Oh. Would you turn with me to
John Chapter six? John Chapter six. Want to remind
you that tonight, after the services, we're going to observe the Lord's
table together and we're going to have a meal together. I'm
very much looking forward to that. I've entitled this morning's
message. Unbelief. It's reality. And it's remedy. Unbelief. It's reality. And it's remedy. I'd like for us to read verse
36 of John chapter 6 together. But I said unto you, That you
also have seen me and believe not. How many of us this morning? Would the Lord say this to? You've seen me. and you believe not." Now that
is a sobering, sobering thought. You have seen me, and yet you
do not believe. Now remember, this is the same
crowd that he was speaking to that had seen the miracle of
the loaves and the fishes, they were eyewitnesses of one of the
Lord's greatest miracles. They literally saw Him bring
matter into existence which was not there before. Only God can
do that. No mere man can do that. experienced this miracle. They didn't have to wonder if
maybe they just saw something and it didn't really happen.
They tasted the bread. They tasted the fish. They experienced this miracle. And these are the same men that
drew this conclusion in verse 14. Then those men when they
had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is of a truth,
that prophet that should come into the world. Now look at this
conclusion they drew. That's an accurate conclusion,
isn't it? This is of a truth, that prophet,
the prophet God promised that should come into the world. They
drew a proper scriptural conclusion regarding what they saw. As a
matter of fact, they wanted to make him king. Verse 15 of John
chapter 6, when Jesus therefore perceived that they would come
and take him by force to make him a king, they wanted him to
be king. He departed again into a mountain himself alone, and
this is the same crowd that crossed the sea to seek him. Look in
verse 24 of John chapter 6, when the people therefore saw that
Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took
shipping and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus. That's what
it says they were doing. They were seeking the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, he says to this crowd that
had this pretty impressive resume. I mean, they'd seen some things
not many people had seen and they experienced some things
not many people experienced. And they even drew a proper scriptural
conclusion. This is that prophet. He said
to this crowd, I say unto you, you've seen me and you do not
believe. You've seen the miracle that
attests to the fact that I'm more than a man. You have some
understanding of my claims as the Messiah. You've seen me,
but you still do not believe. And these people would eventually
prove what he was saying. Look at verse 66 of this same
chapter. From that time, many of his who? Many of his who? His enemies? His disciples. those who claim
to be His disciples. What did they do? They went back
and walked no more with Him. Now, our Lord proves what was
in their heart when He says, You see Me and you do not believe. Now these people had demonstrated
an interest in believing. Look in verse 30 of John chapter
6. The same people he said you've seen me and you don't believe.
Look what they say in verse 30. They said therefore unto him.
What sign showest thou then that we may see and believe thee? They're saying we want to believe
you. We really do. We want to believe you, but we
need more evidence. We need a sign of some kind that
will enable us to believe. You've not given us enough. What
sign are you showing us that we may see and believe? What
does thou work? In verse 28 of this same chapter.
These people said unto him, what shall we do? That we might work
the works. Of God. What a question and listen
to our Lord's answer. Verse 29, Jesus answered and
said unto them, this is the work of God. That you believe. On him. Whom he. Has sinned. Period. What must we do that we might
work the works of God? What a question. What an answer
here it is. This is the work of God that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. Period. Does somebody think? Well, can
I enter heaven without good works? No. You cannot. You cannot enter heaven without
good works and you cannot enter heaven without a good character.
And those good works and that good character must be without
flaw. They must be as good as God himself
or you will not enter heaven. But. Is it not impossible for
me to be this good? No, it's not. How do I need to strive more? Do I need to deny myself more?
Do I need to read the Bible more? Do I need to pray more? Do I
need to do more? How can I obtain this character that God accepts? Do I need to do more? No. Listen to me. Only believe. Only believe. Rely on Him whom
He has sent. Do nothing. Only believe. Trust. Rely on. Trust that when He said, it is
finished, it was finished. And that you really do not need
anything else. All that God requires of you you have. You believe that? All that God requires of you
in Christ, you possess. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body and you are complete. You don't need
anything else. You are complete in Him. Now, are you willing to abandon
your own doings and your own righteousness and to rely upon
Him to make you perfect before God. Now, I know this, you will
not until you are convinced that your righteousness is His filthy
rights. And when you are convinced of
that, it will be easy to trust Him as your righteousness before
God. But until you're convinced of
that, it's not going to be easy. It's kind of like, you know,
have you ever, you want to make a purchase, a big purchase, and
you want to get the best thing. And you're comparing the different
brands, and one's good, and one's good, and another one's good,
and you can't make up your mind which one is the best, and you're all
stressed out because you want to get the best. And you don't
want to get the wrong thing, but as long as you have an option,
you've got that stress. But I tell you what, when there
is no option, when there's only one thing to get, and you don't
have to make a decision between a bunch of different things,
it's easy to make that decision, isn't it? It's very easy. Now,
when you are convinced that you have no personal righteousness
before God, it's easy to trust Christ as your righteousness
before God, isn't it? The one work of God that you
must do is believe on Him whom He has sent. You believe the
Father sent Him. You rely on the fact that He
did what the Father sent Him to do. Now, He said this is the
work of God that you believe on Him whom He has sent. Verse
30, They said therefore unto Him, What sign showest thou then? Now wait a minute, wait a minute,
wait a minute, wait a minute. What did He just do? He brought into existence matter
that was not there before. What is the sign you need? Is that not good enough? What this tells us is that there
is never an excuse for unbelief. It's evil. That's all you can
call it. It's evil. What signs? He'd already given
the sign. What sign? This is not good enough. We need something else. What
sign showest thou then that we may see and believe thee? What
dost thou work? We need more evidence. You know,
unbelief just drips from this speech, doesn't it? What sign
showest thou? We need more evidence. This is
not enough. Unbelief just drips from this. We need a sign that
will verify your claims. What they mean by that under
this religious speech. Give us a sign that we may see
and believe as if we really want to. What they meant by this religious
speech is we don't believe you. We don't believe you. What you
said and what you've done is not enough to cause us to believe
we need something more. They're calling Christ a liar.
We don't believe what you said. You have to give us greater evidence
than this. What work can you perform that will enable us to
believe you? Our fathers, verse 31, our fathers did eat manna
in the desert as it's written. He gave them bread from heaven
to eat. OK, so you've given us this one
meal. Moses fed our fathers in the wilderness for 40 years.
This miracle of yours is nothing to compare to what Moses did.
I mean, he fed two million people every day for 40 years in the
wilderness. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Now, I see
From this the error of unbelief, look what our Lord says to them
in verse 32 after they make this statement. Then said Jesus 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. Now, here's the error of unbelief
first. They had a mistaken notion concerning
the scriptures. They quoted a scripture. Moses
gave them bread from heaven, did he? Or is it Moses didn't
give you that bread? God gave you that bread. And
they demonstrated what a high opinion they had of men. Since
when can Moses provide you bread like that? Only God can do that. Unbelief is always some mistake
regarding the scriptures, and it always has too high an opinion,
too high a view of man. Unbelief misapplies the scriptures
and it always views man too highly. And you know that bread, that
manna is not the true bread anyway. Look what he says. My father
giveth you the true bread that comes down from heaven. You see
that bread that Moses was used by God to bring down, that manna?
You know what happened to the folks who ate that? They died
anyway. It didn't keep them alive. Now
look what he says of the true bread. He says, for the bread
of God, verse 33, the bread of God is he. It's not an it. It's a he which cometh down from
heaven and giveth life unto the world. Notice, he says, it's
the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life. Now, notice
that he didn't say he offers life or he gives everybody an
opportunity to have life. Well, He's made life available
for everybody. It doesn't say that at all, does it? It says
He comes down and He gives life. When God gives, you know what
happens to somebody? They live. If God gives you life,
you know what's going to happen to you? You're going to live.
You're going to live before God. You're going to have spiritual
life. You're going to live eternally. That's what happens when God
gives life. Now, what's He mean? when he says the bread of God
is He that cometh down from heaven and giveth life to the world. Well, obviously, it does not
mean that He's given life to everybody. Because these people
didn't have spiritual life. As a matter of fact, we've already
read that verse of Scripture where after this message, after this
event that took place in John chapter 6, all these people left
Him. They went back and walked no
more with Him. Did they have life? Obviously
not. So when he's speaking of himself
coming down and giving life to the world, obviously he does
not mean that he gives life to everybody without exception. Well, what does it mean then? Well, verses 38 through verse
40 tells us exactly what he means by that. Now read verse 33. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Verse 38.
For I came down from heaven, this is the bread that came down
from heaven, I came down from heaven not to do mine own will,
but the will of him that sent me, and this is the Father's
will which has sent me." Now before we go on reading in this
verse, I want to ask you a question. He said, I came down from heaven.
Not to do my own will. That's not what this is about.
I came to do the will of Him that sent me. Now, if He came
down from the heaven to do the will of the Father which sent
Him, is there any possible way that He can fail in His intentions? He came down from heaven to do
God's will. Is there any way He could fail
in His intentions? Now, if you know who He is, you
know the answer to that question. You know that there is no possible
way he could fail in his intentions. Now, he said, here's my intention.
I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will
of Him that sent me. Now, let's go on reading 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. Here's God's will. Here's the Father's will which
sent me, that of all which he's given me. Now what's that a reference
to? Election. How many times does
he speak of those the Father gave him? That is repeated over
and over and over again in the book of John. You know, in the
Lord's Prayer for His people in John chapter 17, He mentions
this phrase 16 times. I mean, six times those the father
gave me. Let me show you one of them.
John 17, verse nine. This is such a powerful statement.
John 17, verse nine. This is the Lord's prayer for
his people, this is the true Lord's prayer, and he says in
verse nine, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine." Now,
did the Lord say this because His Father didn't know who He's
praying for? Well, you know better than that. He said this for our
benefit. We're to learn something from
this. He says, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me. He's talking about the elect,
those the Father gave Him before the foundation of the world.
Now this is the will of Him that sent me, that of all which He
hath given me, I should lose nothing. But raise it up again
at the last day. Now listen to me, please, very
carefully. This is so important. When Christ
died on Calvary's tree, was He dying for everybody? All individuals
to ever live? All men without exception? Was
He? No. He was dying for His elect. And you know what He did in dying
for His elect? He saved every one of them. He
said, this is the Father's will which is in me, that of all which
He hath given me, I won't lose one of them. But I'll raise them
up again at that last day. Now this is, I love this. I love the fact that everybody
he died for, he saved. In my heart, I hate and despise
the doctrine of universal redemption. That error that says that Christ
made salvation possible. He gave everybody an opportunity
to be saved. He made it possible, but now
you need to do something to make what he did work. There's no
gospel in that. There's not a drop of gospel
in that. If that's the gospel, then I won't be saved. If he
did everything, but now I've got to do something in order
to make what he did work? No, there's no gospel in that.
Here's the gospel everybody he died for must be saved. When he said, it is finished,
he's not simply saying, my part's over. Now it's up to you. He's
saying, it is finished. My salvation is what? Accomplished. Accomplished. Is
that good news to you? I think what is good news to
this fellow, it really is, this is the will of Him that sent
me, that of all which He has given me, I won't lose one of
them. But I'll raise them up at that
last day. And I love the way he didn't quit there. Look in
verse 40 of John 6. Turn back there. 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'm so happy the Lord didn't stop at verse 39,
because I'd always be trying to figure out, how can I know
if I'm one of the ones the Father gave Him? How can I know if I'm
somebody who Christ died for? How can I know if I'm somebody
who is saved by the grace of God? How can I know? Well, He
tells us right here, you can know positively right now. What he says. And this is the
Father's will, which sent me that every one that seeth the
Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life. Now, I've
never seen the Son physically. I don't know what Jesus Christ
the Lord looks like. I don't have any idea. I can't
wait to see him. Don't you look forward to seeing
his dear face? Oh, we just so much look forward
to that, to behold his face. David said, I'll behold thy face
in righteousness. But I don't know what he looks
like right now, but I'll tell you this, I have seen him in
his word. And I really believe, I'm not
just saying this because I've been indoctrinated in it, I really
believe that this book we call the Bible is all about him. I really believe that. And I
tell you what, when you show it to me and I see it, I say,
yep, that's it. That's it. I see him in the Old Testament.
I see him. I really see him as the message of this book. Secondly,
in seeing him, I see him. In seeing him, I really do see
him as everything in my salvation. I really see that. I see His
righteousness as the only righteousness I need. I see this. That's it. I see His shed blood as my only
sin payment. I see His intercession before
the Father right now as the reason why I persevere. Him keeping
me. Him praying for me. Do you see
the Son? Everyone that seeth the Son.
Everyone. I don't care who you are. If
you see the Son, you're one of those people He died for. You're
one of the elect. Everyone that seeth the Son and
believeth. That doesn't just mean believing
in Him. The devils believe in Him. That means believing on
Him. That means relying on Him. Right now, I am relying on the
Lord Jesus Christ as my salvation. Now, everybody does that. They're
one of the elect. The bread of God, verse 33, is
he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. You know what it means now, don't
you, by reading verses 38 through 40? OK, they didn't understand,
though. Look in verse 34. Then said they unto him, Lord,
evermore give us this bread. Now they, all they understood
was physical bread. That's all they, hey, wouldn't
you like to have every meal guaranteed to you for the rest of your life?
It'd be kind of like winning the lottery, getting, I mean, get
a thousand dollars a week for the rest of my life. Don't have
to worry about work. Everything's going to be fine.
At least I'll be, that's all they saw this as. Bread, you
know, I want, Give up this bread. We're interested in having this
bread that will never die and have it every day. This is good
stuff. We want this. 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 we see in this very important
verse of Scripture that coming to Christ and believing on Christ
are the precise same thing. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. Well, what's it mean to come
to Christ? How do you get there? I mean, he's at the right hand
of the Father. Is it a physical move? What's it mean to come
to Christ? He that believeth on thee shall never thirst. To come to Christ is to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you come to Him, If you
believe on him, and this thing, may God give me grace to have
some understanding of this thing, and you grace to have some understanding
of this thing of coming to Christ. Coming to Christ is the act of
spiritual life. Folks who have life, you know
what they do? They come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the evidence of divine election. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Him that comes to me, I'll in
no wise cast out. And he says that person that
comes to me, and that means that when you come to Christ. It's
done in the heart, it's not something, it's not a physical move, it's
not walking down an aisle, you know that. Where in the world
did people ever come up with an altar call? You find anything
in the Bible about that? I mean, that's a purely man-made,
you don't come to Christ, you come to something, that's not
coming to Christ. Coming to Christ is coming in
your heart. You believe on Him. You leave a place. When you come
to a place, you leave a place. You leave salvation by works.
You come to salvation by Him. You come because you want to.
You come because you need to. You come because you're afraid
not to. You come because you're scared not to. You come because
you really have no choice. It's not like you're choosing.
You have to come. You have to have Him. You have
to. It's not like you've got any
other options. And if you've got an option, you've never come
to Him. You come to Him when you have no options. This is
it. This is my only hope. Coming to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, in coming to Him, our Lord says you'll never hunger and
you'll never thirst. Let me tell you what that means
exactly. I don't know how many times I've heard people say this
after they hear the Gospel preached. There's got to be something more
than that. There's got to be something more. You haven't heard them. Because if you've heard, you'll find complete satisfaction
in being saved by Him. You find complete satisfaction
in being saved totally by Him where He gives all the glory
and none goes to you. And you're plumb satisfied for
it to be that way. You're not searching for anything
else. I'm still searching. I'm not. I found. I found. I'm believing on Him. Does that
mean you don't seek the Lord anymore? Of course not. You know
I seek Him every day. But I tell you what, I'm not
searching for anything else. I find complete satisfaction
in simply being saved by Him. I can't even express the satisfaction
I get out of thinking that my sin literally became His. And isn't that what happened
on the cross? My sin, that sin that's ever before me, it became
His. He bore our sins in His own body
on the tree. My sin became His. And just as
truly as my sin became His, His righteousness is mine. And I find complete satisfaction. I'm not looking for anything
else. Have you ever simply just rested? You're not looking for
anything else. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, he says in verse 35, 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. But I said unto you, you also
see me. And believe not. You've seen me, and you just
don't believe. Now, would this describe anybody here?
I don't know. I suppose any time you get a
group of people together, you've got those who believe and those
who don't believe. I never assume that everybody I'm preaching
to is a believer. And I believe this would describe some people
here you've seen. I mean, you've seen and you don't believe. But
look what the Lord says in verse 37. It's almost as if he said
your unbelief is no discouragement to me. It's not like I'm worried
that something wrong is happening. He said, I said unto you that
you've also seen me and believe not all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me. You may not come to me, but Knows
the Father gave me will. It's not like I'm discouraged.
Oh no, I died for these people, but they won't come. No, nothing
like that. Nothing like that. All that the
Father giveth me, every single one of them, what will they do?
They'll come to me. They'll come to me for mercy.
They'll come to me for grace. They'll come to me for forgiveness.
They'll come to me for everything. They'll come to me for faith.
They'll come to me for repentance. I don't come to Christ with my
faith. I come to Him for faith. Lord,
give me faith. Give me repentance. Give me life. We come to Him
for everything. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And listen to this blessed promise. Him that cometh to me, I will for no reason whatsoever
Cast out. Isn't that a blessed promise?
Him that cometh to me, I will, in no wise, for no reason cast
out. You come. Now here's the promise
of our Lord. If you come, you will be received. Do you know there's never ever
in the history of the universe been one person who came to Him
that He kicked out? You've come to Him. Now if somebody
says, well I've come and He didn't receive me. You didn't come then.
You didn't come because all comers are received. Everybody who comes. Now let's close by looking at
a passage in Matthew chapter 11. Verse 25. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and has
revealed them unto babes, even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. Before I go on, is that reason
enough to satisfy you for whatever God does? If it's good in his sight, is
it good in your sight? That's the only reason our Lord
gives. If it's good in his sight. And I tell you what, if it's
good in his sight, it's good in mine too. Not that it makes any difference
whether it is or not, I realize that. But if it's good in his
sight, it's good. Then he says in verse 27, he
tells us something of his own greatness. He says, all things
are delivered unto me of my father. And no man knows the son, no
man knows me. But the father. I am so great. Is what the Lord is saying, I'm
so infinite. I'm so glorious that the only
one who really knows me and knows me altogether, is the Father.
That's how great I am. Neither knows any man the Father,
save the Son, and He, to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. Now, our Lord gives us some idea
of His greatness at this time. And He lets us know that the
only way you're going to know God is if He's pleased to reveal
God to you. Now, we're in his hands. All things are delivered
unto him. Now, he's given us some idea of his greatness. Now,
look what he says next. Verse 28. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart." Now that's
hard to put verses 25, 26, 27 and that together. He says all
things are delivered unto me. I am so glorious that nobody
can know me but the Father. And yet when he calls us to himself,
he says I'm meek. and I'm lowly in heart, the approachableness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what I've said this many
times, but I find it amazing. This shows how hypocritical we
are. If I could see everything that
passed through your heart, I wouldn't have anything to do with you. And what is so hypocritical about
that is everything that passes through your heart passes through
my heart. Men are so self-righteous, not
approachable, but not the Lord. He sees everything that passes
through our heart, and yet he says, I and me and lowly in heart,
and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light." His yoke, a yoke brings two animals
together, two oxen, a yoke for oxen. Why is his yoke so easy? Because he bears all the weight
of it. Salvation is by grace. His yoke is easy, and His burden
is light. Come unto Me, all ye that are
weary, heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Oh, the joy of
simply resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. May God give us all grace
truly to come to Him. Let's pray together.