He told me to send it through. Maybe he'll read it. I hope he
does. I hope he does. That's wonderful. Debbie's brother Randy had his
first radiation treatment today. He's in pain, and the pain pills
are giving him just a little less than a few hours. Bus left
eight hours, but they only last about five. He's in constant
pain, but I believe he's got cancer all over him. So just
remember him and your prayers, if you will. His name's Randy
Perman. Other than that, I can't think of any announcements. Who
else is out tonight? Oh, Arlene. Oh, she's in the
middle of that storm. Oh, she had a blast. Huh? She
had a blast. Remember them that went on the
trip? 10 of them couldn't go because of COVID. I heard that. 10 from Robbinsville and 14 people,
4 from Cherokee. What did they do, test them? Well, they were already sick,
the ones from Robbinsville. They were up here the week before,
so they'd probably get it just once. Why do this? Yeah, the
4 of them went on the bus. What did she do back Friday?
Probably Saturday. You back Saturday, well, remember
it in your prayers. They took a measurement on that
storm today, it's 800 miles across. East Coast, Keith Anderson is
getting banged up pretty good down there, and it's way out
to sea, but they're catching the waves up there. Let's begin
our worship service tonight with hymn number 222. They'll play
this for the authority, so I think I want them to sing this. There
is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's hand. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Immanuel's veins And sinners plunged beneath that
blood lose all their guilty stains Lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. And sinners plunged beneath that
flood. Lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day And there may I go now as he washed
all my sins away wash all my sins away, wash all my sins away. And there may I, though vowed
as thee, washed all my sins away. Dear dying land, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power. Dear Lord, the ransomed Church
of God, Be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Till all the ransomed Church
of God be saved to sin no more. Ever since my faith I saw the
spring, thy glowing wounds sublime. Revealing love has been my theme,
and shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. Redeeming love has been my thing. And shall be till I die. When this holy, spring-standing
trunk Lies silent in the grave Then in a nobler, sweeter song
I'll sing thy power to save I'll sing that power to save. I'll sing that power to save. Amen. A nobler, sweeter song. I'll sing that power to save. Number 255. $2.50, rest of the shippers. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! What a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, Purchase of
God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story,
this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission,
perfect delight, visions of rapture now perched on my sight. Angels be singing, ringing from
above, angels of mercy, whispers from above. This is my story,
this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission,
always at rest, I am my Savior and I am blessed. Watching and awaiting, looking
up, filled with His goodness, lost in His love. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. I'm turning the Bible, please, to
John 6th chapter. I'm going to read verses 22 through
30. The title of my message tonight
is Seeking Personal Power. John chapter 6 verse 22 says,
But they followed him, when the people which stood on the other
side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save
the one whereunto the disciples were landed, and that Jesus went
not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples
would have gone well along. Howbeit, there came other boats
from Tiberias, nine to the place where they did eat bread, and
after that the Lord had given thanks. Then the people therefore
saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples. They also
took shipping and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus. And when they
had found him on the other side of the sea, they said, Rabbi,
when camest thou hither? And Jesus answered unto them
and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because
you saw the miracles, but because you did eat the loaves and were
filled. Labor not for the meat, for the
perisheth. But for that which endureth unto
eternal life, or everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall
give unto 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? And Jesus answered and said unto
them, This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom
he hath sent. They said, therefore, unto him,
what sign shalt thou then that we may see and believe thee? What dost thou work? Let us pray. Our Father, we come in the blessed
name and perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, our substitute,
our Savior, who bore our sins and his body on the tree. By
His blood and His death, fully redeemed His people, ransomed
them from the pit. We thank You, Father, that where
remission of sin is, there is no more sacrifice. His perfect
sacrifice once for all His people, perfected them that were sanctified,
put away their sins, purged their sins. Because He had accomplished
that work, He sits at Thy right hand, ever living to make intercession
for you. We're thankful for the gift of
the Holy Spirit that took the things of Christ that he thought
he had accomplished and told them to us and taught us what
he had done for us. We thank you, Father, for your
word. We're in constant teaching as
we look at your word. And I marvel every day of the
wonders therein. Father, we pray for those who
are sick, especially around impairment as he's going through this radiation
treatment now. We ask your help for it. We continue to pray for Rain
and we're thankful that he has requested your word. Pray for
the others who requested prayer, Lord, that you'd be with them
or watch over them. Thou knowest every case, you
know every heart. Nothing is hid from me. We pray
that in each case, The result of the trial, the tribulation,
the sickness will turn their eyes to Jesus Christ. Help us
to do that tonight, Father. To look to Him and trust Him
completely. We pray in Christ's name, we
pray His glory. Amen. Now in this passage of Scripture,
we see the multitude receive the free meal. Seeking to find
the Lord that fed them, that's their desire. Knowing that the
multitude had in their minds to make him a king, Jesus had
retired to the mountain to pray. And after sending his disciples
to Capernaum by boat, he followed them walking on the water, later
joined by Peter, who was saved after he began to sink, having
taken his eyes off of the Savior. And what we found from that episode
was that power, all power, belongs to the Lord. And power is never
transferred to men. The power to perform whatever
thing you perform, to perform any act for the believer is found
solely in looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether it's prayer,
church attendance, or giving, or loving, The minute we take
our eyes off of Christ, none of that matters. The moment eyes
are turned inward or begin to observe surrounding circumstances,
we sink into the mire absolutely every time. The idea, the pipe
dream, that possesses religion is that the power of Christ can
be personally gained. And the religionists can obtain
greater heights of power by personal concerted effort and commitment
to the so-called Christian life. Salvation is regarded in most
cases in religion as just the beginning. But salvation for
us, the children of God, began in eternity. And we'll carry
on until time is no more and our song will be in heaven that
we have been saved. Salvation begins with Christ,
continues with Christ, and ends with Christ. It's not a starting
place where religion leaves. It is followed by an intensive
pursuit of personal merit and progressive sanctification to
gain heavenly rewards. greater than one's peers is usually
how it's done. I've told you this story before
about a Sunday school teacher from Piedmont Bible College.
I had him when I was a young man. He was a student and he
bragged about the fact that he was going to get more rewards
than other Christians because he worked harder than anybody
else. Now he meant to get more rewards. He wanted more crowns.
He wanted more stars in his crowns and he aimed to get it. And he
believed by his diligent efforts that he had power to do so. The child of God has no religious
stature. There is no hierarchy in the
church of the living God. Everybody's the same. Everybody
has their own position, their own job, their own purpose, but
everybody's the same. has a position of preaching the
gospel, but he's no different, no better than any other church
member. In fact, he's just a member of
the church like everybody else, like everybody else. Religion
wants to create a stature, a stature. This is the singular driving
force of religion without Jesus Christ while it's being done
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember those in Matthew
chapter 7. Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy
in thy name? Didn't we do great wonders in
thy name? Didn't we cast out devils in
thy name? They were doing it and they believed
that it meant something by their own power because they'd done
it in the name of Jesus. that they had actually accomplished
something. And Jesus' response to them was, I never knew you. Turn over to Acts chapter 8. In Acts chapter 8, a man named
Simon Magus, or Simon the Magician, or Simon the Sorcerer, went to incredible lengths to
gain this power. because he believed that he could
get this power if he did the right thing and worked the hardest
to get it. It says of him in verse 9 of
chapter 8, but there was a certain man called Simon which before
time in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria
giving out that himself was a great one to whom they all gave heed. from the least to the greatest,
saying, this man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because
that a long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when
they believed Philip's preaching, because Philip preached Christ,
the things concerning the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ,
they were baptized both men and women. Then Simon himself believed
also, and when he had baptized he continued with Philip, and
wondered, and behold the miracles and signs which were done. Now
when the apostles which were in Jerusalem heard that Samaria
had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and
John, who when they had come down prayed for them that they
might receive the Holy Ghost. For as yet he was fallen upon
none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Then laid their hands on them,
and they received the Holy Ghost." It's during the Apostolic Age
now. And when Simon made this, remember, he says he believed
and was baptized, followed Philip in his preaching, then And when
Simon saw the laying home of the hands of the apostles, the
Holy Ghost was given, he offered money. He offered money, saying, give
me also, what? His power, his power, that on
whosoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. He wanted
the power of the Holy Ghost. There's a whole bunch of religionists
today, that's all they're looking for, to have the power of the
Holy Ghost. Peter said, Thy money perish
with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God
may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor want
in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of
God. Now he had done all those religious
things for one reason, to get power. That was what he was interested
in. Look over Galatians chapter 6.
Paul, writing to the Galatian church who were under the onslaught
of legalists, says of those legalists in Galatians chapter 6 and verse
11 I think it is, verse 12, he says, as many desire to make
a fair show in the flesh, to make themselves famous. They
constrain you to be circumcised only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ. So they said they were
Christians, they believed in Jesus, but you had to be circumcised
because they know if you didn't say you were going to be circumcised,
you didn't have anything to do, that they'd be persecuted. Paul said all I'd have to do
is tell you one little thing to do. The offense of the cross
would stink. Because when you tell the truth
to people about what God Jesus Christ has done, and the fact
that they had nothing to do with their salvation whatsoever, to
any degree, not one jot, not one tittle at all in their salvation,
that's offensive to the flesh. Because the flesh wants to take
credit. It says, for they themselves
who are circumcised, keep the law, for neither they themselves
who have circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised
that they may glory in your flesh." What? They want to have power
over you. They want to have power. Illegally
sought to display this power over men by controlling them
with the law that they themselves did not keep. The Pharisee used
religious power to make men bow to their harsh commands, but
exercising that power to keep men down by refusing to help
them. That's what it says in Matthew
23. The Lord said, when they say for you to do something,
go ahead and do it. I'm not lying to you about the law. He said,
but they won't lift one finger to help you. But what they do
have, when they make those commands, or when a preacher stands up
and says, you have to do this, and you have to do that, you
have to commit this, you have to commit to that. When he says
things like that, he's exercising power over you. That's what his
desire is to do. This is the bailiwick of what
passes for Christianity in this day. It exerts power over men
by promising them reward or threatening them to censure them or threatening
them with loss of reward. But never just pointing them
to Jesus Christ as all of salvation. That's all of salvation. We used
to have a church coming on that boy, remember that? Crow asked
one time, how come I slept at night? And so we took it down. We took it down. I've read that
church cover. It was on the wall of the Baptist
church I was at, and I'll tell you what, I've never kept that
cover. I just didn't do it. Didn't do it. All the stuff it
required, I didn't do any of that. I liked the way it read,
and it sounded good, and I know some people in that church thought
they kept that cover. They kept it so much that when Schmidt's
Brewery came to Winston-Salem to open a brewery and hire 1,000
people, give them a big-paying job, I mean good-paying job,
probably five, six bucks an hour back then, which is big money.
It'd be like $25 or $30 an hour now. These good people said,
oh, you can't have alcoholic beverages. Alcohol is a beverage. That's part of the church covenant.
Couldn't do that. And so people were actually asked
to leave the church, who went to work at Schlitz to support
their family. They didn't rank, but they went
to work there. And the church had power over
them. I can remember that, being in
religion and being afraid of the deacons. Because they could
fix you. Boy, if they said something bad
about you, you was in trouble with everybody. You was in trouble. There were people like that.
That's religion. Religion's desire is to have power, and their power
is to be able to censure you, or to take away from you what
you think you ought to get or might get, and that is the rewards
in heaven. Though perhaps not immediately
evident, this lust for power was the motivation of these men
who followed Jesus Christ over the sea to Capernaum. They sought to catch up with
Jesus Christ, and they finally did. They sought to latch on
to this food source to start with, but were confounded when
they could not find him. They knew that the disciples
had chartered a boat, but did not see the Lord leave with them,
so they got in the boat themselves and headed for Capernaum to find
the Lord. In verse 25, back in our text, it says, And when they
found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him,
Rabbi, when came as thou. They addressed him as rabbi.
Now there's two meanings to the word rabbi. It's used two ways.
Among equal peers in the Jewish religion. A rabbi is a teacher. But in the situation where you're
not a religious teacher, then rabbi becomes master. And this was what they used,
the term master. since they had paid very little
attention to all the things he had said concerning his deity.
They didn't pay attention to that, they didn't believe him
yet. He says you don't believe me, you don't have the love of
God in you. He's talking the same much people here. They wanted to know why their
meal ticket had left their cups. That's what they really wanted
to know. The Lord knew their hearts, and He discerned the
thoughts of their hearts. In verse 26, He says, That's
an interesting statement, I thought. He was perhaps distinguishing
something here. Though the feeding of 5,000 surely
would be considered a miracle when they fed it with a few fishes
and some loaves. Certainly, our Lord didn't say
it was a miracle. He separated it from the miracles
that He had done before. The Lord does not distinguish
them. He was perhaps distinguishing that their interest, only interest
was in His power. The only interest in his power
was that it was beneficial to them. That was their only interest. Do you reckon there's anybody
like that today who wants to get in touch with Jesus so they
can get something from him? Have some kind of power? Turn
the blessings of God into this heavenly spigot that they can
open up and get stuff from God? Look at a few verses of scripture.
This is no new thing. I just talked about it. In Romans
chapter 16, verse 18, it says this, For they
that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. Their own belly. And by good
words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. They
serve their own belly. The same kind of language Paul
used Philippians chapter 3 in verse 19, he says, whose end
is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose God is their
belly, and whose glory is their shame, who mind earthly things. You see, the health and wealth
gospel had very early beginnings. What was going on there with
these men trying to get something from the Lord Jesus Christ was
health and wealth. It is an earth-shaking revelation. And by grace, one finds that
the gospel is not about anything but Jesus Christ. It is an earth-shaking
thing. I remember when my earth was
shook. For egocentric humanity, a salvation
that is about God's glory and void of human involvement is
unethical. They despise it and they hate
it. In verse 27, our Lord asserts
what is true sustenance. He says, labor not for the meat
which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life. which the Son of Man shall give
unto you, for him hath God sealed." Men who labor but to feed their
own bellies and consider that sustaining this life here on
earth is worthwhile need to know that this life has an expiration
date. God knows what it is, I don't,
but God does. They labor what will eventually
perish along with the user. The word labor connotes work
and the Bible is explicit in the declaration that eternal
things are not obtained by human effort. Whatever is eternal you can't
get by human effort. Nothing whatsoever. How is it
obtained? There's only one. The only one who obtained that
was the Lord Jesus Christ. That says that in Hebrews chapter
9, verses 11 through 12. He entered into the holy place
once again and obtained. Obtained eternal redemption for
us. What is meant by labor here is
to avoid the error of Simon Peter. What did he do? He took his eyes
off Christ. It's called harming your own flesh. That's
the language used in Scripture. Why is it called that? Because
the hardest, well, the impossible thing for the flesh is to look
to Christ alone. It can't do it. It can't do it. It must see something. It must
have some palpable evidence that it can look at to say that it's
a child of God. To labor for things that perish
is not to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's simply it.
Which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man is
forgiven to you, for God has sealed him. The Father has sealed
him, is the singular source of all things eternal. John the
Baptist said, the Father loveth the Son, and hath put all things
in his hand. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of
God abides on him. What did the Lord open heaven
and say when our Lord was baptized in Matthew 3.17? is my beloved
son in whom I am well-pleased on account of transfiguration.
This is my beloved son in whom I am well-pleased. You hear him.
Don't hear nobody else. You hear him. In him love the
fullness of the God above because it pleased the Father that in
him should all fullness dwell. This is the record. It says in 1 John chapter 5 verses
11 and 12, this is the record. That God has given us eternal
life in Jesus Christ. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. All these eternal things are
wrapped up in one person. The Lord Jesus Christ. No human
effort can obtain it. None. In verse 28, the truth
of men's hearts is made manifest. Having been shut down, What shall we do? That we might
work the works of God. Wait a minute. Ain't gonna be
fed no more by Jesus Christ. He's told them that what they're
looking at for that bread ain't gonna do them no good. They need
to look for the bread from heaven. And they said, well, how can
we do what you did back there? How can we work those miracles? How can we feed ourselves with
some fishes and with some wood? How can we work the works of
God? Can you imagine somebody saying that? How can we work
the works of God? What do we need to do in order
to be miracle workers? To feed our own bellies. We want
the power to do the work of God. It sounds so familiar. Ah, the
promise made to Eve in the garden still enamors the hearts of fallen
men. Ye shall be as God. That's what they want. Ye shall be as God. What shall
we do that we might work the works of God? Is that going on? You have but to listen to the
drivel of men and women in this day. Their language dips with
self-deification. Each schism, division, sex, social
or political persuasion speaks in these terms. My truth. That's my truth. What does that
make them? They're God. They're God. The Lord said in John 17, He
asked the Father to sanctify his people with his word because
his word was truth. You have the truth right here
in this book. And if you say my truth or your
truth, you're applying deity to yourself or to whoever you're
speaking to. There is but one truth. His name is Jesus Christ. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. Man's truth is but a lie and
wrapped in delusion. The man is lighter than vanity,
Scripture says. He is a lie, Psalm 62, 9. Those seeking power for themselves
will find that such power belongs to the Lord. Would you know God's
work? If He works on you, this is what's
going to happen. You will believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Because that's what the Lord said. Verse 29,
this is the work of God. that you believe on Him who made
sin. Why do you believe? Because God has worked on you.
That's His work. Do you believe? It's God's work. Remember John chapter 3 when
it says those who walk in the light bring their works before
God and say, God did it. God did it, John 3, 18. To the
carnal mind, Faith is foolishness. It's foolishness. The carnal
mind is enmity against God, it says in Romans 8, 7 and 8. The
carnal mind is enmity against God, is not subject to the law
of God, neither can be. Not subject to the word of God,
neither can be. Can't be. Something must be seen
for men, the natural men They must see something, but the just
shall live by faith. And faith is nothing more, nothing
less, and nothing else than looking to Jesus Christ for all things. That's what faith is. That's
what faith is. What these men have proved is
that they are unbelievers. What did they say? Verse 30,
what a sign. Show us, thou then, that we may
see and believe thee. What did they say? They had seen the miracles that
he did. They had been fed. 5,000 of them had seen that.
Show us a sign. What more do you need to say?
Show us something. They're unbelievers. But the
importance of natural persuasion will prove utterly futile. Imagine
what these men have seen and experienced and yet say to the
Lord, Lord, work do us now. What work have you done? Show
us. Show us. They will soon find
out that their unbelief, as powerful as it is in their own bosom and
their own minds, is of no consequence at all. When people tell me they don't
believe, I'm not bothered. I usually say, I know. I know. And that's what you should do,
too. Don't be bothered if they say they don't believe the Bible.
Because you can't make them believe to start with. You can tell them
the truth, but that's all you can do. You can't do anything. Unbelief is of no consequence
in this world. Our Lord will show that when
he talks to these people some more. We'll look at it next week. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen. All right.