Would you turn back to John chapter
6? Verse 29. This is the work of God. That
you believe on him. Whom he hath. Sent. I've entitled this message, The
Sent One. The Sent One. This is a message that I've wanted
to preach for some time now. I hope this is the time. The
Sent One. A lot of men claim to be sent
of God with God's message. Turn with me to Jeremiah chapter
23 for a moment. Beginning in verse 25 of Jeremiah
chapter 23. I have heard what the prophets
said that prophesied lies in my name. saying, I dreamed, I
dreamed. How long shall this be in the
heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets
of the deceit of their own heart, which think to cause my people
to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to
his neighbor as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. And he
that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat,
saith the Lord? Is not my word like as a fire,
saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
Therefore, behold, I'm against the prophets, saith the Lord,
that steal my words every one from his neighbor. Behold, I'm
against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues
and say, he saith, Behold, I'm against them that prophesy false
dreams, saith the Lord, and to tell them and cause my people
to err by their lies and by their likeness. Yet I sent them not,
nor commanded them. Therefore, they shall not profit
this people at all, saith the Lord. Now you remember the words
of Paul in Romans 10, 15. How shall they preach except
they be sent? The fact of the matter is they
can't. Now there is one whom I am sure that God has sent. Let me repeat that. There is one that I am sure that
God has sent, we are called upon to believe on him whom he hath
sent. This is a very big issue in the
scriptures. If I'm going to understand what
saving faith is, I'm going to have to understand this. In John chapter 17, verse 3,
the Lord said, This is eternal life, that they might know thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. He said in John 4, My meat is
to do the will of Him that sent me. He said, Neither came I of
myself, but He sent me. He said in John chapter 3 verse
17, God sent not His Son to condemn the world, but that the world
through Him might be saved. Back to our text in John chapter
6, Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work
the works of God? Notice the word works is in the
plural. Whatever God's works are, we
want to do them. Jesus answered and said unto
them, This is the work of God. Notice He doesn't say this is
a work of God or this is one of the works of God. He says
this is the work of God. Now when Christ says that, don't
you want to hear exactly what He says? This is the work of
God that you believe on Him whom He hath sent. The sent one. Now the Lord, in the context
of this passage of scripture, had demonstrated his deity by
bringing matter into the universe that was not there before. This
might be the first time this happened since creation. When
he spake the world into existence, he created food. He brought matter into the universe
that was not there before, thus demonstrating his deity. Look
in verse 11 of John chapter 6, And Jesus took the loaves, and
when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples,
and the disciples to them that were set down, and likewise of
the fishes, as much as they would. Remember, this was five loaves,
five biscuits, and two small fish, sardines, I suppose. It
was the boy's lunch. Verse 12, And when they were
filled, five thousand people, he said, Gather up the fragments
that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered
them together and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of
the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto
them that had eaten, they saw a miracle. Then those men, when
they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of the
truth, that prophet that should come into the world. 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. They wanted to make him king.
He already was king. He didn't have to have some man
make him king. So he just left that group and
went and departed to a mountain alone. Now after this, the Lord
once again demonstrates his deity by walking on the water. And
he went over to the other side of the lake, and this is when
these people began to seek him, beginning in verse 25. And when
they found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him,
Rabbi, when camest thou hither? Jesus answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw
the miracles, You're not seeking me because of some kind of belief
that I am who I say I am. Because you've seen these miracles
that only God can do that I did. You're not seeking me because
you saw these miracles and believe concerning me. He said, but you
seek me because you did eat of the loaves and were filled. The only reason you're seeking
me is because you got your belly filled. Not because of any conviction
concerning who I am, but simply because you've got a free meal
and you're hoping to get more. Now look what he says, verse
27. Labor not for the meat which
perisheth. Now that word labor is the same
word that's translated in verse 28 and 29, work. Work not for the meat which perisheth. 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." I think it's very interesting
that when he looks at these people, he knows that they're going to
soon leave him. He brings a message in John chapter
6 that precipitated the entire crowd leaving him. And he knew
it. He knew they would leave, yet
he says to these people, don't labor for meat which perishes,
but for the meat which endures to everlasting life, which I'll
give you. Which I'll give you. What gracious
words. He knows they're going to leave,
and yet He's calling upon them to not labor for meat which perishes. What if you get everything this
world has to offer? What good will it do you? Absolutely nothing. Labor for the meat that endures
to everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give to you. For Him hath God the Father sealed,
or authenticated. You look at the works. He just
had demonstrated. brought matter into existence
that had not been there before. He walked on the water. Obviously,
this is God. Only God can do this. Now, they
heard him say, Work not for the meat which perisheth, and all
they heard was works. Verse 28, Then said they unto
him, What shall we do? That we might work the works
of God. And I love the Lord's answer.
Verse 29, Jesus answered and said unto
them, this is the work of God. Now just that statement grabs
my attention. This is the work of God. Let's hear it. He gives an answer
that can't be mistaken. This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. Is that all faith is? Yes. Yes. Faith is believing on him
whom he hath sent. If you want to work the work
of God, here it is. You believe. on him whom he hath
sent." Forget about works, plural. This is the one work that you
must do, and don't miss this. This is the work of God. If you believe on him whom he
has sent, this is God working in you, both to will and to do
his good pleasure. This is God's work. This is what
God does. If you have the faith that he's
talking about right now, this is the divine work of God in
you. This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. Now they didn't hear what
he said because they said in verse 30, they said therefore
unto him, what sign showest thou then that we may see and believe
thee? What does thou work? They didn't
really hear what he said. They went on, all they heard
was works. Give us some kind of proof. Now, faith is believing that God sent
Christ. Turn with me to John chapter
17. I want to repeat, and I hope
you'll understand what this means by the end of this message. Faith
is believing that God sent Christ. Verse 3, John 17, ìThis is eternal
life, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast Verse 8 of the same chapter, For I
have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they
have received them, and have known surely that I came out
from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. Verse 24. Father, I will that
they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory which thou gavest me, for thou lovest
me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the
world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these
have known that thou hast sent me. Now, do you believe that God
sent Christ. Do you believe that God sent
Christ? Now, if you do, that means you
believe that he was before he was sent. That means you believe
he's God. And that means you believe that
God is the one who sent him And you believe that he did whatever
God sent him to do. Now that's what it is to believe
on Christ. You believe that God sent him. Turn back to John chapter 6. Verse 38. For I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will
which hath 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 will of him that sent me, that every one which
seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting
life, and I'll raise him up at the last day. I came down from
heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent
me. Well, what is it? What is it? Well, he tells us
exactly what it is. This is the will of him that
sent me, verse 39, that of all which he hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but should raise it again at the last day. Now, the Lord Jesus was sent
for this purpose, to save the elect. Is anything less said? This is
the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given
me. He said in verse 37, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. This is a reference to
his elect. And his purpose in coming into
this world was to save the elect and not lose one of them. Now
listen real carefully. Jesus Christ did not come to
save everybody. He came to save those the Father
gave Him. Somebody that doesn't preach
this does not preach the gospel. Somebody that doesn't believe
this does not believe the gospel. He said, I came down from heaven
not to do my own will but the will of Him that sent me that
of all which He hath given me I won't lose one of them, but
I'll raise them up again at the last day. Now what that means
is when he said it is finished, I love thinking about this, when
he said it is finished, the salvation of everybody he died for was
finished, completed, signed, sealed, and delivered. Turn with
me to Hebrews 10 for a moment. Hold your finger in John chapter
6 and turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 9, Then said he, Lo, I
come. This is the Lord Jesus. It's
a quotation from Psalm 40. Lo, I come to do thy will, O
God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. By the witch will, by God's will,
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. Now that word sanctified means
made holy. Every believer was made holy
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ on Calvary's
tree, and that once for all means it's perfectly completed, it's
finished, it's never to be repeated again, I'm holy. Go on reading,
verse 11. And every priest's stand of daily
ministering offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sin, but this man, After he had offered one
sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of God,
from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool,
for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified."
Now that's what he came to do. That's what he was sent to do,
to save everybody. the father gave him. But do you
know, while I cannot preach the gospel, if I don't preach that,
if that's all I preach, I have not preached the gospel. Now what do you mean by that? Well, go back to John chapter
6 verse 40. And, you see the thought's not
over that's said in verse 39. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I'll raise him up at
the last day. Do you know that declaring Christ's
effectual work for his elect doesn't shut anybody out of heaven? Well, I want to be saved, but
I can't because I'm not elect. Don't say anything like that.
Don't even think anything like that. Everyone that seeth the
Son and believeth on him. I have
not. I'm talking about my own experience
right now. I've not seen Jesus Christ physically. I've never
seen him in that sense. But by the grace of God, I've
seen him in his word. I have. You know, when we were
considering Genesis 22, I think it was sometime in the last week,
seeing Isaac go up the mountain with the wood on his back, to
be sacrificed. I saw the Lord Jesus Christ.
I've seen Him in His Word. I've seen Him in the Old Testament. I've seen His glory. I've seen
something about how great He is. You know, He said, you believe
in God, believe also in Me. Do you believe God's holy? Believe I'm holy. Do you believe
God's absolutely sovereign? Believe I'm sovereign. Do you
believe God is all-powerful? Believe I'm all-powerful. I'm
God. I've seen Him in His Word. I've seen something of His beauty
and His glory. The only reason I see myself
the way I do is because I've seen who He is. That's why I
see myself as so sinful. How can I see myself any other
way in light of His glory? I've seen Him. Now, anybody who's
seen Him, somebody says, well, I've not seen Him. If you look,
you will. If you look, you will. I promise you. Anyone who looks
to Him will see Him. If you call on His name, He will
save you. You can't say, well, I'm afraid
Christ didn't die for me, or I'm afraid I'm not one of the
elect, or I'm afraid He's not done anything. You call on His
name, He will save you. I don't care who you are. I don't
care what state you're in. If you call upon His name, He
will save you. You know, just like he said to
that bunch who he knew would leave him. He said, I'll give
you this bread that endures to everlasting life. If they would
have asked him for it, he would have given it to them. That's
who he is. He delights in mercy. This one,
this sent one, he was sent for what? Not to condemn the world,
but that the world through him might be saved. That's why he
was sent. Aren't you thankful for that?
He didn't come to condemn the world. We're already condemned.
He didn't come to condemn me. I'm already condemned. He came
to save. And look what he says in verse
40. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which
seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting
life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Now, I see him. And you know what else I do?
I believe on Him. Right now, as I'm speaking to
you, I'm relying upon the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior, the
one who saved me from my sins. I see Him to be who He says He
is, and beloved, I believe He is who He says He is. And He is all I need, He's all
I have, and He's all I want. Anyone who sees the Son and believes
on Him, now I'm asking you, do you believe that God sent Him?
Do you in your heart really believe that God sent Him? That's what faith is. You believe
He is. God sent Him. He did what the
Father sent Him to do. Turn with me to 1 John 4 for
a moment. 1 John chapter 4. Verse 9. And this was manifested, the
love of God toward us, Because that God sent, there it is, God
sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live
through Him. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Now here's what God sent Him
to do. to be the propitiation for our
sins. Now, what in the world does propitiation
mean? That's a word that we don't use very often. And it's only
found in the Bible a few times, but it's such an important word.
Well, the first thing you need to talk about is our sins. Our
sins. He sent his Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Look across the page of 1 John
chapter 3, verse 4. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. Now, that's what sin is, verse
5. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins. And in him is no sin, whosoever
abideth in him sinneth not, whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither
known him. Now this is how effectual his
propitiation is. If you want to understand what
propitiation is, here it is. He was manifested to take away
our sins, and that's what he did. That's what he did. He made
propitiation. That means he took them away. And now God has no reason to
be angry with me. The sin's gone. It's propitiated. The scripture says in Hebrews
chapter 10, or Hebrews chapter 8, For I will be merciful, and
that word is propitious, I will be propitious to their unrighteousness. I will remove my reason for anger
by putting away the sin. To where the sin is no more,
and because of that there's sins and iniquities I will remember
no more. I love to think about this. The
only reason God can't remember my sins is there's nothing there
to remember. They're gone. They're put away. And I tell
you what, I remember them acutely. A lot of them I forgot about. When I commit them, they're real
fresh on my mind, but then I forget about them and so on. But God
didn't remember any of them because there's nothing there to remember.
Turn with me to Romans 8. Romans 8, verse 1. Now this is what God sent him
to do. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the
law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin
condemns sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit. Now, what the law could not do,
verse 3. What the law could not do. Well, what can the law do? The
law can certainly expose my sin. It certainly does that. I mean,
all I've got to do is think of the Ten Commandments and go over
them in my mind. I know what it does. Thou shalt
have no other gods before me. All I've done is put anything
before God, even right now. You know, anytime you sin, you're
choosing to have sin over God, aren't you? Over obedience to
God. When I think of the law concerning idolatry, making no
idols, how many times have I made up some kind of God that I felt
more comfortable with to justify me in my sin? Don't take His
name in vain. Anytime I use His name, I'm taking
it in vain. Remember the Sabbath day. How
often do you truly rest? Have you ever just completely
rested and done no works at all, just simply rested? Thou honor
your father and mother, Don't kill. Don't commit adultery. Don't lie. Don't steal. Don't covet. Every one of those
things. I'm a thief. I'm a liar. I'm
a covetous person. All the law does is expose sin.
What the law could not do, I'll tell you one thing it can do,
it can't save you. All it can do is expose sin. But it can't
save you because me and you are the problem. In that it was weak
through the flesh. The problem is not with God's
holy law. Don't you love God's holy law? I love the Ten Commandments. I love everything God says. But
I know the problem is me. What the law could not do in
that it was weak through the flesh. God, verse 3, God sending
His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh. He put it away. The payment was
made that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in
us. who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit." Now, what is this thing of walking not
after the flesh but after the Spirit? It's believing the gospel.
That's what it is. It's not some kind of higher
plane you get to where you sin less and walk. No, it's simply believing on
Him whom He hath sent. Period. You do that, The righteousness
of God's very law is fulfilled in you. You're the very righteousness
of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is the
work of God. This is what the Lord tells us. This is my take on things. This
is what the Lord tells us. What shall we do that we might
work the works of God? This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he has sent." Now listen real carefully.
This is not one of the works. This is the work. This is the
work. This is what Christ says. This is the work. That you believe,
not that you're saved, not that you're one of God's elect, not
that you've been born again. You can believe all of those
things and split hell wide open. There's a lot of people who believe
that they're saved that are not. There's a lot of people that
believe that Christ died for them that he didn't die for them.
There's a lot of people who believe that they're one of the elect
that are not. That stuff is not faith. Faith
is believing on him whom he hath sent. Like the Ethiopian eunuch. Here's water, what hinders me
from being baptized? You may if you believe with all
your heart. And he answered, I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Faith doesn't have anything to
do with what you believe about yourself. Do you understand that? Do I
understand that? Faith doesn't have anything to
do with what I believe about myself. It has wholly to do with
what I believe concerning Him. This is the work of God, that
you believe on Him whom He hath sent. Now, I know this. You can't
go to hell if you believe on Him whom He hath sent. Turn with me for a moment to
Hebrews chapter 11. Verse 5. By faith, Hebrews 11 verse 5,
by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death. Now I don't understand how that
happened. But he didn't walk with God, and he never died.
He walked straight into heaven. Somebody says, explain that to
me. I wouldn't dare. I can't. But he did. That's what
the Bible says. He went straight into heaven,
because before God had translated him, before his translation,
he had this testimony that he pleased God. Now does that mean
that He just had such a holy righteous walk that God was pleased
with him and just brought him into heaven because he was so
good. No. Now I have no doubt that he was
a fine man. I have no doubt about it. But look what the scripture
says in verse 6. But without faith it is impossible
to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. Now, faith is believing that
he is. We believe in his isness. We
believe he is everything the Bible says he is. We believe. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is. and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him. Colossians 2, 9 and 10 says,
In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. Do
you believe that? Do you believe all the fullness
of God, whatever that means, every attribute of God, all that
God is, all the fullness of God resides in the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You know, when, turn to John
16 for a moment, here's true Holy Spirit conviction. Now,
when you do something wrong and you feel bad about it, your conscience
smites you, well, a lost man can have that. A lost man can
have that. Verse 8 of John chapter 16, when
He has come, He will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. Now look at verse 9. When you
have God the Holy Spirit coming and reproving of sin, here's
what he does of sin, because they believe not on me. Now here is true conviction of
sin. When you see that faith is out
of your reach, you can't even believe on Him unless He gives
you the grace to do it. That's Holy Spirit conviction. You find out you're an unbeliever.
You find out you do not believe and you cannot believe and you're
helpless. You don't believe until you're
brought to that place. Now, this is the work of God
that you believe on him whom he hath sent. Now, I thought of all these examples
in closing, four or five examples in the scripture. In Matthew chapter 8, we read
of this man who came to the Lord and said, would you, my servant
is dying. He's sick. Didn't tell him what to do, just
said he's sick. And the Lord said, I'll come and heal him.
And the man said, you don't need to come and heal him. You don't
need to come to my house. I understand authority. If you
speak the word, it'll happen. And he said, according to thy
faith, be it unto you. Do you think if all he does is
speak the word, you'll be healed? You believe that? It's called
faith. It's called believing the gospel. There was a man whose daughter
was sick and the Lord said, I'm going to come and heal her. You
can read about it in John chapter 4. And then some men came from
his hometown and said, don't trouble the master anymore. Your
daughter's already dead. And the Lord said, fear not,
only believe. Only believe. Only believe. There was a man that came to
the Lord because the disciples had failed to heal his lunatic
son. And he said, if you can do anything,
help us. And the Lord said, If thou canst believe, all things
are possible to him that believeth. And the man cried out, Lord,
I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. But Lord, I believe. This is
the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent. Now,
once again, I want to remind you, don't look at yourself to
try to figure out anything about yourself. Look to Christ. Believe only, and thou shalt
be saved. Romans 1, 16, Paul said, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of
God and the salvation to everyone that believeth. Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. What must I do to be saved? on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. This is the work
of God. What must I do to work the works
of God? This is it. That you believe
on him whom he hath sent. Now your head may be spinning,
thinking of all you need to do. May God give me and you both
the grace to hear what the Lord says. 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. I do believe on him whom he has
sent. Well, what else? If I asked that
question, I didn't hear, did I? This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he has sent. Let's pray together. Lord, we ask in Christ's blessed
name that you would enable each man, woman, boy and girl in this
room to believe on Him whom you sent. We thank you that you sent Him. We thank you that he did what
you sent him to do. And Lord, all of our salvation
is in that you sent him and he did what you sent him to do.
Lord, bless these words for Christ's sake. Lord, we don't ask that you bless
them because of anything in us, but for Christ's sake, bless
these words to create faith, the gift of God in each heart
here according to your will. In Christ's name we pray.