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 hath sent. That, my friends, is the bottom
line. There is a specific question
asked. What must we do that we might
work the works of God that's a very specific question and
a very specific answer is given and you'll find the absence of
the word and this is the work of God that
you you believe on him whom he hath sent. Period. There is nothing to be added. When you repent, this is what
you do. You Look to Christ only and you
repent of anything that is contrary in your experience or in your
thoughts to this statement. This is the work of God that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. When we believe, this is
what we believe. This is the bottom line. This
is the essential point. This is the keynote. This is
the heart and the soul. This is the meat and potatoes.
This is the centerpiece. This is the crux. This is the
gist. This is the point. This is the
sum. This is the work of God that you believe on Him. whom he hath sent." Now in the
context, he's speaking to the multitude. And put yourself in
their place. They experienced the miraculous
feeding of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were in on this. They saw
food brought from five biscuits and two sardines enough to feed
thousands of people. They ate. of that food. That's some kind of experience,
wasn't it? And afterwards, verse 14, then
those men, John chapter 6, verse 14, then those men, when they'd
seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is of a truth. That
prophet that should come into the world, they concluded rightly
about that. When Jesus therefore perceived
that they would come and take him by force to make him a king,
he departed again into a mountain himself alone. He's not gonna
have anything to do with that. You don't make him king. He is
the king. I've heard preachers say, won't you make him the lord
of your life? You can't make him lord. Lord's
already made him lord. He is the lord of lords. He is the king of kings. He's
my lord, he's your lord. Somebody says, he's not my Lord.
Yeah, he is. You might not know it, but he
is because he is the Lord. Well, he left. And this is the next day. The
people came seeking him that he led first 24. When the people
therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples. They also took shipping and came
to Capernaum seeking for Jesus. And when they had found him on
the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, teacher. This is so telling. They just
experienced him creating food that was not there before. And
they ate it. And what did they say? Teacher. And they demonstrated by that,
that they didn't really understand who he is. He's God. They didn't see that
teacher. When came is out here, the verse
26, Jesus answered them and said, verily, verily, I say unto you,
you seek me not because you saw the miracles and Concluded from that, who
I am. That's not why you're seeking
me. It's not because of your conviction concerning my person.
Who I am. But you seek me because you did
heed of the lows and were filled. I understand that. Good food. This could supply all of our
needs. We'd be in good shape, but I want you to hear this statement
carefully. The Lord is not to be sought for personal gain. Well, if I seek the Lord, I'll
have a better marriage. I'll have better finances. I'll
have better health. If I seek the Lord. You're missing it. That's not
why I seek the Lord to seek the Lord because of who he is. Verse 27, labor not for the meat
which perishes, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you. For him hath God
the Father sealed. The meat you ate yesterday has
already been digested. It's gone, it's perished, and
you're hungry again. Don't labor for that kind of
meat that perishes, is broken down and is no more, but labor
for that meat that endures to everlasting life. It never perishes. Everything
you see right now is going to perish, including you. These
physical bodies labor for that meat, which never perishes, but
endures unto everlasting life to be satisfied. Turn back to
John chapter four for just a moment. Verse 10. Jesus answered and
said unto her, that woman at the well, if thou knewest the
gift of God. Oh, if you knew the gift of God.
It's not something you have to earn. It's not something you
have to achieve. It's not something you have to
work for. It's his free gift. If you knew the gift of God and
who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou would
have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. And that's true to me and you
this morning. If you knew the gift of God and
who it is that's saying to thee, give me to drink, you'd ask,
he'd give. If you knew you'd ask, and he
would give. Everybody in this room, if you
knew, you'd ask right now, and he would give. Verse 11, the woman saith unto
him, sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.
For whence then hast thou that living water? She had no idea
what he was talking about at that time. She'd come to, but
not right now. Art thou greater than our father
Jacob, which gave us this well, and drank thereof himself, and
his children, and his cattle? Are you greater than Jacob? Yeah,
infinitely so. Jesus answered and said unto
her, Whoso drinketh of this water shall thirst again. That's what
he said to these people in John chapter six. You're laboring
for bread, but you're gonna be hungry again. But whosoever drinketh
of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the
water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing
up into everlasting life. Now I want you to listen to this
question I'm getting ready to ask you. Have you and I ever
been satisfied with Jesus Christ? Ask yourself that question. I mean, to the point where you
do not want, need or seek anything else. Colossians chapter two, verse
10 says in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily
and you are complete in him. You don't want anything else.
You don't need anything else. And you're not seeking anything
else. You found it. Somebody says there must be something
else. You just haven't seen it. If you've seen, you don't want,
you don't need, you do not seek anything else. Now I realize David said, I'll
be satisfied when I wake in thy likeness. And I know exactly
what he's saying. As long as there's sin in my
body, I'm not gonna be satisfied. I wanna be without sin. I wanna
be perfectly conformed to his image in my experience. And David
said that. He said, as for me, I'll behold
thy face in righteousness. I'll be satisfied when I wake
in thy likeness. And I won't find full satisfaction
till I'm in heaven. I know that, seeing his face,
beholding his glory. But I am satisfied with his life. as my righteousness before God. I'm plumb satisfied with that.
I'm not looking for anything else. I am perfectly content
to have his righteousness as my righteousness before God.
I am completely satisfied with his shed blood as my sin payment. God satisfied. He raised him
from the dead, completely satisfied with what he did. Me too. I'm
satisfied with his resurrection as my justification for God. You see, when he was raised from
the dead, he was raised because my sin was paid for. And he made
full satisfaction. And when he was raised from the
dead, everybody he died for was justified. I'm satisfied with
that. Let me tell you something I'm
satisfied with right now. The fact that right now, he is
seated at the right hand of God, making intercession for me. No
worries. No worries. I'm satisfied. He is the meat that endures to
everlasting life and I am satisfied. He is the bread of God. Now look in verse 30 of John
chapter six. Let's read verse 29 again. Jesus
answered and said unto them, this is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he has sent. They said therefore unto
him, what sign showest thou then? Now wait a minute. They just
ate the food that he created. What sign showest thou? All they heard was, what do we
need to do? They said, therefore, unto him,
what sign showest thou that we may see and believe? What does
thou work? All they heard was works. Our
fathers that eat manna in the desert, as it's written, he gave
them bread from heaven to eat. We're going to be talking more
about that next week, Lord willing, about eating and drinking the
Lord Jesus Christ. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from
heaven. Talking about the man that came down in Exodus 16.
But my father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the
bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life
unto the world. And they said unto him, Lord
evermore, give us this bread. Jesus said unto them, I am the
bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth in me shall
never thirst. I want that bread, don't you?
And I'm not talking about physical hunger and physical thirst. Physical
hunger, I'm hungry right now. I didn't have breakfast this
morning. I'm not talking about that kind of hunger. I can't
wait to get home. I mean, spaghetti. the tagging sausage in it. And
I had a little bit of it yet. I can't wait for lunch, you know,
but I'm not talking about that kind of hunger. I'm talking about
being completely satisfied, not wanting anything else by simply
being in Christ. What do I know about that kind
of satisfaction? What should we do? Verse 28.
What should we do? We might work the works of God. That's a good question. What should we do that we might
work the works of God? Give us a list. Tell us what
we need to do that we might work the works of God. Now your average preacher would
have a quick answer for that. Well, Get working. Get working. Seek the Lord more
earnestly. Make better life decisions. Get
up earlier and read the Bible. Spend time in prayer. Straighten up your life. Don't go places you shouldn't
be. Be a witness. Ask Jesus into your heart. Quit
sinning. Accept him as your personal savior.
Seek out good Christian fellowship. Read doctrinally sound literature. Go to church more. What should
we do? There's a list, a litany of answers. Get it going. Look at the Lord's answer to
this question. Jesus answered and said unto
them, oh may God emblazon this in my heart
and in your heart right now. Jesus answered and said unto
them, this is the work of God, that you believe on him whom
he hath This is the same answer Paul
gave to the Philippian jailer when he said, sirs, what must
I do to be saved? Now he knew he couldn't save
himself. He didn't say, what must I do to save myself? What
must I do to be saved? And he gave the answer, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Same answer
Philip gave the eunuch when he said, what hinders me from being
baptized? He said, if you believe with all your heart, you may. What works must we do that we
might work the works of God? That you believe on him whom
he hath sent. This is the work, not the works.
This is the work of God that you believe on him whom he hath
sent. Now usually, I want you to hear
me out on this. Ask the Lord to teach you. Ask the Lord to teach me. I want
you to hear me out on this. Usually when preachers call upon
people to believe, they say, repent of your sins and believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that what the Lord said here? Is that what he said? Repent
of your sins. and believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? When the Ethiopian eunuch said, what hinders me from being
baptized? He said, well, if you repent
of your sins and believe with all your heart, you may. When the eunuch said, what must
I do? Did Paul say, repent of your
sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? No. No. He did not. As a matter of fact,
the phrase repent of your sins is not found in the Bible. Did you know that? That phrase
is not found in the Bible. And I say that to use that phrase
with believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is doing nothing but darkening
counsel with words without knowledge and preventing someone to look
to Christ. Hear me out on this. Hear me
out on this. Don't turn me off. What is meant
by Repent of your sins. Most people, when they think
of repentance, they think, well, you need to be really sorry for
your sin and you can't commit that sin anymore. Now we ought
to be sorry for our sin and we ought not ever sin again. And
we ought to make it our goal right now to never commit a sin
again of any kind in thought, word or deed. Sin's evil. There's no excuse for sin. But like I said, the phrase repent
of your sins is not found in the Bible. And the Lord did not
say this is the work of God that you repent of your sins and believe
the gospel. That's not the way he spoke. He said, this is the
work of God that you believe on him whom he hath sent. Now this thing of repentance,
it means change your mind. And the Lord said, repeat ye
and believe the gospel. That's good scriptural word.
Repent of anything that's contrary to the gospel and believe the
gospel. Whatever your thoughts are with regard to God and yourself
that are wrong, repent of them, change your mind, and believe
the gospel. Paul said in Acts chapter 20
verse 21, when he spoke of preaching the whole counsel of God, He
called it repentance toward God. A complete change of mind with
regard to all the wrong things you think regarding the living
God. Repent of all the wrong thoughts
you've had of yourself. Repent of all the wrong thoughts
you've had of sin. Repentance toward God. And faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ. Now, if by repent of your sin,
you mean seeing yourself as nothing but a sinner in and of yourself,
that's good. But if repentance is my ability
Listen to me, I want to be honest. If repentance is my ability to
stop committing any particular sin in my heart, I have no hope. None at all. Thank God the Lord Jesus Christ
did not say this is the work of God that you deal with your
sin and straighten up and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If
that is what is said, I don't even hear believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. All I hear is what I need to
do, what these folks were saying. What must we do that we might
work the works of God? We wanted to give us a list.
Tell us what we need to do. And I love the singularity of
what the Lord said. This is the work of God that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. Now I realize that some
people will say that I'm excusing sin. You don't need to stop sin.
It's okay. Just believe on Christ. If that's what you've heard,
you've not heard what I've said. You're not hearing. You're hearing
what you want to hear. You're not hearing what I say. You're saying it's okay to continue
in sin, even though you believe in Christ? I'm saying what the
Lord said. This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he has sent. Let's think of this phrase,
believe on him whom he hath sent. Do you know that's found 46 times
in the Gospel of John? Believe on him whom he hath sent. He said, my meat and my drink
is to do the will of him that sent me. What about his first recorded
words in Luke chapter two? When his mom and dad had lost
him and they came back to Jerusalem sorrowing, and they come to him
and said, what have you done? Your father and I have sought
you sorrowing. They hadn't seen him for 30 days. And he said,
wist ye not that I must be about my father's business? That's what he's doing the whole
time he was here, doing his father's business. In John chapter 17,
verse three, and this is eternal life, that they might know thee
the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Now, what about that phrase? This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. We believe he was before
God sent him, don't we? That's an awesome and yet simple
fact. Now when I was conceived, Well,
when I was born, September 9th, 1959, so I guess if I did the
math, I was conceived sometime in 1958, towards the end of 1958. And I know this, before my conception,
there was no me. There was no me. That can never be said of Christ.
He is the eternal Son of God. He was never began to be. He is the great I am that I am. He was before he came to do whatever
it was the Father sent him to do. I love those scriptures when
he says, I came down from heaven. And it's, what? What if I said
to you, I came down from heaven? You'd say, you've lost all credibility
with me. And I'm sure they thought the
same thing. You came down from heaven? Yep, he came down from
heaven. Because he was the eternal son of God before he ever came.
The father sent him, he came, and he did exactly what the father
sent him to do. That's what he did. We can't
even conceive of a Jesus Christ that would fail in any of his
intentions. He's God. He's incapable of failure. Did you know that? He doesn't
try to do anything. He didn't try to make salvation
available if we just do our part. He accomplished salvation. That's what the Father sent him
to do. Listen to this scripture, Matthew
121. Thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sin. That's what the father sent him
to do. And when he said, it is finished, his people were saved
from their sins. He did what his father sent him
to do. Look back in John chapter three, verse 16. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son
into the world to condemn the world, the world was already
condemned. Already condemned. He didn't
send his son to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved. He didn't send him to condemn.
He sent him to save. Look in John 3, 34. For he whom
God has sent. Like I said, that phrase is found
46 times in the book of John. He whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto
him. We have in him the word of God. Look in John chapter five, verse
24. Look how faith is described. John chapter five, verse 24.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth
on him that sent me, There it is. He that believeth my word,
heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me. Look in chapter six, verse 38. For I came down from heaven.
I'm sure they got stuck at that. For I came down from heaven.
Not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And we don't have to guess as
to what that will was of him who sent him, because he tells
us in the next verses. Now listen to this carefully. He's gonna tell what God's will
was in sending him. 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, but should raise it up again at the last
day. And this is the Father's will
which sent me, that everybody that He's given me. That's the
elect. That's those chosen before the
foundation of the world and given to the Son. Look up in verse
37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Now understand this. The fact
that the Father gave the Son of people, a specific people,
and they're the only ones that will be saved, that's true. That
doesn't prevent anybody in this sense. The Lord says, if you
come to Christ, you'll be received. Now let me tell you, if you come
to Christ, if I come to Christ, we will be received. He said, I will in no wise, for
no reason whatsoever, cast that person out. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that all which He hath given me, verse 39, I should
lose, nothing but should raise it up again at the last day.
Now understand this, when Jesus Christ lived, He kept the law
for a particular people, those the Father gave Him. He died
for a particular people, those the Father gave Him. He put away
the sins of a particular people, those the Father gave Him. He
was raised for a particular people. The idea that Jesus Christ died
to make salvation available is blasphemous. It's not the
truth. And he tells us why he came. To save everybody that the father
gave him and raise him up again at the last day. Look in verse
40. John chapter 6, and this is the
will of Him that sent me. There we have it again, Him that
sent me. That everyone which seeth the Son. Now obviously
that's not talking about the physical side. I couldn't tell
you what the Lord Jesus Christ looks like physically. You know,
when somebody says, well, Christ appeared to me and said this,
no, he didn't. They're lying. That's just not
so. It's not a physical sight. It's a spiritual sight of who
he is. This is what faith is. It's seeing
who he is. He's God. He's the Lord. He's the creator. He's the absolute
sovereign of the universe. He's controlling everybody and
everything. He's holy. He's the Lord. You see who He is. That's the saving look. You know,
if you don't see yourself in your own sinfulness, let me tell
you why. You've never seen who He is. It's that simple. If you ever see who He is, you're
going to have some idea of who you are. I'm going to have some
idea of who I am if I ever see who He is. Notice what else he
says, this is the will of him that sent me that everyone would
seeth the son. And here's what everybody that
sees the son does. They believe on him. You know where the Lord said,
this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has
sent. That's what you do. You believe
that He was before he was sent, he was sent and he did what he
was sent to do and your only hope of being saved is because
he did what he was sent to do. That is your salvation. And everyone like that, they'll have everlasting life
and I will raise him up at the last day. Verse 43, Jesus therefore answered
and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves. They were murmuring
about him, saying, I'm the bread of heaven that came down. He
said, don't murmur among yourselves. Verse 44, no man can come to
me except the Father which hath sent me. There it is again. Except
the Father which has sent me, draw him. And I will raise him
up at the last day. Let me tell you something that
the Father that sent him is doing right now. He's drawing people
to Christ to see him as they're all in salvation. Now, you won't
come to Christ and you can't come unless he draws you. That's
what the Lord said. That's just what the Lord said. Somebody
says, why did he say that? Well, evidently it's the best thing to say then,
if he said it. I'm not going to try to explain anything he
said away. It's best that he said that.
I was going to discourage people from coming to Christ. No, it
won't. No, it won't. It'll cause people to come to
Christ. He'll draw them. This is what he does. He draws
people to his son and go look at verse 37 again. that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. You see he's going to draw and
they're going to come. All that the Father giveth me shall come
to me and him that cometh to me. When Andy was reading that
passage of scripture in Hebrews chapter 7, we read this verse
in verse 25. Wherefore, he is able to save
to the uttermost all them that come to God by him. Are you coming to God by him?
You know why? He's drawing you. He drew me and I followed on,
charmed to confess His love. Divine. Now that is the bottom
line. That is faith. That is repentance. That is the bottom line. What must we do? That we might
work the works of God? This is the work of God, that
you, Believe on him whom he hath sent. Let's pray. Lord, I ask, we ask, we ask that
you unite our hearts together in prayer. to you, we ask that
you would draw us to yourself. We ask that you would cause us
to believe on him whom you have sent, knowing that he accomplished
what you sent him to do and rest in him as our savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Lord, I ask that everybody in
this room will be able to say with Thomas, my Lord and my God. Bless this word for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen.