as though Christ was his last
name. Christ is his office. Jesus is his earthly name. And
if you want to know the truth of it, it means Joshua. Joshua. It means Savior. Savior. Just as Joshua took the people
of Israel, every one of them, into the Promised Land, even
so Jesus Christ came into this world to save His people from
their sin. It's manifested by the revelation
of Jesus Christ. We see Him appointed of the Father.
We see Him appointed to all these offices concerning salvation.
We see that He came into this world as a man and lived under
the law as our representative. There's no other way for me to
obtain a righteousness. That law has to be obeyed. That
law has to be honored and exalted. God's justice has to be satisfied
concerning my sin. The only way I can't do it You
can't do it. The church can't do it. The only
one who could ever do it was Jesus Christ. In the fullness
of time, when it was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a
woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the
law, that we might receive that inheritance promised to us of
our Father. The new birth is not about men
and women becoming superhumans. It's about being made meat to
be heirs together with God's enlightened saints, Colossians
1. All right, fourthly, the miracle of true saving faith is that
an enemy of God is suddenly turned into a bond slave. Fought God every step of the
way, didn't you? I don't want to hear that truth.
I don't want to go to church. I don't want to listen to that
man. I don't want to do this. I don't want to do that. One of our young ladies, she's
not here today. She's at a Bible conference down
in Florida. I remember when I first come,
her daddy had to make her come. She didn't want to be here. She
didn't want to be anywhere but here. She come up with this excuse
and that excuse, and I got a cold, and I got the flu, and I don't
want to be there today. I've got this and that. My friends
are going to do this. He said, no, you're going to
be here. He brought her to church. She ain't going to be here. Enemies. That's what we are.
Enemies. God. All this time, God's raising
his property to save her soul, and she's fighting him every
step of the way. Ain't that your experience? That's mine. Fight,
fight, fight, fight, fight. All of a sudden, the enemy becomes
a bond slave. He hears the truth. And God,
the Holy Spirit, takes that truth home, opens it up in their heart. And instead of seeing God as
this sovereign dictator who cares less about men, we see Him as
the Father, as our Father. The Father of all blessings.
We see the love of God in him. The love of God. You, Paul said, who were sometime
alienated, now listen to this, and enemies in your mind by wicked
works. Yet now hath he reconciled in
a body of his flesh through death, to present you faultless, blameless,
spotless before the presence of His glory if you continue
in the faith. What faith? That miraculous faith
that was given to you. You see that? Listen to this one over in Romans
6. But God be thanked. You were
the servants of sin. That's what you was. He was a
servant of sin. Sin dictated everything you thought,
everything you felt, everything you did. You were the servants
of sin. But you have obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. What's that? That's the gospel. Being then
made free from sin, you become bond slaves, servants of righteousness. All right, here's the last thing. How is faith a miracle? The miracle
of faith is that a man who's never trusted anything or anybody
and who's never seen the Lord trusts everything he has into
his hands. That's the miracle of faith.
He said, here's my soul. Here's my family. Here's my job. Here's everything I have. He trusts it into the hands of
Christ. Ephesians 1.13, it says, in whom
you also trusted. This one that God trusted all
things in His hands. You also trusted after that you
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. in
whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise. Faith is a miracle. It's the
work of God. We're His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, works like repentance and faith
and love and understanding. And then let me say this, and
I'll quit. It is the work of God that you believe. God doesn't believe for you.
You believe. Do you know that having believed,
I understand that this was the work of God in me, and yet I
also understand that I believe? You're not going to feel God
in you. You're not going to see God in
you. Well, how do I know God's working
in me? Do you believe? Huh? I can't make it any clearer than
that. God's miraculous work of faith
enables you to hear what other men do not hear. It enables you
to see with eyes of faith what other men do not see. To reason. Man, natural, man is the most
unreasonable creature to ever live. You couldn't convince him
that daylight is light. You can't convince him of anything
spiritual. But this miraculous work of faith
enables you to hear, to think, and to reason. Come, he said,
let us reason together, saith the Lord. It enables him to be
persuaded and to understand and to embrace the Lord Jesus as
God has graciously revealed Him unto you. Now the question is,
do you believe? Huh? Do you believe? Do you see that
what I'm preaching unto you is the testimony of God? I've showed
it to you in the scriptures. Do you believe His testimony?
concerning his son? Do you believe God's testimony
concerning your own condition? All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Cursed is all them who continue
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.
Do you believe God's testimony? None that understandeth. None
that seeketh after God. None righteous. None good. No
fear of God before their eyes. You believe that? Do you believe God's testimony?
Are you persuaded to trust in Christ alone? If you are, that's
the miracle of faith. I believe. I believe. We say, I don't know if I can
do that for a lifetime. I don't know. I don't know either.
But I know this. by the power of God through faith. I believe God. Now let me ask you if you can
do this. Can you say with the apostles? I'm talking about people
far above me. Can you say with the apostles,
Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief. Because
you're always going to have it. Always going to have it. But
God's going to let you believe in spite of it. And they pray
for God to forgive them for that unbelief. We believe, Lord, we
believe. Help thou our unbelief. Grow
us in your grace and knowledge of Christ.