that Jesus did, they said, this
is of a truth, that prophet that should come into the world. When
Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him
by force to make him a king, an earthly king, he departed
again into a mountain himself alone. And then the disciples
took a ship They were down near Tiberias and they took a ship
and they crossed the Sea of Galilee going towards Capernaum. And
the Lord Jesus did not go with them in the ship. The crowd knew
this. This multitude knew that He was
not with the disciples when they got in the ship and left for
Capernaum. He went up into the mountains.
And we know that in the next few verses, the Lord walked on
the water, walked across the sea, and He appeared to the disciples
while they were in the ships. And then He got in the ship with
them, and they went over to Capernaum. And the multitude saw Him, and
not finding Him, they all took ships and crossed the sea. And we'll pick this up in verse
25. They came to the other side.
Let's read verse 24. When the people therefore saw
that Jesus was not there, neither His disciples, they also took
shipping and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus. Now verse
25. And when they found Him on the
other side of the sea, they said to Him, Rabbi, Master, When camest
thou hither? How did you get over here? When
did you come over here? And how did you get over here?
Well, verse 26, Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily,
that is truly of a truth. I'm going to tell the truth about
you, He said. Truly, truly, I say unto you,
you seek Me. Not because you saw the miracle,
the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, but because you did
eat of the loaves and were filled. Now this statement is just about
the key to the rest of these verses, this one statement here.
Our Lord knew their hearts. Our Lord knew their motives.
They were curious creatures. And they were covetous creatures.
And this is what he's saying. Now listen. Truly, truly, I say
to you, this is the truth he said about these people, these
religious Jews, the multitude. You saw the miracle. The feeding
of the vast multitude with only five loaves and two fishes. You
witnessed that. And you said, this indeed is
that prophet who is to come. This is that prophet of whom
Moses wrote. You saw the miracle. That was
your response. But that's not why you seek me. That's not why you're seeking
me. You seek me because You did eat the loaves and your bellies
were filled. That's why you're seeking me,
he said. You seek me because you ate the
loaves and the fishes and your bellies were filled. You seek
me not because I'm that prophet. You seek me not for my honor
and glory. You seek me not for the good
of your souls. You seek me not for eternal life. You seek Me not for spiritual
values. You seek Me because you did eat
of the loaves and fishes and were filled. That's why you seek
Me. That's the reason He said in
the next verse, don't labor for food that perishes. Labor not for meat that perishes. Loaves or fishes. The word labor
here does not indicate an activity of works and deeds. These people,
that's what they didn't want to do, labor. They wanted Him
to feed them. That's what they didn't want
to do. They ate the loaves and fishes and did nothing for them.
Their bellies were full. And what He said, the word labor
here, like Brother John brought out a few weeks ago in Hebrews
4, Labor here is an intense desire, a desire of the heart, a desire
of the mind, an earnest desire and goal to obtain favor with
God, eternal life. That's what Hebrews 4 says, labor
to enter into His rest. It's not an activity. That's
not a work. That's a submission. That's a
desire. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness. Don't covet. This is what he's
saying. Don't covet desire and seek only food for the belly,
only raiment for the body. This is what the Gentiles seek.
Don't seek wisdom for the mind, intellect. Don't seek honors
from the world. Labor not for these things that
perish. They're here for a while, then
they're gone. for the meat that perisheth." Don't seek honors
from the word, riches, honors from the world, riches and fame.
All of this is meat that perisheth with the using. But, labor, desire,
have an intense desire, earnest desire for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life. In other words, seek ye first
His kingdom, His righteousness, His fellowship, His grace. Well, where does this come from?
What he tells us. Which the Son of Man shall give
you. Which the Son of Man shall give you as freely as He fed
you. As freely as He provided the
loaves and the fishes. Which the Son of Man shall give
you. All this is that which He gives, for, listen, Him, the
Son of Man, the Son of God, the Son of Man, hath God the Father
sealed. What's that mean? Well, the Father
appointed Him. In other words, you get the idea
here of a covenant made by a great King with the seal of state.
God appointed Him. God Almighty announced Him, the
Lord Himself will give you a sign, a virgin shall be with child.
The Father sent Him. The Father declared Him, this
is my Son. The Father approved Him by the
works. No man could do these works except God be with him.
And the Father accepted Him in that He raised Him from the dead.
So don't set your heart on the things of this world which perish
you, anything connected with this world. But labor for the meat, labor
for the meat which endureth to everlasting life, which the Son
of Man will give you. For Him at the Father's seal,
like Joseph opened the storehouses, People came to Pharaoh for food,
and Pharaoh said, go to Joseph. He's the one that filled the
storehouses. He's the one in charge of the storehouses. He's the one that dispenses that
which is in the storehouse. But look at verse 28. They're
still in the dark. These folks are still in the
dark. They still do not understand. They're still occupied with their
own doings. their own labor, works, and deeds. Then said they unto him, Well,
what shall we do? What shall we do? That we might
work the works of God? They're still occupied with their
own doing to obtain the favor of God. Are there other works
than those that Moses gave us to do? It's like the rich young ruler
who came to our Lord and said, Master, what good thing shall
I do to inherit eternal life? What shall we do that we might
work the works of God? The people at Pentecost said
the same thing. Men and brethren, what shall
we do? The Philippian jailer heard the Gospel later, but he
still asked, Tell me something to do. What shall we do? What shall we do? And Jesus answered
and said to them, listen to verse 29, this is the work of God that
you believe, that you believe. Our Lord called them to a work
that they never heard of. He called them to a work that
they never had thought of, faith, faith, belief. What shall we
do? What shall we do to work the
works of God? What can we do to please God?
What can we do to find favor with God? What can we do that
will be what God wants us to do, requires us to do? He said,
this is the work of God that you believe. Faith. This is a word that the world
uses today but does not understand. Faith. This is the work of God
that you believe. Not that you do anything. You
believe. You believe Him. This is the work of God to believe
Him. This is the way of God to believe Him. This is the way to please God.
Without faith, it's impossible to please God. This is that work without which
no work is any good. to believe God. This is that
which honors God. This is that which exalts Christ,
to believe Him. This is that which makes all
other works acceptable, to believe Him. And without faith, no work
is acceptable. Nothing I do Nothing I pray,
nothing I give, nothing I think is acceptable to God apart from
faith. And the sole object of this saving
faith is Him whom the Father has sent. Listen to verse 29
again. Jesus answered and said to them,
this is the work of God, this is the will of God, this is the
way of God, this is that which honors God that you believe on
Him. whom God had sent. I want you to listen to me now
real carefully, very, very carefully. Christ, and like I said, faith
is a word that the world uses, but like these people, it still
does not understand. You do, but not many do. Christ and faith. are so much one that if you take
away Christ, faith in God is nothing. This is the work of God, that
you believe on Him whom God has sent. And believing on Him, He
is so much a part of faith. He is saving faith. That without
Him, faith is nothing. A person may say, I believe there's
a God. I believe in God. But I do not
own Christ to be the Redeemer. Your faith is nothing. Without
Christ, your faith is nothing. Now let me illustrate that. Christ said, I am the bread of
life. Christ is the bread. Faith is but the mouth that receives
the bread. Is that correct? Christ is the
bread. Faith is the mouth that receives
the bread. Without the mouth, the bread is still there. Somebody
will eat it. You may not, but somebody will
eat it. But without the bread, the mouth is nothing. Which is important there, Ronnie?
The mouth or the bread? The bread. Christ is the bread. Without Him, you can do nothing.
Without you, He can do anything. I believe in God. You're wasting
your breath without Christ. God does not know us without
Christ. God does not look upon us without
Christ. God does not receive us without
Christ. God is not even aware of us without Christ, except
in judgment. He's the brave. Without the bread, the mouth
is useless. Without Christ, faith is useless. Listen, Christ is the serpent
lifted up. Sacrifice. Faith is the eye that
looks to the sacrifice. Take away the sacrifice, the
eye's got nothing to see. There's nowhere to look. Take away the eye, Your eye,
somebody will see. Isn't that right? He's the sum and essence of all
things. Listen to this. Christ is the
mercy seat. And God dwells on the mercy seat. He said, I'll meet you at the
mercy seat. Take away the mercy seat, there's no God to meet. Take your way, the mercy seat's
there. Somebody will come. That's it. That's it. This is the work of
God that you believe on Him. Him. Him. He's the bread. He's the serpent lifted up. He's
the sacrifice. He is the mercy seat. Without the mercy seat, there's
no place to meet God. In mercy, we'll meet Him in the
judgment. This is why we preach Christ.
I don't preach faith, I preach Christ. Faith comes to Christ. That's right. Christ is the bridegroom. He's the heir. He's the bridegroom. Without Him, there's no marriage. There's no inheritance. That's
right. Without me, he'll have a bride.
Without me, there'll be a marriage supper of the Lamb. There's going
to be rejoicing in heaven whether I'm there or not. But I want
to be there. I want to be the bride that takes
Him by the hand. See what I'm saying? Oh, I believe
in God, and your friends believe in God. About everybody in the
United States believes in God. All right. Without Christ, tell
me about God. Without Christ. The Word. Tell me about God. Go stand and
look at the stars and tell me about God. The only way you can
tell me about God is to look in the face of Christ Jesus.
There is where the glory of God is revealed. Alright, verse 30, so they had
something to say. He said, This is the work of
God, that ye believe on him whom God hath sent. Then said they
therefore unto him, Now here we go right back to these four
bellies. Well, what sign showest thou
then that we may see and believe thee? What dost thou work? Our
fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, He
gave them bread from heaven to eat. If we are to believe you,
Son of Man, and follow you, as our fathers followed Moses, show
us how you'll provide for us. There are a lot of us. Show us
how you'll provide for us. Our fathers, Moses provided for
our fathers. Moses gave our fathers manna
from heaven, bread from heaven. Moses gave them bread. How are
you going to provide for us? Ah, he said in verse 32, truly,
truly, I say to you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven.
Moses didn't give you that bread. God gave you that bread. Moses
can't make bread. Moses can't make manna. Moses didn't through his power
of virtue in himself give you bread. The Father gave that bread. And that bread didn't come from
heaven anyway. That bread did not come from
the third heaven. That bread came from the clouds,
from way up there in the clouds. It came down. The quail didn't
come from heaven. Remember they had quail? The
water didn't come from heaven, it came out of a rock. The bread
didn't come from heaven. There's only one bread from heaven,
and that's Christ. came from heaven. That's right. That's what he's telling them
here. Moses didn't give you that bread. My Father gave you that
bread, and that bread was material, and that bread was typical, and
they ate that bread, and the everlast one of them died. But, watch this, but my Father
gives true bread from heaven. true bread from heaven. And to
feed on this bread is to live forever. And he that came down
from heaven, he that descended, is the only one who came from
heaven. Oh, Paul went up, he said to
the third heaven, but he went up. He didn't come from there.
There's one who dwells there, the bosom of the Father. There's
one who came from there. And he's the only bread that
came from heaven. Only bread. And that bread is
not physical, material bread. That is spiritual bread. And
he that eateth this bread, and Ronnie read it to us, will never
die. Never die. Well, look at verse
34. There are answers a whole lot
like the woman at the well. Don't you remember when our Lord
said to her, if you had asked Him, I would give you water,
living water. And she said, She said, give
me that water that I thirst not and don't have to come back here
and draw water. Well, I tell you, we're always on this flesh,
aren't we? We just, I don't want to come
down here and draw any more water. So give me that water so I won't
ever have to come back. And these fellas asked the same
thing. Lord, give us this bread. Evermore, give us this bread. They still didn't understand
that He spoke to them with spiritual bread, spiritual life and faith,
relationship with God. Just hand it to us. Here's 5,000
of us and all this crowd, and just give us this bread you're
talking about. Give it to us. Well, the Lord Jesus said to
them, look at this, verse 35, He said, I am the bread, What they were saying is, you
give us this bread. I am the bread. This is what
Martha came to him and she said, if you'd have been here, my brother
wouldn't have died. He said, Martha, your brother
will rise again. She said, I know. I know that.
He'll rise in the resurrection. He said, Martha, I'm the resurrection. I'm the resurrection. There's
no resurrection apart from me. I'm the resurrection. Resurrection
is not a mechanical thing. Resurrection is a personal. Because I live, you live. And
he that liveth and believeth on me, he that liveth and believeth
on me, though he were dead, though he were sleeping, though he was
in the grave, his body is, he'll never die. He that liveth and
believeth on me shall never die. Because I am the resurrection. If you have Christ, you have
eternal life. You may sleep, but you don't
die. Your body may rest, but you don't die. You have life.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, when He died on that cross, His body
died, but He didn't die. His soul, He didn't even suffer
corruption. And He rose again, just like
we shall, because I live, you live. He went into the grave,
but He came out. But when we, these bodies, sleep
and go into the grave, the soul goes to God who gave it. And
if this earthly tabernacle be folded up and laid aside, we
have a building of God, a house eternal in the heaven, not made
with hands. I'm the life, I'm the resurrection,
and I'm the bread. That's what he's saying here.
I'm the bread. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. Somebody was talking last night. Someone said, I know what it
is in my lifetime to be hungry. I guess some of you do too know
what it means to be hungry. But a believer is never hungry.
Because Christ is the living bread who lives within him. There
are springs of living water. He always supplies every need.
He shall never hunger, never be without, never be embarrassed,
never be ashamed, never be confounded. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. I am the
bread of life. Come and never hunger. I am the
Messiah. Come and never fear. That's what David said. The Lord
is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? I'm the good
shepherd. Come and never want. I'm the
way, the truth, and the life. Come and never die. I am the
righteousness of God. Come and never be ashamed. I
am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. Go in and out and find pasture.
I'm the barn. I'm the light. Never walk in
darkness. I'm all that a person needs in
this life and in the life to come. I am. I am. I am. The same one who
said to Moses, I am that I am, is the same one talking here.
I am. But, he says in verse 36, but
you don't believe. I said unto you, you've seen
Me and you don't believe. The world doesn't. You've seen Me. How did they
see Him? They didn't see Him like you see Him. He that seeth
the Son and believeth on Him. They don't see Him that way.
Men today, they have some knowledge of this person. They see Him
in the prophets. They see Him in the promises.
They see Him in the pictures. They see Him in the types. They
see Him as the Nazarene. They see Him in the fulfillment
of scriptures. They see Him on the cross. They
even see Him risen from the grave. But Isaiah complained, who hath
believed? I report. To whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed? You've seen me. And believe not. He was in the world, and the
world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto
His own. These Jews are His own people.
They received Him not. But in the face of all this unbelief,
I come to verse 37. In the face of all this unbelief,
here comes the answer. Our Lord was comforted, and you
and I can be comforted in what He's about to say. That's alright. That's alright. So be it. Verse
37, All that my Father giveth me, they'll come to me. They'll come to me. The bridegroom
will not be without a bride. The king will not be without
a kingdom. The surety will not be without a people. The shepherd
will not be without a flock. All that my Father giveth me,
they shall. They shall. There's no perhaps,
there's no maybe about it. There's no doubt. They shall
come to me. They'll come willingly. They'll
come lovingly. They'll come knowing who I am.
And him that cometh to me, I'll in no wise, for any reason, at
any time, cast him out. I'll never forsake you. I'll
never leave you nor forsake you. I'm sure you're familiar with
this, but turn to John 17. Our Savior refers to this blessed
company in John 17 six times. In verse 2, he said, Father,
as Thou hast given me power over all flesh, that I should give
eternal life to as many as Thou hast given me. Verse 6, I have
manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest me out
of the world. Verse 9, I pray for them. I pray
not for the world. I pray for them which Thou hast
given me. Verse 11, and now I am no more
in the world, These are in the world, and I come to thee, Holy
Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given
me." Verse 12, while I was with them in the world, I kept them
in thy name, those that thou gavest me I have kept. Verse
24, Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me
be with me where I am. You've seen me, he said to these
religious folks, But you believe not. However, all that my Father
giveth me, they'll come to me. Let's read a few more of these
verses. For I came down from heaven.
He speaks here as the Redeemer. He speaks here as the Son of
Man. He speaks here as the Messiah. Not to do mine own will. You
see, the Messiah, the Redeemer, was sent. And he came to do the
will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will
which has sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I'll
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day." You remember
back in verse 29 when he said, this is the work of God, that
you believe on Him whom He hath sent? Well, this is what he's
talking about here, the Father sent me. You just can't believe
on the name Jesus, you've got to believe on the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who He is, the Father sent Him. It's not
a Jesus of my imagination. It's not the Jesus of the Catholic
doctrine, or the Baptist doctrine, or the Methodist doctrine, the
Jesus that varies depending upon who's describing Him. It's the
one whom He sent. That's the one whom He sent.
And that's what he's saying in verse 39, this is my Father's
will which sent me. He sent me to accomplish a purpose
of will, that of all which He had given me, I'll lose nothing
but raise it up at the last day. That's the only Christ who can
save is the one who sent, who came on a mission. Now, I jotted
some things down I want to say to you involving this doctrine. There's
no doctrine in Scripture that has generated more anger and
hatred among religious people than the truth of the absolute
sovereignty of God. The sovereignty of God in salvation. You see, the Scripture declares,
the Lord reigneth. The Lord reigneth. And this is
indisputable. He rules, Nebuchadnezzar said,
over the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. He works all things
according to the good pleasure of his own will. God has the right to act as he
wills, when he wills, to do what he wills. With whom He will. Isn't that correct? Because He's
the Creator. Don't turn to this. Let me just
read you a scripture because I want to move quickly. But Revelation
4 says this, verse 11, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory
and honor and power. For Thou hast created all things,
and for Thy pleasure they are and they were created. He's the
Creator. He said, can I not do with my
own what I will? Isn't that my right? It rested with God to make a
world or not to make a world. Would anybody question that?
In the beginning, God. Well, it was His will that made
the world. It rested with His will to make
it or not make it. It rested with God to make a
man or not make a man. God said, let us make man in
our own image and likeness. It rested with Him. It was by His will that man fell,
Satan fell, man fell in His permissive will. Did God know that man would
fall when He created him? Of course He did. He had a Savior
before He ever created the man. Christ is the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. There was a covenant of mercy
before there was a man created. It rested with God to make a covenant or not make
a covenant. It was God's will to pass by
the angels and choose men. He took not on Himself the nature
of angels, He took on Himself the nature of the seed of Abraham.
That was His will. That rested with Him. There was
nothing in the men that merited His love more than
the angels. It rested with God to make Christ
the surety. It's according to His will that
one creature is made a snake and another an eagle. Which would
you rather be, a snake or an eagle? Well, who made the snake and
who made the eagle? His will. To make one to walk
on the earth and another to swim in the sea. It's by His decree
that one is born a male and one born a female. You're expecting
a little baby. What's it going to be? I don't
know. Boy or girl? Who does know? The one who makes
the difference. Who makes the difference? Whose
will is consulted? Not mine. It's by His decree that one's
born a male, another a female, that one's born in Russia, and
one's born in the USA. It's by His will that your physical
body is like it is, your mental capacity, your temperament, your
talents, your gifts, or what they are. He made you. It's by His will that we are
the called of Christ Jesus. I read that while ago. You see,
you're calling brethren. Not many mighty. Well, it looks
like they're the ones that would come. Not many wise. It looks like a man smart in
the things of this world is smart in the things of God. Not so. Neither are we. Most of us are not only dumb
in the things of God, we're dumb in the things of the world. Like
God, He chooses the foolish things. He chooses. He makes us willing. Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy will. Not our will, not the
will of the flesh or the will of man, but God. These rights
belong to Him as Creator, as God, as Lord, as Judge of the
earth. And the prophet said, shall not
the Judge of the earth do right? I suggest that all of us, and
I suggest that those out yonder, I suggest our wisest course is
to bow and say, even so, Father, it seemed good in Thy sight.
I believe that's the wisest course. If any person comes to Christ
expecting to receive of Christ any favor, Any mercy, any grace,
because of who He is, or because of what He is, or because of
what He's done, or because of what He knows, He comes to Christ
on a false foundation which God cannot, has not, and will not
tolerate. He will not share His glory.
He is absolutely no respecter of persons. But you know, if
I deserve His gifts, They wouldn't be gifts. Would they? Well, I'll tell you one thing.
If anybody's in heaven, my mother's there. Why? Well, she was a good
woman. Then salvation's not a gift.
She deserved it. Not a gift. If we have a claim on mercy,
it's not mercy. When a person casts himself upon
the mercy of the court, he's got no plea. If he's got a plea,
he's not going to ask for mercy. He's going to say, I didn't do
it. But when he knows he did it,
mercy. But if I've got a claim on mercy,
it's not mercy. If I merit grace, it's not grace. A hymn writer, we're going to
sing in a minute, he said, here, I raise my Ebenezer. What's Ebenezer
mean? Hither by thy help I am come. Where I am He brought me. What
I have He gave me. What I know He taught me. What
I'll be by His grace. And I hope by God's good pleasure
safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger
wandering from the fold of God and He to rescue me from danger
interposed His precious blood. That's the only thing that will
move God on our behalf, is the blood of Christ. Blessed is the
man whom the Lord chooses. Oh, blessed is the man whom God
chooses and causes to approach unto Him. Happy, happy creature. When your friends rebuke you
for believing God's sovereign grace, don't be embarrassed. Rejoice. Happy is the man whom
God chooses and causes to approach unto Him. Don't slink off from
the crowd. Just stand up and say, I believe
God is God. An old hymn writer wrote this. I'll give you this in close. Religious men afraid of sovereign
grace to preach. The reason, if the truth be said,
is because they are so rich. We're rich and increased with
goods and have need of nothing. Why so offensive in their eyes
does God's election seem? I guess it's because they're
so wise they think they've chosen Him. Why is imputed righteousness
a truth so little known? I guess because people think
they possess a righteousness of their own. But ah, election. Election, it is a word divine.
For Lord, I plainly say, had not your choice preceded mine,
I would never have chosen thee. Because empty and bare I come
to thee for righteousness divine, O may life and merit be by imputation
mine. That's the only way to come. Empty and bare
I come to thee for righteousness divine, O may life and merit
be by imputation I pray God will bless that prophet. His glory.