Verse 39, the salvation of the
righteous is of the Lord. He is their strength in trouble. They were in trouble. They were
in trouble. They were rowing and they were
going nowhere. But just as soon as they received
him into the ship, The Scripture says immediately they were at
the land. Look at that in verse 21. Then
they willingly received him into the ship, and immediately the
ship was at the land whither they went. Now they went to Capernaum. Capernaum was the city Our Lord
was born in Bethlehem, we know that, the house of bread. He
was of the lineage of David. He was raised in the city of
Nazareth. He worked in his father, in Joseph's
carpenter shop there in Nazareth, we know that. And then when he
was baptized and began his public ministry, He used Capernaum as
a place of residence. Capernaum, which was exalted
to heaven. And the reason this city was
exalted to heaven is because this is where the Lord Jesus
Christ lived for those two and a half years. That was sort of
the center from which he worked and performed many, many miracles
in Capernaum. But we see the people in Capernaum
were unbelievers for the most part. The disciples, they went
across the sea, they came to Capernaum, Lord Jesus with them. And then we began, as we do tonight,
with one of the longest. I think there's only one other
discourse recorded of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is longer
than this discourse here. at Capernaum, the Sermon on the
Mount, is longer. And those who heard it, those
who were in the synagogue this day and heard the Lord Jesus
Christ teaching and preaching, their thought was all summed
up in these words in verse number 60. This is a hard saying. Who can hear it? His Word, His Gospel, this was
their opinion. This is a hard saying. Who can hear it? And as a result,
it was in this discourse where the Lord spoke the first of several,
I Am, confessions that are recorded in the Gospel of John. I Am the
Living Bread, if you notice in verse 35. of this text. He said, I am the bread of life. Later he says, I am the door.
I am the good shepherd. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. I am the resurrection
and the life. I am the true vine. And the Jews
to whom he was speaking, they all recognized when he said,
I am. that he was confessing his deity. This is the name, of course,
that Jehovah gave to Moses at that bush that burned but was
not consumed. When Moses asked, What is your
name? They're going to ask your name when I get to Egypt. They're
going to ask your name. What shall I tell them? You tell
them, I am Assynthe. And they recognize that's the
reason on several of these occasions when he said, I am. They took
up stones to stone him. And one occasion he asked them,
for which good work do you stone me? And they said, no, no, not
for good work. Not for feeding thousands of
people. Not for healing the paralytics. Not for opening the eyes of the
blind. That's not it. It's because you being a man,
make yourself equal with God. You say, I am. And we know, as
the Scripture says, great is the mystery of godliness. God
was manifest in the flesh. But their comment at the end
of this message here in Capernaum was, this is a hard thing. Now
he speaks about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. But I
want to say this, because we are going to observe the Lord's
Supper in just a few minutes ago. It was not here in this
passage of Scripture where the Lord instituted the Lord's Supper. Not at all. That comes later,
on the eve of His crucifixion. Not only did they say, this is
a hard saying, but if you look down in verse 66, most of them
turned away. There was a great number, evidently,
a large number of people, but their comment was, this message,
this is a hard saying. And verse 66 tells us, from that
time, from this time, from the time when he declared the truth
in this chapter, ìNo man can come to me except the Father
which hath sent me draw him. This is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing
but raise him up at the last day. Except you eat my flesh
and drink my blood, you have no life in you.î All of these
in this message here. This is a hard saying. And from that time, many of his
disciples went back and walked no more with him. You know the
word disciple simply means a student, a learner. That's what the word
means. And the Lord had many disciples,
many sat and listened to him preach and teach who were not
believers, who were not of His elect. They were disciples, and
so they turned and went back. Now tonight we're not going to
go through the whole message, but I do want to look at these
first few verses at what is said of those who came seeking Jesus. And yes, these people, they did
come seeking Jesus. We're told that in the text. If you look in verse 22 through
24. The day following, the day after
he had fed the 5,000 men, plus women and children, the day after
he had sent his disciples in the ship to go across the lake
the day following, when the people which stood on the other side
of the sea." Now, the other side, this is the side where he had
performed the miracle. John is on the side of Capernaum,
and he's writing from that side. But he's speaking of those who
were still on that other side, the other side where he had fed
the five thousand. The people which stood on the
other side of the sea, they saw that there was none other boat
there, save that one where into his disciples were entered, and
that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but
that his disciples were gone away alone, albeit there came
other boats from Tiberias, nigh unto the place where they did
eat bread. After that the Lord had given thanks. When the people
therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples,
they also took shipping and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus. These people, they knew, they
had witnessed his disciples get into the ship, and the Lord Jesus
Christ did not get into that ship. And we are told there was
only one ship there. So the next day when they get
up, they start looking for Christ and realize He's not there, but
there had only been one ship. Now they don't know what we know
from the Word of God, that the Lord Jesus Christ came to them
in the middle of the night walking on the water and was received
by them into the ship. All they knew was that there
had only been one ship on that side of the lake, and that He
had not gone in that ship with His disciples. He could not be
found. He could not be found. But as
other ships came from Tiberias and Capernaum, came to that side,
then they got on these ships, they got in these ships, and
they came to Capernaum. they crossed the sea to Capernaum. And you notice in verse 24, they
came seeking for Jesus. Did you know that it's possible
to seek Christ for the wrong reason? These did. It's possible to seek the Lord
Jesus Christ for the wrong reasons. And that's what we see in these
verses that we are looking at tonight. They did, you can't
deny the fact, they did come to Capernaum. And they did come,
the Scripture says, seeking for Jesus. And they found Him. They found Him there. But let's
look at their questions and the Lord's answers. First of all,
their first question was, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? Notice
that in verse 25. And when they had found him on
the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest
thou hither? Their first question was a question
out of curiosity. Curiosity. Over the years, I'm
sure if you are a child of God tonight, you've had a lot of
questions that have been posed to you, as I have, about things
that have nothing to do with the person's real need. People ask, well, where did Cain
get his wife? Well, what difference does that
make? What difference does that make to you, where he got his
wife? Your problem is that you are
a sinner. And what you need to be concerned
about is this matter of sin. Lord, how did you come here?
It's just a matter of curiosity. It has nothing to do with their
sin problem. Their question has nothing to
do with their sin problem. Their question has nothing to
do with how can a man be just with God? Remember reading an
article years ago by a pastor, you know this pastor, Brother
Joe Terrell, pastors in Rock Valley, Iowa. But he said if
he came home one afternoon and there was a lion, a lion inside
his house, he would be more concerned, first of all, as to how to get
the lion out of the house. And then he would deal with how
the lion got in the house. Now that makes a lot of sense,
doesn't it? So many questions. I remember
hearing Brother Mahan preach a message in a conference out
in California several years ago. And this man came out of the
service there, and his question was, what was in the Ark of the
Covenant? It had nothing to do, nothing
to do with the message, nothing to do with the mission of the
Lord Jesus Christ coming into this world. It was just simply
a question of curiosity. What difference does it make
how many pieces were in the Ark of the Covenant? There's answers. I could answer
that question, but what That's not a person's need. That's not
his problem. These are just interesting things,
sure. This reminds me, these people
who came to our Lord and they said, Rabbi, teacher, when came
this out here? How'd you get here? When did
you come here? It reminds me of Herod. You remember when Pilate heard
those accusers of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he was a Galilean,
He asked, is he from Galilee? And they said, yes, he is. Well,
that's Herod's problem. He sent him to Herod, remember?
Pilate was doing everything he could to wiggle out of the position
he was in. And that was that Christ had
been brought to him, and he knew he was innocent. He knew he was
not guilty of anything that would have resulted in him being crucified
in death. And so he sends him to Herod.
Well, the Scripture says that Herod, he had heard of Christ.
In fact, one place we are told Herod thought that it was John
the Baptist who he had personally had beheaded, that he had risen
from the dead. But the Scripture says, And when
Herod saw Jesus, when he was brought into his presence, he
was exceeding glad, for he was desirous to see him of a long
season, because he had heard many things of him And he hoped
to have seen some miracle done by him. Then, now listen, then
Herod questioned with him in many words, but he, that is Christ,
answered him nothing. Nothing. The question here is, Rabbi,
when camest thou hither? Notice our Lord's answer. Verily,
verily, or truly, truly. This is the truth. In other words,
this truth cannot be contradicted. To Nicodemus, who came to the
Lord Jesus Christ by night, and came to him as a teacher, as
a teacher come from God, our Lord said, Verily, verily. except
a man be born again. I say unto thee, except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. To these,
these who came this day, seeking him strictly from selfish, from
fleshly motives, their seeking Jesus had to do with the things
of this world, the things which are temporal, the things which
may be seen, not eternal realities. Our Lord said, You seek Me, notice,
verily, verily, I say unto thee, You seek Me, not because you
saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and
were filled. Now, if you look above this,
our Lord said, You seek Me not because you saw the miracles. Well, they did see the miracles.
He said that, didn't He? You're not seeking me because
you saw the miracles. And they had seen the miracles. Look above this in verse 2. And a great multitude followed
him because they saw his miracles, which he did on them that were
diseased. And also in verse 14. Then those
men, when they had seen the miracle, But you seek me not, because you saw the miracles. You see, there's a scene, but
not a scene. His disciples asked him one day,
Why do you speak to them in parables? Why do you speak to them in parables?
And part of his answer was this. That seeing they might not see,
and hearing they might not hear. There's a seeing. They saw the
miracles. As far as actual seeing a miracle
take place. But they did not see the end
of the miracle. What was the purpose of the miracle? The purpose of the miracle was
to demonstrate that He is the Son of God. Now, they saw the
miracle, but they didn't see the miracle. They didn't see
the end of the miracle. They didn't see the purpose of
the miracle. All they saw was plenty of food,
bread and fish, plenty of it, all they were interested in.
was the things of this world. They sought him for what the
Lord Jesus here calls meat that perishes. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
you seek me not because you saw the miracles, but because you
did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labor not for the meat
which perishes, That's all they were interested in, meat that
perishes. In other words, things of this
world, things that please the flesh. This is the way that Christ is
most often presented in our day. In most places where Christ is
preached, He's preached not as a Savior for sinners, but as
a counselor, as a financial advisor, and on and on and on. All of
the things that please the flesh. That's not the reason Christ
came into this world. He did not come here so you would
have a large bank account and drive a big car and live in a
big house. He didn't come here so that you
would never be sick in body, never have any afflictions, never
have any trouble. But that's what people are being
told. And this is the very thing these
people, they came seeking Him. But, as I said, for the wrong
reasons. They were not seeking Him as
a Savior. They were not seeking Him as
an answer to their sin problem. It is not his work of salvation,
but fleshly benefits. That's all they were interested
in. And then notice he admonishes them. Let me read that verse again.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw
the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were
filled. That's the only reason you're seeking me. It's not because you have an
interest in how your sins may be put away. That's not it at
all. You're seeking me simply because
you ate the loaves and the fish. In some of these foreign countries
where missionaries have gone, I use that term very loosely,
but they've offered people things in order to get professions of
faith. In some countries they're called
rice Christians. They're offered so many pounds
of rice if they'll decide for Christ. I remember a man years
ago in Mexico, he would buy everyone a Coke. Nuts, people were not encouraged and pointed to Christ
as a Savior to save them from their sins, but some worldly
advantage, something that pleased the flesh. He admonishes them. Verse 27,
labor not for the meat which perishes. Is that all you're
interested in? Now, there's no question that
we are interested in the things that we need in this world. And
the Scriptures teach us that we should. Men should earn the
living by the sweat of their brow. The man does not take care
of his family. The Scripture says he's worse
than an infidel. He's denied the faith. All of
these, but our Lord said, seek you first the kingdom of God
and all these things shall be added unto you. What was he talking
about? He was talking about food, shelter,
clothes. You put Christ first. Seek you
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, His righteousness. And all these things, they'll
be added to you. They'll be taken care of. But
you reverse that, and that's what so many people have done
and are doing. What they're interested in, all
these things. The food, the clothes, the money,
the health, and everything else that pleases the flesh. When the Lord here tells these
people, labor, we all know what that means, work, doesn't it?
Work. Labor, not for the meat which perisheth, but, but for
that meat which endureth unto everlasting life. The Lord is certainly not teaching
that salvation, eternal life, comes by our labor, by our works. Scripture says, For by grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should glory. What then does he mean? Here
are people Here are people who were clearly occupied with worldly
things and he would impress them with the importance of seeking
the Lord. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call upon him while he is near. Arthur Pink made this statement
here at this place. He said, and I quote, it is difficult
to preserve balance of truth. On the one hand, we are so anxious
to insist that salvation is by grace alone, that we are in danger
of failing to uphold the sinner's responsibility to seek the Lord
with all his heart. And Arthur Fink pointed out that
the word labor in this passage, the Lord's use of the word labor,
he said it's parallel in substance with that verse where the Lord
said strive, strive to enter in at the straight gate. Labor! In other words, this should
be the top priority. your soul, your relationship
with God. Everything else pales in significance
with this, labor, strife. The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force. Be concerned, be
in interest about your relationship to God. These other things that
these people were concerned about was meat which perishes. You put the meat in your body,
our Lord said it's not that which goes in, it enters into the stomach
through the drop, it's eliminated. The meat that perishes. And that's
true not only of food but everything else that's included here in
the meat that perishes. It's of this world, you can touch
it, you can see it, you can put it in your mouth, you can put
it in the bank, whatever. It's temporal. It's temporal. He's dealing with eternal realities,
which you can't see. Strive to enter in at the straight.
Labor. He said labor. But notice, just
in case someone might think, well he's teaching salvation
by works, but notice he said labor. not for the meat which
perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life, which, which the Son of Man shall give unto you." You
labor for this, and the Son of Man gives this unto you. It seems
like a paradox. It is a paradox, isn't it? man's
responsibility. And yet we know that salvation
is all of grace. Now notice their second question.
He used that word labor, and like always, natural men always
latch on and misunderstand. And so their second question
is, what shall we do? You say labor. What shall we
do that we might work the works of God? He did say labor, and
as I said, as usual, fallen men always seek righteousness in
life by doing, always. And they all ask the same question,
then what shall we do? John Gale made this comment.
He said, "...they seemed to intimate as if they desired to know whether
there were any other works of this kind than what Moses had
directed them to, or than they had done. And if there were,
they suggest they would gladly do them." What works? You say labor? What works? We've already got the list that
Moses has given us. We've done that. We're doing
that. Is there some more? We'll do that too. We'll do that
also. But notice our Lord's answer. This is the work of God. They
said, what shall we do that we might work the works of God?
Jesus answered and said unto them, this, this is the work
of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent. Whom he has sent, yes. He not only sent him, but he
sealed him. This is the work of God. This
is God's work. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. That's what the scripture says.
It's impossible to please God. God identified His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, at His baptism. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. This is the work of God, that
you believe on Him whom He has sent. When we read here, this
is the work of God. We recognize that faith is a
gift. Faith is a gift from God. This
is God's work. He works faith. He gives faith. But we believe. We believe even though He gives
us the faith. He works faith in men. It is
His gift. But as an act, It is man's act. In other words, God is not going
to believe for you. He's not going to believe for
me. He's not going to believe for anyone. Faith is His gift,
but you believe. You trust. This is the work of
God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent. Well, the Lord willing, next
time we'll go on and look more at His message that these people
confess to be a hard saying. But tonight I'm going to stop
here. The gift of God, faith. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship. were
his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. I can't emphasize this too often
to myself or to you, that faith is all-important, and God gives
faith, and faith comes to us. And it comes to us by hearing
the Word of God. I'll ask the men, if you will,
to come at this time.