Luke chapter 11. When our Lord teaches us to pray,
we're taught to pray in verse 3, give us day by day, our daily breath. Now when we pray, we're praying
to our Father. Our Father who art in heaven.
And the only way we can pray to our Father in heaven is through
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's an understanding of the
gospel. You can't truly call God, my Father, unless you understand
how you're made His child through the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we're encouraged to pray, our Father. I love that. He's my father.
Abba father. He is our father. And we're taught to pray our
father. Not just my father, but our father. We pray as all of God's people. There's something special about
that. Our father. And what do children do with
their father? Well, they ask him for things. That's a big part of that relationship.
They ask him for things. Now, like I said recently in
dealing with this passage of scripture, I remember somebody
said the more you grow, the less asking you do and the more praising
you do. And that may well be the case, but I haven't experienced
that yet. I'd like to. But I feel a continual
need to ask, ask, ask. And the Lord gives us this encouragement,
ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock
and it shall be open to you. Now we're taught to pray to our
Father, give us this day our daily bread. Aren't you thankful? instructs us like this, give
us this day, our daily bread, the bread that we need. Now this part of the prayer has
to do with our needs. Now, you and I have needs. We have material needs. We have
physical needs. We have emotional needs. We have
social needs. And we have spiritual needs. And this prayer, give us this
day, our daily bread, is all about our needs. And we're to
ask him for today's needs. That's very significant. Give
us day by day our daily bread. Give us for this day our daily
bread. And we are not to worry about
tomorrow's needs. Give us this day our daily bread. And what a joy it would be for
you and I to wake up every morning breathing this prayer to our
Heavenly Father. Give us this day our daily bread. and then just leave it alone,
trusting him to do what he has promised to do. Giving us this
day our daily bread and not worrying about tomorrow, but trusting
him for tomorrow as well. In Matthew chapter six, verse
34, the Lord said, take no thought for tomorrow. Don't think about
it. Don't worry about it. Take no
thought for tomorrow. For the morrow shall take thought
for the things of itself. Sufficient for the day is the
evil thereof. You and I have way more enough
evil to deal with today, both within and without, till we certainly
do not have time to even consider tomorrow with the things that
we need to deal with today. Now we're a needy people and
we're permitted to ask our heavenly father to give us our daily bread. Now bread is necessary. We have
to eat and regarding our material needs, our food, our clothing,
our, all these different things that we think of, we ought not
ever worry about it. We ought to ask the Lord to provide.
The Lord teaches us to do that. Give us this day our daily bread,
but we ought not ever worry about things like this. Turn back to
Matthew chapter six. I've noticed when the men do
public readings and we have somebody read the scriptures every service. And if you ask me, what is the
passage of scripture that is read more often than any other
passage of scripture, it'd be this one. Matthew chapter six,
beginning in verse 25. And I think it's because everybody
struggles with this so much. You know, we trust him for our
salvation and yet we worry about everything else. That's not right. Verse 25. The Lord says, therefore,
I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall
eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body. What you
shall put on is not the life more than meat in the body than
raiment. Behold the fowls of the air.
They sow not, neither do they reap nor gathering to barns,
yet your heavenly father feedeth them. Are you not much better
than they? Which of you, by taking thought,
by worrying, by being anxious, can add one cubit unto his stature,
one second to his life? And why take ye thought for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not,
neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon
in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore,
if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is and
tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe
you, O you of little faith? Therefore, take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or withal shall we
be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth
that you have need of all these things. Isn't that a wonderful
thing to think about that your Heavenly Father knows everything
you need? He knows, He's aware, and He's
going to provide. But seek ye first the kingdom
of God. and his righteousness, and all
these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought
for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things
of itself, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Isn't
it wonderful to be carefree? When the Lord gives you the grace
to just not worry about tomorrow and to be carefree. Romans chapter eight, verse 32
says, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up
for us all. How shall he not also with him
freely give us all things, all things spiritual, all things
material, all needs, all needs are promised and we're not to
worry about them. May God give us grace to honor
him by being carefree children, trusting their heavenly father,
our heavenly father to take care of us. Now the Lord Jesus Christ
himself is preeminently our daily bread. Yes, included are physical
needs and material needs and emotional needs and social needs,
but the Lord Jesus Christ himself preeminently is our necessary
bread, the bread we must have and cannot live without. Turn with me to John chapter
six. This is after the miracle of
the loaves when the Lord created bread and fed the multitude. And then he left them and we
read in verse 25. And when they had found him on the other side
of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when came it thou hither?
Jesus answered them and said, 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. Not because of a conviction
of who I am, but because you got your bellies filled. Then
he gives this necessary counsel. 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. 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. They said therefore unto him,
What sign showest thou then that we may see and believe thee?
What does thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in
the desert, as it's written. He gave them bread from heaven
to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from
heaven, 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. They said
unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said
unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall
never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Now, turn back to Exodus chapter
16. He's the true bread that came down from heaven. And let's
read some about the manna that came down from heaven. Manna
is a beautiful illustration of Christ being the bread to our
souls. Chapter 16, this is right after
the first event that's recorded after coming out of Egypt and
passing through the Red Sea. And they took their journey from
Elam and all the congregation of the children of Israel came
under the wilderness of sin. And there's a reason it's called
that, which is between Elam and Sinai on the 15th day of the
second month after the departing out of the land of Egypt and
the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured. against Moses and Aaron in the
wilderness. And the children of Israel said
unto them, would to God we died by the hand of the Lord in the
land of Egypt, when we said by the flesh parts, and when we
did eat bread to the full, for you brought us forth into the
wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Now, Lord
just brought him out of Israel. He parted the Red Sea and brought
them into the land. And now they do this. All you
brought us out here to do is to kill us. Verse four. Then said the Lord unto Moses,
behold, I will reign. And if I would guess what the
Lord would say at this time, I would guess he would say, I
will rain fire and brimstone down from heaven and destroy
this bunch. That's what I would have guessed if I didn't go on
reading. But look what the Lord says. I will rain bread from
heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a certain
rate every day that I may prove them whether they will walk in
my way or No. Now, here is grace. In no respect
did these people deserve this bread, did they? In no respect. But he says, I will rain bread
down from heaven for you. Isn't that encouraging? The Lord
is gracious. He delights in raining bread
down from heaven. It came from heaven. It didn't
come from earth. It came from heaven. I think
of what our Lord said, I came down from heaven. I love that,
don't you? 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 has sent me, that of all which he
has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. Now look in verse 14 of this same chapter,
Exodus chapter 16, where the manna is described. And when the dew that lay was
gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness, there lay
a small, round thing, as small as the hoarfrost on the ground."
Now, the first thing that is told us about this manna is it
was small. It wasn't big. It was small. You know, Men believe that if
something is small, it can't really be from God. We like big
things. We like big churches and big
preachers and big influence. Yet the Lord says, who has despised
the day of small things? This bread was very small. And
you know, our Lord's appearance on this earth by human standards
was very small and insignificant. He was born in a barn, a cow
staple. He had no wealth. He had no special
education. He had no influence. He had no
military backing. He had nothing that this world
would call desirable. A very small beginning. Isn't that glorious? No human
aides. You know, other religious reformers
came to live And he came to die. That's why he came. I think it's
interesting how other religious reformers, they have monuments
and they have statues recognizing them. They have his birthplace
marked and his grave marked and so on, but you know, you can't
find his birthplace. You can't find his grave and
you can't find one possession that he had. All other religious
figures choose the rich and powerful. He chose the poor and the needy. All other religious figures praise
human righteousness. He condemns it. All other religious leaders said,
follow me, I'll show you the way. He said, I am the way. All others claimed to be messengers
of God. He said, he that has seen me
hath seen the father. Who would have thought that this
one nailed to a tree was the savior of the world? Small, seemingly
insignificant, weak, and powerless. The next thing that's said about
this dew is that it was round. It was small. and it was completely
spherical. No ending place, no beginning
place. Perfectly round, no first point,
no last point. Like the son of God who is the
alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the
last. And we read in this chapter that
it was white. It was white. Look in verse 31. And the house of Israel called
the name there of manna, and it was like a coriander seed,
white. And the taste of it was like
wafers made with honey. White speaks of the purity of
the son of God. And I love thinking of his purity
in several different ways. First, he's pure God. He's pure man. He's not part
anything. He's pure justice. He's pure
holiness. He's pure wisdom. He's not made
of parts. He's pure and the whiteness of
his life. Fine linen, clean and white. Oh, he never sinned. I love to
think of the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love to
think of the fact that he lived 33 years upon this earth and
he never sinned. Never had a bad motive. Never
said an ill place thing. He never sinned. He loved God
with all of his heart and he loved his neighbor as himself. Oh the pureness of his life and
this whiteness. He makes the saints, he makes
those who believe on him lily white on the inside and on the
out. He gives a new heart. He gives
perfect righteousness. The whiteness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I love to Hear of that fine linen,
clean and white, for this is the righteousness of the saints. And you read where it was sweet
to the taste. It tastes like wafers and honey. It was sweet to the taste. Now,
I know this. When the Lord gives me grace
to simply believe the gospel, to hear the gospel and the power
of the spirit, when I'm unable to hear and I believe, My joy
is complete when I sit at his feet. It tastes good, the joy
and the peace of believing, the joy of knowing that all that
God requires of me I have in the Lord Jesus Christ. that I'm
perfectly accepted, that I'm wanting nothing, that I'm lacking
nothing, that I'm right before God, inside and out. And it takes
faith to believe that, but by the grace of God, I believe that.
And oh, the joy and the peace of believing. The gospel tastes
good. It's sweet to taste. Oh, taste and see that the Lord
is gracious. Now, God's got to give you the
hearing ears to where you find this message. tasting good. It won't taste good to you unless
the Lord gives that to you. But oh, what a blessing it is.
This manna that came down from heaven, it was sweet to the taste.
But you know what? They were only together one day
at a time. Now, that's so significant. Now, come out in the morning,
the dew was on the ground, and when the dew, first of all, you
had to get it early. If you waited, what happened? It would melt away. It would
melt away by noon. You had to get it early. And
what that lets us know is this manna is what is to be sought
first. Christ, the bread of life. If you put it off, if you wait,
you won't have any because it would melt and vanish away by
noon. It was what you were to do first.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. That's
much more important than anything else, our daily bread. And you know, it was to be gathered.
It was to be gathered. Now, that means you had to go
out and get it. It didn't just show up on your plate. You had
to go out and gather it. And that's what you're doing
right now. You're going out to gather manna. You're going out
to gather food and spiritual food, the Lord Jesus Christ.
You didn't just stay home and think, well, it'll just pop up.
No, you came out to here. You had to go out and gather
it. But you were only allowed to
get one day at a time. If you would have thought, well,
I want to take tomorrow off, I'm going to gather double, what would
happen to the stuff the next day? It would breed worms. and it would stink. That's what
happens when things die. Evidently, there was something
living about this mammoth. Of course, he's the living word
of God. But if you try to gather up enough
for the next day, it would breed worms and stink, the smell and
experience of death. And this lets us know that we
can't live off yesterday's faith. We can't live off yesterday's
experience. Faith is always in the present. Who are you looking
to right now? Right now, this very second.
Who are you relying on? You don't, well, I know the way
I was yesterday. Forget yesterday. Forget it. I like what one fellow
said. The only thing that I understand
about salvation and time is right now and eternity. And I see that. Everything's eternal. Everything's
eternal and everything's right now. Who are you looking to now?
It was the church at Sardis as we considered this morning. They
had a name that they lived. They looked upon past accolades,
past learnings, past experiences. I don't look to the past in any
way because that's not looking to Christ. You look to Christ
right now the way you looked to Him the very first time. As
you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walkie in him. I think it's also interesting
that everybody was given the precise same amount. Did you
know that? If you gathered a lot, let's
say somebody gathered three wheelbarrows full, they get it home, you know
what ends up being? An over. Just over. And if somebody
just gathered a little bit, maybe just two or three of those little
round things, and maybe that's all they could do, and they got it
home, you know what ended up being? An over. That's it. That's a measurement. Everybody
got the exact same thing, which is a reminder to us. We're say
everybody saved the same way through the righteousness and
merits of Christ. We're complete in Christ. Not, not one is over
the other. Not one has more than the other.
Everybody has the exact same thing that if you have Christ,
you have all what, what could be added to that? What could
be subtracted from it? Nothing. Every man was saved
the same way. And if I have Christ, if all
I have is Christ, I have all, don't I? Can't get any better
than that. Every man was given an omer. Now let's go back to John chapter
six. Christ is the bread of life.
And I pray, give us this day my daily bread. Now, I want the
Lord to provide for me particularly. I do. I want to be able to pay
my bills. I want to go home. And aren't
you thankful at a time like this that you've got a furnace and
heat and you don't have to stay out in the cold? And we're thankful
for those things, thankful for a good vehicle to get me home.
But when I'm praying for my daily bread, My daily bread is the
Lord Jesus Christ. I have to feed on Him. Look once again at John chapter
6 verse 35. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. Now, look down in verse 48. He says again, I am the bread
of life. Your fathers did eat man in the wilderness and are
dead. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am
the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I'll give
is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world. The Jews
therefore strove among themselves saying, how can this man give
us his flesh to eat? 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. Now, here's my question. How does one go about eating
the flesh of the Son of Man and drinking his blood? The Lord
says, if you don't do it, you have no life in you. And you
know that's not talking about you. literal is having his flesh
and drinking his blood physically. You know, he's not talking about
that. Somebody says, well, that's what it says. Well, the Lord
says, I'm the door. That doesn't mean he was a door
made out of wood, does it? It means he's the way to the
father. The scriptures quite often speak in metaphor and our
Lord is giving us a metaphor. So how do I go about eating the
flesh of the son of man and drinking his blood? Well, the answer is
found in verse 35. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. And he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. Now bread not eaten, will do
us absolutely no good, will it? You may look at a piece of bread
and you may know exactly how many calories, how many carbohydrates,
what kind of protein it has, how many grams of protein. You
can know everything about the composition of that bread. You
can be an expert on it. And you might know more about
that piece of bread than anybody else. But what good will that
do you if you don't eat it? Except you eat the flesh of the
Son of Man. and drink his blood. You have
no life in you. Now, the flesh of the son of
man, the blood of the son of man, his flesh is his humanity,
his blood is his sacrifice, and the accomplishments of that sacrifice
in putting away my sin, that's what I live on. That's what I
live on. I live on his humanity, his perfect
righteousness. I live on his sacrifice. That
is my life before God. What you eat is what supports
life. It's the reason you remain alive. And what I eat is the
broken body. and shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, how do we eat this bread?
By coming to him and by believing on him. Jesus said unto them,
I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. And he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. Now, what is this thing of coming
to Christ? He said, he that cometh to me
shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. Look in verse 37. He said, all that the father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. Now coming to Christ is spiritual
movement. The spiritual, you know, you
don't move an inch, but it's the spiritual movement of the
soul to Christ. Now, what's that mean? What's
it mean? Well, here's the best way I can
illustrate it. The Lord gave in the Old Testament, the cities
of refuge. If you had killed somebody, the
avenger of the blood had the right to put you to death. And
the Lord made six cities of refuge. You can read about them in the
Old Testament. And if you could get into one of those cities,
you were safe. You were completely safe. The
Avenger of Blood couldn't get to you. Now, how did someone
move into those cities of refuge? In a hurry. With the Avenger of Blood on
their trail. In a hurry. No waiting. It's something you do right now,
in a hurry, seeking refuge, seeking deliverance, seeking a place
of safety. I love that message Greg Elmquist
preached when he talked about us always seeking a hiding place. If you're the prey, what are
you always doing? You're seeking a hiding place,
seeking a place of refuge and safety. That's what you do when
you come to the Lord Jesus Christ. You come in a hurry. This is
not something you can put off. Not if you come to Him. If you
can put it off, you don't know who He is and you don't know who you
are. If you know who you are and if you know who He is, you
know you must come to the Lord Jesus Christ. You must be found
in Him to where all God sees is Jesus Christ. That's why you
know you need to get in Him. And that's what it is to come
to Christ. You come in a hurry. You come to him for refuge. Isaiah
32 says a man shall be as a hiding place. We sing that song, Jesus lover
of my soul, let me to that bosom fly. What Charles Wesley tells
of being up on a bell tower and a little sparrow being chased
by a hawk and that hawk was going to get him. And Wesley said,
I watched that, and all of a sudden that little sparrow flew right
into my bosom. And you know what I did? I protected him from the hawk.
And he went out and wrote these words, Jesus, lover of my soul,
let me to thy bosom fly. While the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest still is high, hide me, O my Savior, hide, till
the storms of life be past, safe into the haven guide, O receive
my soul at last. That's the way someone comes
to Christ, like that little bird came in a hurry for refuge. Proverbs 18.10 says, the name
of the Lord is a high tower and the righteous run into it and
are safe. And I'll tell you when we'll
stop asking what it means to come to Christ and when we'll
come to it, when we have to. Do you understand what that means?
When you have no other choice, when you have nowhere else to
go, when you have no other options, you will come to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Like that woman who had spent
all of her living on many physicians and was nothing bettered, but
rather grew worse. She came to him in the press
and she said, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, I'll
be whole. Notice he says, he that believeth
on me. What's that mean? Does it mean
believing in his existence? Does it mean believing he lived
and died and was raised from the dead? What's it mean to believe
on him? Well, put the word he that trusteth
in me. He that dependeth on me. He that relies on me. If he didn't
do it all, I will not be saved. Now here's what I'm relying on.
Here's what I'm depending on. Here's what I'm trusting. Because
of the greatness and the glory of His person, when He said,
it is finished, my salvation was finished. Completed, signed,
sealed, and delivered. I'm depending on Him. him. I'm
depending on his righteousness being my righteousness before
God. I'm depending upon his precious blood as washing away my sins
so that I have no sin. And I know when it is someone
really has believed on him. Look what verse 35 says in Jesus,
John 6, 35, and Jesus said unto them, I'm the bread of life.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger. And he that believeth
on me shall never thirst. Now what's that mean? If you
ever come to Christ, you won't be looking for anything else.
You won't look for a higher plane. You won't look for a better experience.
You know, this is everything. You're completely satisfied. to be saved by the Lord Jesus
Christ. You're not hungering for anything
else. You're not thirsting for anything else. Now, that doesn't
mean you're satisfied with yourself. You're not. David said, I'll
be satisfied when I awaken thy likeness. You're not satisfied
with yourself, but you're satisfied with him. You're satisfied to
be saved with his righteousness being the only righteousness
you have. You're plumb satisfied with that. You're satisfied with
his sin payment as all that's needed to make you perfectly
accepted before God. You are plumb satisfied and you're
not looking for anything else. Somebody says there must be more.
Well you haven't seen then. You haven't seen because if you
ever see you won't hunger and you won't thirst for anything
else. Turn to first Peter chapter 2
for just a moment. Verse 4. And the way this is stated is
very important. It says, to whom coming. Not to whom you came. Not to
whom you intend to come. But to whom, we come to a person,
not a what, a whom. To whom, coming. Present tense, coming. I didn't come to Christ, I'm
coming right now. If I'm not coming right now,
I never came in the first place. The only way you come to Christ
is in the present. To whom, coming. As unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed men, but chosen of God and precious.
Now, how do I come? Let's say there's a skilled physician
and he says, I'm going to see and heal the sickest patients. How would you come? How would you go? Would you come
with an ingrown hair? I need, I need help with this.
Or would you come with a malignant tumor that you're going to die
if he doesn't do something for you? You're totally in his hands,
totally dependent upon him. Oh, physician, great physician,
heal my sin sick soul. I'm going to die if you don't
do it. Now, that's the way you come.
You wouldn't come. Well, I don't feel all that bad.
I mean, I'm sick, but no, you come. If you want to get his
attention, you come dying. If a very wealthy man, let's
say the richest man in the world, says, I'm gonna give, I'm gonna
make rich the poorest of the poor, how would you come to that
man? I tell you what, I wouldn't be
coming wearing this suit. No, I'd come in rags. I'd come in
need. And that's the way, knowing,
I'm not thinking, well, I'm rich, but I'm just trying to act poor.
No, really believe in I'm nothing but poor. That's the only way
to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. To whom coming? That's the way
you came the first time. We talked about that this morning. How'd
you come to Christ the first time? You know, I don't really...
I couldn't tell you when I first came to Christ. I really don't
know. Well, somebody says, well, it
seems like you'd know something like that. Well, maybe, maybe,
but I still don't know. But I don't remember being born
either. You remember being born? I don't
remember abuse. Does that mean I wasn't born?
No, I was born. I don't remember it. But the
point I want to make, when I first came to Christ, I didn't come
with my faith. I didn't come with my repentance.
I didn't come with my experience. I came empty handed, without
a thing to recommend me. needing his mercy and his grace,
needing him to receive my soul. As a matter of fact, when I came
to him, I was crying, come to me. I can't get to you. Come
to me. If you don't come to me, it's
all over for me. Come to me, receive me, have
mercy upon me. And we continue coming like that. We come to lay down on the foundation,
to whom coming as unto a living stone, the foundation stone. And we come to lay down on the
foundation. And when we continue to come,
we always come the same way as a needy, needy sinner. needing His mercy and His grace. We don't come with repentance.
We don't come with love. We don't come with faith. We
come to Him for those things. Now somebody says, can I, a hard-hearted
wretch, without anything to recommend me, can I come? Come and welcome. That's the only way to come.
There is no other way of coming. And we're to come to Him expecting
everything. I love the way the Lord taught
us to pray, give us, not pay us, give us this day our daily
bread. He gives and we receive. Believer, the Father delights
in you coming to him and saying, give us this day our daily bread
and expect it. Trust him to give you what you
need. I'm trusting him to give me what
I need. Let's pray together.