The Gospel of John, chapter six. Now we went through Matthew,
Mark, and Luke, as we all know, and now we are in the book of
John. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred
to as synoptic gospels. They follow the ministry of Christ
in chronological order. They follow his parables that
he spoke, his miracles that he performed, But John doesn't give
a single parable. He gives many of the miracles.
He gives us miracles that some of the other disciples in their
gospels that they don't give. Matthew reveals Christ as the
king. Mark reveals Christ the servant. Luke reveals him as
a man, the great physician. And John reveals him as the son
of God. John gives us In case there's any doubt to the reason
that he wrote the gospel that he did, he gives us the reason.
In John chapter 20, verse 30, it says, and many other signs
truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book, but these are written that you might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing
you might have life through his name. That's the reason he wrote
it. John gives us 85 different beliefs in his book. He says
the word 85 times, believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
I've written these things that you might believe and what a
joy it is in knowing that we just declare that belief is passive. It's not something that we can
uh, merit or something that we do. It's something that he does
for us. It's the gift by faith, isn't
it? That's what it is to believe is to look to Christ. We don't
brag. Oh, I've, I've, I've made my
decision. I believe no, no, the Lord bestowed
that faith. And we believe because of that
and he gets all the glory. The Lord's made it clear that
if he's, if we do believe it's God's doing. Now in John chapter
six, we have multiple miracles of our Lord. We have the feeding
of the 5,000. We have the account where the
Lord comes walking on the water to the disciples. But I want
to look at the message the Lord gives us. And I want to start
in verse six, I'm sorry, verse one of chapter six and read the
first two verses. Then we're going to skip down.
I intentionally read the 10 verses that we did because John six
is a big book and it has to do with the Lord preaching a message
to these majority non-believers. And so this sets the stage, if
you want to put it that way, in our mind's eye of what's going
on in chapter 6 verse 1. After these things, Jesus went
over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed
him. And here's the reason why they followed him, because they
saw his miracles, which he did on them that were diseased. Now
look with me in verse 26. 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. So between
the beginning until now, he had performed the miracle of feeding
the 5,000. And he says, that's the reason that you followed
me, because you were filled with the loaves. Labor not for the
meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto
everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give 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 who he hath sent. Why were they following Christ?
Why? Well, first of all, they had
saw the miracles. He just told us that. And the
second was because of the physical bread. So my question tonight
for us is why do we seek him? That's the title of the message.
Why do we seek him? I love that the Lord didn't ask
them a question. Why are you seeking me? He says,
I say unto you, verse 26, you seek me not because you saw the
miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled.
There's the reason he didn't ask a question because he already
knew the reason, didn't he? He didn't have to ask him. He
can see the heart. He knows what's deep down. He knows our reasoning,
whether we are deceiving ourself or whether we are being honest
with ourself. Either way, he knows the truth,
doesn't he? He can't hide from the Lord.
He sees men, as he mentioned the Pharisees once, he said,
you're just whited sepulchers. You're just, you're bleached
white on the outside, but inside you're full of dead men's bones.
The Lord looks all the way down in the heart, doesn't he? He
sees those dead men's bones. What do we say to that? Ezekiel
said, or the Lord said in Ezekiel, can these bones live? He said,
Lord, thou knowest. Those bones are going to live.
You're going to have to be the doer of it. I'm seeking you Lord to cause,
I have a need. You're going to have to make
the bones live. I can't do it. Well, most foolishly seek the
Lord to be recognized as being worthy of his hand, don't they?
They want to be recognized before him, sitting up a little higher
than those that are around them, having a self-righteousness or
thinking that there's something when they're not. Men present
their own righteousness to him, but only God's elect seek him
for the right reason. What's that reason? We have no
righteousness. Our righteousness is filthy rags.
Lord, I need your righteousness. I need to be found in you. Some people, I've heard creatures
talk about sin. Men are Most will say in religion
that they were sinners and now they're saints, or, yeah, I used
to do this and now I do this, and they talk about progressive
sanctification and foolishness like that. Most see sin and believe
that they can obligate God to do something for them by them
acting or by working. And now I've obligated him. They'll
approach a figment of their imagination. They're not really approaching
God. They're approaching a baby Jesus, meek and mild, that can't
have his way unless you let him. That's who they're approaching.
And this is how these people viewed Christ. They didn't view
him as God. It's evident because they went
away. Those that viewed him as God stayed with him. They saw
he was Christ. And Peter confesses that at the
end. You're the Christ. We know that. He said, are you
going to leave me too? And Peter said, Lord, who are
we going to go? Where are we going to go? You have the words
of eternal life. Most come to him just as a man,
because that's the only way we can see him with these natural
eyes. They believe that they can have Christ their own way. It's not true, is it? It's not
true, we can't have him our way. No, we don't try to make him
into something he's not. The truth causes us to just say,
truth, Lord, I'm the sinner and you're the savior. I'm full of
unrighteousness and you are truthful of truth and grace. You are righteousness. Men believe that God will be
pleased. by their choice, by their work. And that's evident. This was
the ideology of these in verse 28, where they ask, what shall
we do that we might work the works of God? What shall we do
to please God? We let him into our heart? Can
we make him Lord of our life? What do we need to do? I love
our Lord's response. Verse 29, this is the work of
God that you believe on him whom he hath sent. See, that's his
work. We can't work that, it's His
work. The only way we're going to believe is if He works. It's
not our works that causes us to believe, it's His works. He
said the only way that you're going to believe is if God does
the work. Every time God does the work,
we believe, don't we? All those whom the Lord died
for, all those whom the Lord redeemed, He does the work in
bringing them to the knowledge of the truth. These were asking
for a sign. They said, well, if you're not
going to give us a work to do, at least show us a sign. Isn't
that what we do by nature, men and women in false religion?
That's what they do. If you're not going to give us a work to
do, we're going to have to see something miraculous for us to believe
on you. No, we're going to have to have faith, aren't we? And
that doesn't mean what it sounds like it means to most men where
they say, you just need to have faith. You need to just pray
more. You need to do more. No. He's going to have to do the
work of God in the heart of his people if we're going to believe.
If we're hoping to believe, he's going to have to give his faith.
Men still are seeking a sign. I had a phone call the other
day and they said, how many members do you have in your congregation?
Never met the man before in my life, but he called to inquire
about our church. How many members do you have in your congregation?
I told him a number. He said, well, how many did you
have saved there last year? And I said, okay, I see where
this is going. He said, what classes do you
have? These are all signs, aren't they? But church numbers, it
doesn't matter whether it's the ledger of the bank account or
the members, how many people we have, that's not evident of
God's working. It's the heart that the Lord
works in. Men want to see physical things, but God works spiritually,
doesn't he? God works spiritually. We see that men and women are
gathering everywhere just like these were attempting to get
healing or attempting to receive salvation or physical healing
and spiritual healing by obligating God to do something. We can't
obligate him to do anything. No, the gospel that's revealed
to the Lord's people causes us to cry out, have mercy on me,
the sinner. I can't obligate you. I'm dead. How's a dead man
going to obligate? He can't. I've talked to some that say
that, how faithful God has been to me over the years. And they
never understand that they're really bragging on their works.
What men do is, is they say, well, if you pray more, you're
going to, I read this today on the computer, I knew this from
false religion, but I was typing in something, this popped up.
It said, if we pray more, we obligate God to do something. And I thought, That is, that
is foolishness. That's, that's a terrible, that's
ignorance. No, we can't obligate him. It's
not possible. That means you've never seen
him seated on the throne. If he's seated, it's already
finished, isn't it? Oh, we got to see him as seated. No, I can't
obligate him. I'm going to need him to, to
do all the work in salvation. There is always something in
the false religion of wheel works, worship, that somehow, someway
gives glory to the flesh. Not God's gospel. Not God's gospel. It gives all the glory to God. All the glory to Him. Somehow,
someway in all false religion, it allows the flesh to have some
glory. Not God's gospel. God gets all
the glory in His salvation, doesn't He? These in chapter six had
come to watch a show I thought about that. They knew the miracles.
What was their purpose in coming if they were not believing on
him? It was like a circus to them.
It was an entertainment to them. It was a magician's trick to
them. They didn't have any belief in what was going on. It was
just a wow factor. Have you met Jesus and seen the
things that he done? Come, let's go check this out.
This is neat. They never were given eyes of faith. How alarming
to us is that, that they saw Christ, they saw him heal, they
saw him feed them. Five loaves and two fishes fed
5,000. And yet they still were not given faith to believe. It's
evident that it's the work of God, isn't it? It's evident in
this chapter. These men were looking for entertainment, for
pleasure of the flesh, and they saw nothing more than entertainment. Nothing more than pleasure of
the flesh because they were spiritually dead. Most attend church for
this reason. Most attend church as a social
gathering and they, uh, out of obligation to their conscience
to try to ease it. I went to church all my life.
How many, uh, how many of us know it being a false religion?
I went to church my entire life. All he did was go to church.
I've been. I got baptized back in false religion. No, we just
got wet, didn't we? It wasn't. I mean, it was all all entertainment
to the flesh, exalting the flesh and what we've done and making
our choice. And aren't you thankful for God's gospel? He gets all
the glory in it. All the glory in it. We're not
looking for entertainment. Goats will eat anything, won't
they? We'll call it the gospel. The Lord's sheep hear his voice
and he knows them. and they follow him. And what
does he give to his sheep? Not based upon them, but based
upon his merits, eternal life. Eternal life. Most will use words that say,
I used to do this and I used to do that, but not anymore.
And what they're doing is they're saying, let me tell you about
my faith, what I've accomplished. Let me tell you what I am now.
We know Nebuchadnezzar, he made a 60-foot statue. We know it
had to be his face on it. That's what men do, don't they?
That's what we do. Every one of us, by nature, that's
what we do. But when the Lord comes to us, we had that song,
Feel Me Now. We heard that song, Hover Over
Me, Lord Jesus, bathe my trembling heart and brow, Lord, Send your
spirit and power. Fill me now. Fill me with your
spirit. That's that's the prayer of the believer. I can't get
to you. I'm like blind Bartimaeus saying, Jesus, son of David,
have mercy on me. I can't see where you're at.
I can't come to you. He said, bring him to me. And
he what do you do? He dropped his clothes, didn't he came to
him naked. That's what we do. We come to him. So what would
you have me do? Lord, I need my sight. I'm I'm
blind. And our confession is the same,
Lord, I'm dead in trespasses and in sin. I'm guilty of breaking
every one of your laws. I have no hope in myself. We had a young man come here
a couple months ago and it was after service, which was interesting.
He came through and he wanted to talk to me. So we talked for
a bit. Some of you are already gone. And, uh, he said, He said,
he was trying to relate to what I was saying, asking me what
we preach, what we believe, different things. And he says, okay, yeah,
I know what you're saying. We used to do this, but we don't do that
anymore. We used to watch this. We don't watch that. We used
to go here. We don't go there anymore. I said, that is not
what I'm saying. Not even close. And I was very kind. I wasn't
ugly to the man, but that was his righteousness, wasn't it?
I don't do that anymore. That makes me better than someone
else in God's eyes. No, it doesn't. It's our merits
have nothing to do with it. His does. It's not about what
we do. Paul said the will is ever present
with me, but he said, I can't do it. I'm not able to. It's
not in my ability. I'm not capable of it. Boy, it's
in his ability though, isn't it? To please God. And he did.
He did. I've heard people say this. I
battled cancer. Because I never gave up on God,
he healed me." That was their work, wasn't it? God healed them
because of what they did in their mind. Lord, keep us from that. Keep us from that. I heard somebody
say, I lost my job. I about lost my house, but because
I had faith, God gave me a better one. That's not what faith is. Faith doesn't look to circumstances,
does it? Faith looks to Christ as all our hope of righteousness
before the Father. That's what faith does. Faith
doesn't look to our circumstances or ourself in any way. It's true. Everything in our nature wants
to shine forth and declare the wonder that we are. Look at me,
what I've accomplished, what I am, what I used to be, what
I am now. Not the Lord's people. No, we go from being least of
the brethren, not worthy to be one of the saints to all the
way down to the chief of sinners, dead dog sinner. That's Lord,
that's, that's the direction we had. We're not getting better.
We're getting worse. But thanks be to God. He said, I've already
sanctified you. I've already glorified you. Lord,
I don't see it. Faith says truth, Lord. I believe
it. I don't understand it. Faith doesn't understand, does
it? Faith looks to Christ. Faith looks to Christ. used to dedicate themselves in
false religion and try to obligate God by what they've studied or
their dedication or their fasting and their prayer. Is that not
what the Pharisee said in the temple praying? He said, Lord,
I thank thee. I'm not, I'm not like this one. I'm not like that
one. I tithe, I fast, I do this, I do this. See, that's false
religion. It points to self. He said, I thank you. I'm not
like this publican. The publican said, Lord, have mercy on me,
the sinner. I can't even look up to you. I have a heart condition.
I need a heart transplant. Lord said, who went home justified?
Who do you think went home justified? Oh, it was the sinner, wasn't
it? It was the sinner. The lie is that we can obligate
him in any way. that God did this or God did
that because we caused him to. That's just self-righteousness
is all that is. No, he's seated on the throne.
All things are ordered and sure. Salvation has been accomplished.
Everything that's going to come to pass has already happened
according to God. It's just going through the motions. He's seated. He's seated. I can't obligate him. So my question remains, why do
we seek him? These sought him for a show.
They sought him for food. They sought him for a sign. Why
do we seek him? They literally confess their
unbelief by saying, show us what work do we need to do? First
of all, second of all, show us a sign. If we can't have a work,
give us a sign so our eyes can see. So that's just unbelief,
isn't it? How often have we prayed, Lord, I need a sign. I was, uh,
uh, going to come up here to be your pastor." And I'm like,
Lord, I know, but I'm not asking for a sign. As soon as I do that,
that's unbelief. I said, Lord, you're going to have to give
peace. You're going to have to give grace. I can't look at anything. I was
made to come to this realization of the Lord. I thought, well,
maybe I should be like Gideon and set out a fleece or something
like that. No, I'm looking to a fleece at that point. We're
so prone to do that, aren't we? I said, don't do that. No, look
to the finished work of Christ. He'll order and provide. We don't
look for a sign. We don't look to our works. We
look to God's gospel. I told that man on the phone,
I said, what classes do you have? What programs do you have? I
said, we have the gospel. He says, yeah, yeah, yeah. Everybody
has the gospel. No, they don't. And you don't
have it either. I didn't say it. I was thinking and I was
gentle with him, but he just, everybody's got the gospel. No.
No, it's hidden. It's hidden. The Lord's gospel
is hidden. That's not true. He has to reveal it, doesn't
he? These were coming to him for food. They were coming to
him for a show. They were coming to him for a wow factor. If God's gospel doesn't get it
done, if God's gospel is not a wow enough factor for us, we've
never been called. But to the believer, it is the
wow factor. You have mercy on me, on this?
You saved me? You called me by your grace?
You love me? This? Yes. Yes, with an everlasting
love because I see you in Christ Jesus. I see you as perfect. That's what the gospel declared.
That's a wow factor, isn't it? We don't need any other wow factor
other than that. These were asking, well, don't
you have manna like Moses? Don't you have manna like Moses?
He said, I am the bread of life. Oh, we're not looking for Moses'
manna, are we? We're looking for the manna of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's amazing. They'd seen all
these miracles. They knew about the Old Testament,
everything that's happened. They brought it up. What about
the manna for Moses? If we're going to believe on
you, you're going to have to prove it to us. Aren't you glad
the Lord don't prove anything to anybody? He's seated. He just
seated. Faith just looks to Him. Once
He gives us faith, we cannot help but believe. We can't help
it. He causes us to. All these miracles they saw and
they still could not see Him. Verse 36 is so clear on that. But I said unto you that ye have
also have seen me and believe not. You believe not. You've
looked right at me. You saw the miracle. You saw
all these miracles and yet you will not believe. Now our Lord
then preaches the truth to them. I want to read starting at verse
37. We're going to read 10 verses. What comfort there is in this
verse and all these that proceed all that the father giveth me
shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. This
is the Father's will. We know the Father's will. Did
you know that? He's gonna tell us. 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 everyone
which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life,
and I will raise him up at the last day.' The Jews then murmured
at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from
heaven. They said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose
father and mother we know? How is it, then, he saith, I
came down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and
said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to
me except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will
raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Not
that any man hath seen the Father, save which is of God, he hath
seen the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Here we have
three statements that I want to look at for the remainder
of our time. Three statements that end with these words, I
will raise him up at the last day. Here we have the full work
of salvation. We have the fullness of God's
gospel in those three. The very first one is the work
of the father. Look again 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. For 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 hath sent me, that all which
he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day." Where did salvation start? We know
that it was in eternity, but it started with the Father choosing
a people. all that the father giveth me."
How did he give them to him? He chose them unto eternal life. This is where it all started.
The father choosing the people, given to Christ before time in
the covenant of grace, gave him the Lamb's book of life. Didn't
you remember in Revelation chapter five, the elder said, or John
overheard the question asked from the angel, who is worthy
to loose the book? to open the book, loose the seals
thereof. And John wept. He said, none was found worthy
in heaven. None was found worthy in earth. None was found worthy
under the earth. And he said, then the elder spoken to me. And he said, weep not John, for
behold the lion of the tribe of Judah. The root of David hath
prevailed. The root of Jesse hath prevailed
and is worthy to open the book and loose the seals thereof.
Christ took that book and he was the only one that could.
He was the only one worthy. He opened it and loosed the seals
thereof, putting away the sin of his people, redeeming all
those whose name were written in that Lamb's book of life that
were given to him by his father. Christ is the only one that had
the right because he was the father's son. He was the only
one that had the ability because he had the father's blood in
his veins. He was the only one that had
the, he's the only one that could have obtained salvation for his
people. He's the only hope that we have. I heard somebody say this one
time. God chose those who he knew would choose him. You ever
heard that before? They say, talking about election,
I was talking to him. He said, God, yeah, I believe
in election. God chose the ones he knew that
was going to choose him. Who gets the glory in that? Well,
it's the flesh, isn't it? No, that's utterly preposterous. Men are ignorant of the truth
that declare that God chose a people not based upon their merits,
not based upon their goodness. Actually, it's quite the opposite.
If we went to the grocery store and we were gonna buy groceries,
you've heard me use this analogy before. We select things, don't
we? This tomato looks good, this apple looks good. If there's
one sitting there rotten, do you grab the rotten apple and
pay full price for it? God did. He passed by those that
have beauty in themselves, and He said, no, I want the rotten
one, the dead one, and I'm gonna redeem it back to it by glory. That's what He did. I'll pay
full price for it. The blood of Christ was payment
sufficient for all those whom the Lord elected. It had nothing
to do with selection. He didn't select based upon merits,
did He? No, it was all for His glory,
all for His glory. Those that believe God chose
based upon their choosing. They're in darkness. God has
not called them yet. God chose a people not based
on anything about us whatsoever. Do you know what that means?
I say this often, but this is so comforting to me. I can't
mess it up. I can't break it. I can't. I can't mess it up. God chose
a people in mercy all by grace alone. And then what did he do? He made time. Can we enter into
that? No, there's no way. We're all
subject to time. God chose to make time to redeem
those people. That's why time was created.
God made an earth to redeem those people for his glory. Then he made everything that's
within it to fulfill the covenant and for the good of his people.
And then after he did all that, you know what he did? He sat
down, he rested on his Sabbath. He rested on the Lord Jesus Christ. And as a matter of fact, it was
the Lord Jesus Christ that created all things. John 1 tells us that
the word of God, all things were created by him and not anything
was made that was made. Christ did that. The father was
resting on the Sabbath before time ever began. Isn't that glorious? This is what the father's part
was in salvation, electing a people. Now the second part is the son
of God's part in salvation. Look at verse 40. 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. How can one believe on whom they've
never heard? And how can one hear except they
have a preacher? And how can he preach except
he be sent? And what is it the preacher declares? It's the gospel of Jesus Christ,
isn't it? There's only one gospel. I was
asked today, what gospel do you preach? I was amazed at the question
because I take for granted that we know there's only one gospel.
This person wanted to know what gospel do we preach? And I said, the only one, there's
only one. God elected a people, the Son
redeemed the people, the Spirit regenerates the people in time
and by His power we're kept. I mean, if you wanna simplify
it, that'd be it, wouldn't it? How can we hear of Christ unless
He gives us eyes to see? As we mentioned before, the believing
is all to His glory as well. That's the work that James was
talking about. Faith without works is dead.
What's the work believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and the
love that we have towards the brethren? That's the work, but
we don't get the glory in that, do we? He gets all the glory
in us believing. He gets all the glory in us loving
one another. It's his love that was given to us for each other.
He gets all the glory. Jesus Christ's part in salvation
was the redemption of his blood, the sacrifice of himself on Calvary's
tree, the perfect life that he lived, fulfilling the law of
God, and then dying, the sinner substitute, bearing the sin of
his people upon that cross. By God's gospel, we see and believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. What do we believe? What does
it mean to believe? We believe that Jesus Christ
is God, that he became a man. God really became a man. Now
the flesh cannot comprehend that. That must be given by faith.
But if you believe that Jesus Christ is God, you're a believer.
It's that simple. And everything that entails,
his complete sovereignty, his complete power, his complete
glory, it's all for him. If you believe that Jesus Christ
is God, you're a believer. You're a believer. What it means to believe is that
you believe he became a man, lived perfectly, drank the bitter
putrid contents of the cup of damnation dry. What was in that
cup? Your sin and my sin. All the sin of the Lord's people. I want us to enter into this
thought if we can, if the Lord would cause us to. I was talking
to someone the other day and it was mentioned that there's
a number there in glory that's innumerable. No man can number
it. Yet Christ took every one of those sins. What is the sin
just within ourself? No man can number the sin within
ourself. And yet he took every sin of his people and owned them
as his own. And he who knew no sin became
sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
He put them away. Every one of them he put away.
And now, They're gone, cast as far as the east is from the west,
never to be remembered again. He says, when I see you, I see
the blood. You've been made perfectly righteous.
That's what the son did. That was his job in salvation.
That was his responsibility. That was his part in the covenant
of grace. Was he successful? Yes. Everyone
that he died for, he was successful. How do we know? We have the affirmation
of the father resurrecting him. We have the affirmation that
he's now seated at the right hand of the father. We have the
testimony of those that saw him when he was resurrected. We have
John's witness of it, don't we? We believe God through the eyes
of faith that he's given us that Christ was successful in redeeming. We believe that when the father
saw the sin of those given to Christ to redeem, he said, awake.
awake sword of justice and smite the shepherd. And now justice
has been satisfied. God's wrath has been quenched
by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He's absorbed it, every bit of
it, and put away our sin. Salvation's already been achieved.
Salvation's already been obtained. Christ Jesus is that salvation.
It's his redemptive work alone, isn't it? Now we've been made the very
righteousness of God in Him. And look at verse 40 again. 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. See, it's all His will, isn't it? It's all His choosing,
isn't it? It's all His redeeming. And lastly,
it's all His calling. And that's what we wanna see
in the third part, it's the spirit. What's the Holy Spirit's responsibility
in salvation? We'll look at verse 44. No man
can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and
I will raise him up at the last day. The Spirit's responsibility
in salvation is the calling in time of the Lord's people. Second
Timothy chapter one, verse nine, it's on the back of our bulletin,
isn't it? God who hath saved us and called us. He saved us
first, didn't he? And the Spirit is what calls
us in time. That's what he does for his people.
He's going to reveal unto them Christ successfully redeemed
his people. The Lord Jesus Christ is who
the Spirit points to. I remember in religion that it
was said, when he draws you, he's drawing you to let you make
a choice of rejection or acceptance. Any of you ever heard that before
in false religion? He's passing by, you better let him into your
heart. He's not obligated to do it more than one time. Aren't you glad the Lord saved
us out of that foolishness? I mean, it's amazing. We'd still
be believing it. We'd still be eating the husks of the swine.
But what changed? Nothing we did. The Holy Spirit
passed by one day and said, live by the gospel. That's what happened.
And he gave faith to believe, gave us repentance towards God
and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the Spirit draws
us straight to Christ. Salvation is not an opportunity.
Salvation is when the Lord gives us the need and shows us the
remedy, the Lord Jesus Christ. Seeing Christ is salvation. Seeing
the Lord Jesus Christ as God is salvation. No man cometh unto me except
the Father which sent me draw him. He draws irresistibly too,
doesn't he? Why? Because we're no longer
dead, we've been made alive. We've been given faith that believes
him. Oh, he's irresistible to the new man. I've got to have
him. Is that your confession? I've got to have him. He's irresistible
to the new man. We come to him because we've
been made alive all by his choosing. His spirit and power by God's
grace, by God's gospel, by God's choice reveals Christ. I love
the Looking at this again, verse 37, all that the father giveth
me shall come to me. Verse 39, and this is the father's
will that has sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I
should lose nothing. Then in verse 40, and this is
the will of him that sent me, that everyone that seeth the
son and believeth on him may have everlasting life. It's all
his doing, isn't it? He's the sovereign king that
chooses. And if the Father's will is that
all would come to Him, are all they gonna come? Yes, He's God. He's God, they're going to come.
Every single sheep has been saved by God's grace will come to Him
in time. I love the thought that the loved ones that we pray for,
we don't take for granted saying, Lord, I know that I believe. And I know that I'll always believe.
That's not what we say. No, we say, Lord, save me now.
Save me now. Call me now. It's continual,
isn't it? It's continual. But I love in
time, we're just waiting, waiting for Him to reveal His truth to
His sheep. That's why we keep coming back.
Lord, I need another. Another taste of the bread of
life, another morsel, another crumb from your table, another
drink of the fountain of living water. I need to be washed again. I need to be made new again.
I've been out here in this oasis. I was talking to Jackie about
it. We have this oasis. We're in the middle of the desert. We crawl into on Wednesdays and
Sundays, and we're filthy with the sin of ourself and that which
is around us. We say, Lord, wash me again.
And we drink of the fountain again, don't we? and made clean
all over again. Now we've never changed in his
eyes, but you know what I'm talking about. How cold and indifferent
do we get in such a short time to him? I need to be stirred
again in my heart, Lord. I need your truth to wake me
again. I'm falling asleep again, like
the disciples, whenever the Lord was praying. I couldn't stay
awake with him. We can't either, can we? Lord, wake me up again.
If you don't, I'm going to die. I'm going to die. He says, I'm the bread of life.
You're not going to die. You're not going to die. I'm the bread of life. And I've
given myself unto you, my people. Oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good. He declares in verse 53. 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. Who so eateth
my flesh? and drinketh my blood at the
eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." What
does he mean, I will raise him up at the last day? Well, he
would not let his, he would not allow his holy one to see corruption,
would he? Christ Jesus was raised up, but
do you know who else was raised up whenever he was resurrected?
Every single person that died in him, given of the father unto
him that he successfully redeemed. And in time he reveals that his
people will not see corruption. Why? Because they've drank of
his blood and they've ate of his bread, not of their own doing,
but because he's fed them and brought them to life by his faith.
By his faith. We look to Christ, don't we?
And his finished work. Now quickly in closing, I want
us to look at the Jew's response to his glorious gospel we just
heard. Look in verse 65. He said, Christ said, therefore
said I unto you that no man can come unto me except what were
given unto him of my father. From that time, many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto
the 12, will you also go away? And boy, here's our confession,
isn't it? Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life and we believe and are sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that
thou art that Christ, the son of the living God. We have no
doubt in that. Do you believe that, that Jesus
Christ is the son of God? If you do, it's because he's
given you the faith to do so. The flesh don't believe that,
we can't, but the new man the Lord give us by his gospel, according
to his spirit that's regenerated all his people. We say, Lord,
we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the only
one, the son of the living God. Those that came to Him would
not seek Him for eternal life because they had no need. Everything
they desired was according to the flesh. They wanted another
piece of bread to fill their bellies. They wanted another
miracle to be seen to wow their imagination. We come to Him for
spiritual needs, don't we? Because we've been given a need.
I've mentioned to us tonight the work of the Father in salvation,
the work of the Son in salvation, and the work of the Holy Spirit.
What's our work in salvation? What's our responsibility in
salvation? Nothing. Rest on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody said, well, I thought
you said nothing. We don't get any glory for believing. Faith
just looks to Christ. Believing is passive. He gives
us that. That's his gift. And if we're
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, it's because he's given us Christ
as our bread of life. Christ is our portion. Now notice,
many went back and walked no more with him. They had no faith
to believe. But then he turns to the 12. It doesn't say who
else is with him. You said many of them went back,
is what John says. Sound to me like 5,000 of them
left. Is that what you're gathering as well? He turns to the 12 at
that point. That's all that was left. Why?
They were the only ones at that particular time that God had
given the faith to, to believe. Causes us to cry out, doesn't
it? And say, Lord, give me this faith. Lord, give me this water. Lord, give me this bread lest
I die. Where do you think all 12, all
of these others beside the 12 went back to? They went back
to the law, didn't they? That's what that represents. They went
back to the law. They were content working their own righteousness,
not God's people. Now we know that no flesh is
justified by the deeds of the law. These men and women said,
we have our own righteousness. We do not need your body. We
do not need your blood, but he's given his people a need. That's
why we seek him. That's why we seek him. We've
been given a need, our need of his body and blood. That's exactly,
that's exactly why we seek him. The Lord said, seek you first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things will
be added unto you. Ask, you shall receive. Why? Because we're asking
through the eyes of faith that he's given us. He gets all the
glory in it. Every obligation fulfilled by
the Lord Jesus Christ, the triune Godhead, rest, rest.