I talked to him a while ago. He's doing all right. They're
having to wait to get the blood thinner out of his system before
they do anything. They don't know exactly what
they're going to do. He said he didn't think he'd be able
to take an open heart surgery, but he thinks they're probably
going to do another stent on him. I don't know if he died, his
first meal of the day or night. But he asked for a prayer, so
remember him and your prayers. Remember the others who requested
prayer also, and Randy's brother, Randy Debbie's brother's not
doing too great, but he's still on radiation treatment, so that's
all the heart on your body. So remember these folks and your
prayers. Let's begin our worship service tonight with hymn 354. What a friendly and good Jesus! All our sins and griefs to bear! What a courage to carry Everything
to God in prayer! Oh, what peace we are in poor
faith! Oh, what needless pain we bear! Oh, we cannot live without care! Do we think of God in prayer? Every time we make petitions,
He's more than trouble anywhere. We should never be disturbed Can we find a place of faith? How will our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness. Give to the Lord in prayer. All we weep and grieve, we beg
and comfort with a load of care. Praise to Savior, still our refuge. take it to the Lord in prayer
take it to the Lord in prayer in His arms He'll take you, He'll
shield you Teach me. I'm flaming tongues above! Raise the cloud and fix the water,
out of my weeping love. Here I raise mine in elisir,
hither my rider I'm come. And I hope I find the pleasure
safely to arrive at home Jesus saw me with a stranger ? Only
from the Father God ? ? He to raise me from danger ? ? Into
His precious blood ? ? Oh to praise how great a debtor ? ?
Daily I'm constrained to be ? Here's my heart. All right, the Bible's pleased us, John
chapter 6. John chapter 6. And Jesus said unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from
heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth
life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord,
evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto him, 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 that ye also have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. Let us pray. Our Father, gracious
Heavenly Father, who indeed sent your Son, who came to this world, and livable man, though he was
sinless and perfect, righteous in everything he thought and
did. He tabernacled among the vile
human population. He took upon himself the form
of a man, and being found in the passion of man, he was obedient
even to the cruel death of the cross. Wherefore, you have exalted
him, and you highly exalt him, and given him a name that is
above every name. And at the name of Jesus, every
knee should bow, and every tongue confess that he is Lord, to the
glory of the Father. Father, we praise you for that
salvation, full and free and accomplished by Jesus Christ.
We thank you for that precious blood that washed away our sins. the lands and satisfied your
holy impeccable justice. We pray for those who are sick.
Remember Brother Jim Park, be blessed to be with him as he's
in the hospital waiting for the doctor's decision on his heart
situation. Continue to pray for Randy, to
be with him in these times of struggle as he's truly sick.
Be with his wife as she ministers to him. Pray for the others who
are going through troubles and trials. We know, Lord, You know
every case. We ask Your help for them and
mercy for them. We ask tonight for ourselves,
as we look at this passage of Scripture, we get a true understanding
of what our Lord is saying, a true understanding of the mindset
and the natural mind and the need of every sinner. And that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us tonight, we pray in Christ's
name, for His glory. Amen. Now this bit of dialogue
that we just read here between our Lord and the Jews is full
of teachings, a whole lot here. It is a treatise on what is necessary
for one to believe if he's not given true faith. Many believe
the Bible. I expect if you were to go across
the reservation and ask all these people around here, or leave
the reservation and go into the cities in the south especially,
and ask people if they believed the Bible, they'd tell you they
did. I believed the Bible from the time I cut my eye teeth.
I thought the Bible was the word of God. I never had any question
as to whether it was. But I was lost. I was lost. People believe that the Bible
is the Word of God and even seek to live by what it declares to
do, though never having received the gift of faith. The mark of
faith, the only mark of faith, is singularly centered in believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is the object of God-given
faith, there is no other. Those who have not true faith
require some empirical evidence, that is to say, something visible,
something palpable, that will give rise to them believing.
If they can see it, they will believe it. The old adage of
seeing is believing does not apply to the faith that God gives
the elect. But that's what they've designed.
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 30 they said, what sign
show us thou that we may see and believe thee? Show us a sign that we can see
and we will believe on you. Seeing is believing is what people
said. Peter said just the opposite
is true. He put the, switched it around
completely over in this same chapter. In verse 69, he says,
and we believe and are sure. Belief comes first for the child
of God, and that's why he's sure that God has given him faith.
We believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Believing Christ is seeing Christ. In fact, it's seeing things that
no one else can see. Look over at 2 Corinthians chapter
4. In verse 18, Paul says, while
we look not at things which are seen, but at things which are
not seen. Where the things which are seen
are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. So faith looks at things that
nobody else can see, and it doesn't require sight of natural things
or anything that can be taken into the five senses. to believe. It believes and therefore it
is sure. And sureness comes from believing
the Lord Jesus Christ. So the first thing we discover
in this context is those speaking to our Lord Jesus Christ are
unbelievers because they want to see a sign so they can believe. Show us a sign that we might
see and therefore believe you. The Jews had a thing for signs.
in several places in scripture, when our Lord spoke to them,
they said, show us a sign. In one place, he said, there
is no other sign than the sign of Jonas. He was in the belly
of the whale three days, and the son of man's gonna be in
the belly of the earth for three days, and rise again on the third
day. That's the first thing we discover about these people,
is that though they are Bible believers, they are Bible toting,
they are people who search the scriptures, who think by searching
the Scriptures they have eternal life, but they don't believe
Christ. Therefore, their faith, though
a religious faith, is in vain. It's in vain. This is an amazing,
remarkable statement since they have personally experienced the
power of Christ. They say, show us a sign that
we might see and believe. They've experienced some things.
They've had their belly filled along with other 5,000 people. They've seen the miracles that
Christ has did. They've honored him because of the miracles he
did. What greater evidence might they require to engender faith
in them? But they had something big in
mind. In verse 31, they said, Our fathers did eat manna in
the desert, as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven. They held that the delivering
of manna in the wilderness for 40 years was a sign, a sign. And even the miracles and the
feeding of the 5,000 didn't match up to that sign. So they were
talking about something really big, not feeding 5,000, even
if they'd seen him walk on water. The disciples did, but they didn't.
The miracles that he did, turning water into wine and things like
that, They knew of these things, but
they wanted something else. They wanted a sign, and the sign
they were talking about was this miracle that went on in the desert.
When the Lord sent the people of Israel into the desert to
go to the land of Canaan, it was just an 11-day journey. That's all it would have taken
had they just walked straight into Canaan, but our Lord turned
them this way and that for 40 years. because they were a game-saying
and a stiff-necked people that had never changed. But there
he said, this is our sign. God gave us manna in the desert
through Moses. Show us something. Show us something. What they did not know was that
they were given manna, not merely to feed them, but to prove them.
To prove them, to disclose if they would be satisfied with
what God has given and we know that that means whether or not
they would be satisfied with the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord
said in Deuteronomy chapter 8, when Moses was talking about
their deliverance, Deuteronomy chapter 8 was written 30 days
prior, or Deuteronomy was written 30 days prior to them entering
into the promised land. One month this book was set forth
of the new laws for the promised land. And in chapter 8, verse
2, it says, Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy
God led thee these 40 years in the wilderness to humble thee
and to prove thee. That means to test in order to
see. or assay, to know what was in
your heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no.
Of course, the answer was no. It always has been no. He hungered
thee and suffered thee to hunger, then fed thee with manna, which
thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that he might
make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord. Does man live? This was what
our Lord quoted to Satan. When Satan said to the Lord of
the wilderness, you can turn these stones into bread if you're
God. And our Lord said, man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out
of the mouth of God. Well, God gave them manna. And they said,
this is a sign. God gave us manna 40 days. But they despised it. After a while, they hated that
manna. Over in Numbers chapter 21, we see their true view of this
manna that the Lord had given them. They were always complaining. I can't tell you how many chapters
in this book starts out with the people were complainers and
the people were murmuring it just over and over and over again.
But in chapter 21 they said in verse 5 they said, and the people
spake against God and against Moses And said, wherefore have
you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? Now, they've
been supplied every day of this journey. Every day of this journey,
they've had bread to eat and water to drink out of a rock
that followed them through the desert. And listen to what they
say. There is no bread. There is no bread. Neither is
there any water in our soul. loathes, hates this manna, this
light bread. Well, I'd say, as God gave it
to prove them to see what was in their heart, He certainly
found out what's in their heart, hadn't He? They hated this light
bread. They were never satisfied with
the bread, which simply speaks, says that they were never satisfied
with Christ. And the proof to that is the
cross of Jesus Christ. But in John 3, 14, our Lord used
that incident in numbers to teach them why Jesus Christ came into
this world. Now, why He sent the serpent
to bite them in numbers, because they hated this white bread,
was because of their sin. In John chapter 3, He said this. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
Now why was the serpent lifted up? Because those who were bitten
were dying because they hated the manna. They were dying. And the ones who were bitten
were bidden to look to the serpent, the brazen serpent raised up
on a pole. So they lived. So as Moses lifted
up that serpent in the wilderness, So the Lord Jesus Christ was
lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
have eternal life. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have everlasting life. But our Lord uses that. Our Lord uses that incident. Why? Because people knew it was about
manna. Now these folks are saying, show
us a sign. Like that man, I think. Show us a sign like our ancestors
had. Our ancestors had. The reason
Jesus Christ came into the world was what? His elect had been
bitten by sin. The serpent's bite from Eden
had come upon them in the form of being a child of Adam. And
their only hope for them was that the Son of Man, the only
perfect human being that ever lived, the Son of Man should
be lifted up on our crops. And if they looked to Him, they'd
be saved. So the same situation occurred.
They didn't understand that. All they knew was that it was
really a big thing to talk about, though their ancestors despised
the matter. They liked to talk about it as
a Greek. signed from heaven and now those who would stand in
the courtyard one day saying crucify him, crucify him are
requiring him to match or exceed the manna from heaven and he's
about to that's what he's going to do they're about to hear that
the manna in the desert was not about feeding them but was rather
about the salvation of the elect look at verse 31 and 32 Rather, verse 32, Jesus said
unto him, Verily I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread
from heaven. Wait a minute, they just said
it's bread from heaven. Not that bread. But my Father giveth you
the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. This is what those Bible scholars
in verse 5 missed all together. They studied the Bible. Our Lord
said, you search the Scriptures in chapter 5 and verse 39 and
40. You search the Scriptures for
anything you think you find eternal life. But they are they which
testify of me. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. The bread that Moses gave you
was bread from heaven, but it was not the true bread. It did
come down from the skies and gather as dew in the morning,
but it was not the true bread. One of the blessings of the faith
that God gives is the knowledge and understanding that everything
in the Old Testament is ultimately about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Every jot and every tittle of the Word is fulfilled in Jesus
Christ. And when He said those words, earth shall pass away
before one jot or tittle is not satisfied. And the only book
they had was the Old Testament. It was all about the Lord Jesus
Christ. What a joy it is for the believer to delve into the
vast riches of this book, knowing that residing in his bosom is
the key of knowledge. The key of knowledge. Over in
Colossians chapter 2, it says this about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verses 2 and 3 says that their hearts might be comforted
being knit together in love to all riches of the full assurance
of understanding. to the acknowledgement of the
mystery of God, which is the gospel, and of the Father and
of Christ, in whom, in Christ, are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge, all the treasures. Remember what our
Lord did in Luke chapter 24 when he was talking to the disciples
on the road to Emmaus, how he opened their mind to understand
the scriptures. How has your mind opened up to
understand In Luke chapter 24 and verse
44 it says, and he said to them, these are the words which I spake
unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be
fulfilled that are written in the law of Moses, that's the
first five books of the Bible, and the prophets, that's the
rest of it, and in the Psalms, that's the works of David. Then,
then opened he their eyes. or understanding that they might
understand the scriptures. He is the understanding. You
see, if you have faith in Jesus Christ, you will understand this
book. But you can have all kinds of
religious faith and not understand anything at all. You can spend
your life in religion. I spent a great deal of my life
in religion and didn't understand anything about this book. I used
it as a bludgeon, a blunt instrument to bludgeon people with most
of the time. And their response is very interesting.
We'll see that. But our Lord said, the true bread
from heaven gives life to the world. Gives life to the world. And I was wondering what they
might have thought of the word world there, because the word for them
meant the Gentiles, but I don't think it was an issue with them.
I think they were interested in what he said. So they said, Lord, evermore
give us this bread. My immediate thought upon reading
that, what they said was that they were being sarcastic, because
it sounds like a sarcastic statement to me. But maybe it's because
I like sarcasm. I don't know. That may be the
case. But they may still have their mind on the bread that
they've already received at the Lord's hand and filled their
bellies along with the 5,000. That aligns with their initial
reason for falling Christ off the sea. According to verse 28,
they said, what shall we do that we might do the works of God?
We might work the works of God. And what they were talking about
was filling their bellies with bread. Also, they may be speaking
of longevity. Life gives life to the Word. They might be thinking, he's
talking about living a long time. Now he hadn't told them what
the bread is yet. He hadn't told them what the true bread is,
but they want it. They think they want it. It's clear from
what follows that they had no idea that our Lord was speaking
of eternal life. That's the life he was talking
about. That knowledge is intrinsic only to true faith. which these
men did not possess. And our Lord tells them what
he's been teaching all along in verse 35. He says, and Jesus
said, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. They
said, every Lord evermore give us this bread. He said, I'm the
bread. He said, when the true bread
comes down from heaven, it gives life to the world. I said, give
us that. He said, I'm that. I'm talking
about myself. And this is what he said along.
He was sent from God. He said that. He was the son
of God. He was God himself, and he was
the one who ascended and descended from heaven. He came down from
heaven. He was that heavenly manna, that true bread of life,
and the person that comes to Him will never hunger, and he
that believes on Him will never thirst. Now, coming to Him and
believing on Him are basically the same thing. Over in John
chapter 7, at the Feast of the Tabernacles, in verse 37, it
says, In the last day, that great day of the Feast, Jesus stood
and cried, If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink.
He that believeth on Me. He that believeth on me, as the
scriptures have said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of
living water. What he was saying was to come
to him is to believe on him. Just two different ways of saying
exactly the same thing. Suddenly they were confronted
with what they couldn't naturally get. Because they were still religious
men with religious faith but not true faith. They wanted some
bread. Evermore. They wanted some bread. But it was Him, you see. And they didn't want Him. They had not come to Him. They
did not believe on Him and the bread He spoke of they did not
desire. Their soul glowed this light
bread, which will be proven in days ahead, when they will nail
him to a cross, and spit in his face, and tear the hair from
his face, and lay stripes on his back, and a crown of thorn
upon his head. That will be proven. He said,
I'm the bread of life. You hungry? You'll never hunger
again. I'm the bread of life. evidently they weren't hungry
and they weren't thirsty which is another way of saying they
weren't believers our lord who knows the hearts of these men
knew that these men did not believe on him because he says that in
verse 36 and i said unto you that ye have seen me and believe
not now his wording is important what did they say show us a sign
that we might see and believe on thee show us a sign that we
might see and believe on thee and he said you have seen me
and you believe not our Lord said you have seen the greatest
sign and you've not believed what
is the great sign? back in Isaiah chapter 7 and
verse 14 our Lord said You want a sign? There's the
sign. Not manna from heaven, though
it was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sign was that
God said, I'm going to send Jesus Christ. He has told them that
he's God in the flesh, and that's the sign that they have seen.
The one that's talking to them, yet they remain in unbelief.
What follows is quite a departure from what travels under the banner
of Christianity in the day in which we live. The Lord is presented
today as a beggar at the door of man's free will. He is presented
as desiring and hoping that men would choose him, let him save
them, or invite them into their heart. Inventions abound in religion, religions, schools, preachers,
and congregants trying to increase the zeal for the winning of souls
while refusing to preach the one means that God has ordained
for the elect to hear of their salvation that Christ has accomplished
for them. I saw the other day somebody
was quoting either J.C. Ryle or Spurgeon, I can't remember
what one of them said, a man doesn't weep growing over men's
souls, you're not a child of God. And I heard that all my
life. Show me that description. Show me that description. I want
to see people saved. I want to see them saved, I do.
But I know there's only one day that that's going to happen.
It's not by my weeping, not by my praying, not by my cajoling,
not by my persuasion. If you love somebody redemptively,
what's the only thing you can do to show that, really? Begging? Pleading? What? Telling the truth. Because you
see, it's It's the gospel. We have it. God has taught us the truth.
Tell men the truth. Some will believe and some will
not, but tell them the truth. That's the only thing that will
ever work for the salvation of a man's soul. Religion pleads for men's souls
while denying the manner in which souls are saved. They dismiss
the gospel and opt for ways for men to save themselves. They
deny the sovereignty of God. They deny the election of God. They deny the successful work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They deny the efficacy of His
blood sacrifice. They deny His death. They deny
all these things as having accomplished anything. Oh, they'll talk about
the sovereignty of God. They will, they'll talk about
election as long as you talk about it in terms of electing
to a particular office. But when you get to the death
of Jesus Christ, that it actually and truly accomplished the salvation
and redemption of the elect, they won't hear that. That's
the truth and the best thing you can do
for them. when our Lord was confronted
with unbelief. By those who embraced the Scripture,
He did not dismiss them out of hand. He did not wring His hands
or weep in despair. He simply stated that their unbelief
changed nothing. Their unbelief did not alter
or frustrate the sure salvation He said to these men, you won't
come. He said that in verse 36. You
don't believe. You won't come. But all those
whom God the Father has given me to save, they all will come. You don't believe. It's okay. I said that to people, I said,
I don't believe. Okay. It doesn't change anything. Your unbelief doesn't frustrate
God. God's not trying to save people.
Christ has already redeemed them. The Holy Spirit will in time
reveal Christ to them. And they will never be deceived
by a false gospel, according to the word of God. This is how
he answered unbelief. Maybe we ought to do the same.
And people say, I don't believe. Say, well, all that the Father
gave to Jesus Christ will come. And everyone that comes to Him
will never be cast out. Never be cast out. You want a
sign? God gave a sign, Isaiah 714. This is the sign. A virgin shall conceive and bring
forth a son. I shall call his name Emmanuel,
which is in turn God with us. The Father bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Oh.