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Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org
Seeking Control
Oh how great is the
Lord and great need to be prayed how great is the
Lord our God how great is the
Lord and great need to be prayed your gracious hand provides for all who live and pray your mercy runs to fight the helpless and the weak when you call out to you, you hear our cries and all
I need your gracious hand provides how great is the
Lord and great need to be prayed forever without end, creation will rejoice when works of wicked men are finally destroyed your power will proclaim till Christ descends and you will reign forever without end how great is the
Lord and great need to be praised how great is the
Lord and great need to be praised O hail the power of Jesus' name let angels prostrate fall bring forth the royal diadem and crown
Him Lord of all bring forth the royal diadem and crown
Him Lord of all the chosen seed of Israel's race be ransomed from the fall
Him who saved you by His grace and crowned
Him Lord of all who saved you by His grace and crowned
Him Lord of all let every kindred, every tribe on this terrestrial call to Him all majesty astride and crown
Him Lord of all to Him all majesty astride and crown
Him Lord of all and crown
Him Lord of all let's pray together
Lord, we stand before Your throne as wretched people redeemed only by Your blood the only thing that we can do
Lord is give everything, our entire lives give it to You as a thank you thank
You Lord for Your grace when I see the beauty of a sunset's glory amazing artistry across the evening sky when
I feel the mystery of a distant galaxy it halts and humbles me to be loved by a
God so high what can I do but thank
You what can I do but give my life to You hallelujah hallelujah what can
I do but praise You every day make everything
I do hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah when
I hear the story of a God of mercy who shared humanity and suffered by our side of the cross they nailed
You to who could not hold You now
You're making all things new by the power of Your risen life what can
I do but thank You what can I do but give my life to You hallelujah hallelujah what can
I do hallelujah hallelujah what can
I do hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah may be seated it is our honor to have a missionary in the building this morning
Hamilton would you give a wave in the back everybody look back in the right corner here Hamilton grew up in Malawi and is now a missionary back to his own home country where he's established an orphanage and working with the kids and our church has the blessing of being a part of that ministry so Hamilton will be sharing on December 18th about how that's going and if you guys are friends with him on Facebook anybody that has
Facebook friend Hamilton because the pictures of what God is doing there just will blow your mind just awesome so follow that ministry and be a support and encouragement to our brother glad you're here
Hamilton let's pray father we do thank you so much for what comes now in the service that you are a
God who speaks to us through your word your word is living and active and sharper than any two -edged sword it divides the thoughts and intentions of our hearts like dividing bone from marrow so Lord we pray that you would do that for us this morning that you would speak into our hearts that you would show us what we're like and what we trust and that you would change us from the inside out by the power of your word living and active in us today in Jesus name we pray amen
Ann Steele was a beautiful young girl in the 1700s in Scotland and she grew up in a
Christian family and learned to love the Lord and back then believe it or not they didn't have iPhones or iPads or anything like that so people would occupy themselves with things that were probably of greater worth so they would spend more time reading and enjoying literature and telling stories and being outdoors and Ann loved to ride horses so this girl would go out for horseback rides and as a preteen one day her horse stumbled and she fell from her horse and sadly she was paralyzed from the waist down and would live the rest of her life as an invalid much was taken from her that day but not her joy for the joy of the
Lord is our strength she continued to hope in Christ and continued all the more to enjoy poetry and writing and though she couldn't run with her friends and she couldn't ride horses anymore she could write to her
God and she began to do that all the more as she grew up she didn't think she would ever marry but then she had a suitor a young man was interested in her and they progressed in their relationship until a wedding day was set but on her wedding day just two hours before they were to tie the knot very sadly the groom drowned she had a double loss first of her mobility when she was young and then lost a husband just before they came together in marriage very sad story but she didn't live the life of a victim or one who was sad and defeated listen to the very words that she wrote when this man died and I'm sure she spent a night in tears and spent time mourning it's good to mourn but coming out of that morning she wrote these words to God Father whatever of earthly bliss thy sovereign will denies accepted at thy throne of grace let this petition rise give me a calm and a thankful heart from every murmur free the blessings of thy grace impart and make me live for thee those are not human words well they're human words but they don't come from human reasoning they don't come from the flesh they don't come from the fall of Adam and Eve these are the words of the redeemed of a person who is willing to take from the hand of the father whatever he gives and even to say father whatever of earthly bliss thy sovereign will denies it's a heart submitted to God with a petition that rises from a thankful heart a calm and thankful heart from every murmur free not grumbling not complaining but thankful and saying the blessings of thy grace impart make me live for thee last week
I preached what I think is an important sermon I mean I think the difference between obeying what
God teaches us from John chapter 6 1 to 14 and not obeying is pretty well the difference between living a life of misery and a life of happiness so that's pretty important right the difference between misery and happiness the one who would live a happy life is the one who understands who
God is sees him as Jehovah Jireh the great provider and gives thanks to God and is appreciative of the very small things of life from the grass that the people sat down on to eat the meal to the provision of food day in and day out every single day every good and perfect gift coming from the father of lights who does not change like shifting shadows the person of a thankful heart lives with gratitude and therefore joy but the miserable person is the one who tries to control life who tries to control everything although living in a fallen world we have very little control and there are many things that we cannot control so that was the lesson last week and this week we just continue with that and the attention in the text turns from the miracle of Jesus and the feeding of the 5 ,000 by which he is shown to be
Jehovah Jireh Jesus is God in flesh that's how he multiplies bread to care for his people it moves from the emphasis upon Jesus doing the miracle to the response of the people and the attention in the following verses is upon the crowd and even to the depths of their heart the motives of the crowd in following Jesus because they're going to now follow him wherever he goes but it's not a genuine following of faith it is a controlling spirit so let's turn to John chapter 6 verses 15 to 35 just as Ann Steele thought about life completely contrary to the thinking of fallen human nature because fallen human nature seeks to control everything we now turn to Jesus who actually controls the storms and can walk upon the seas and we'll see he controls salvation he is fully in control and we as followers of Christ need to learn to surrender to that control to submit to him to yield and trust and rest in the sovereign control of our
God who is Jesus so from John 6 verse 15 to 35 notice the control of the people as they seek to take
Jesus and make him king but I want you to notice one other thing somewhere in the text we'll get a summary of the miracle that Jesus did hint it comes in verse 23 as we read verses 15 to 35 perceiving then that they were about to come and take him and by force to make him king
Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself when evening came his disciples went down to the sea got into a boat and started across the sea of Capernaum it was now dark and Jesus had not yet come to them the sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing when they had rowed about three or four miles they saw
Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat and they were frightened but he said to them it is
I do not be afraid then they were glad to take him into the boat and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going on the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples but that his disciples had gone away alone other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the
Lord had given thanks there's your summary of the miracle it's called the giving of thanks so when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there nor his disciples they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum seeking
Jesus when they found him on the other side of the sea they said to him
Rabbi when did you come here? Jesus answered them truly truly
I say to you you are seeking me not because you saw signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures to eternal life which the
Son of Man will give to you for on him God the Father has set his seal then they said to him what must we do to be doing the works of God?
Jesus answered them this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent so they said to him then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you?
what work do you perform? our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness as it is written he gave them bread from heaven to eat
Jesus then said to them truly truly I say to you it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven but my father gives you the true bread from heaven for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world they said to him sir give us this bread always
Jesus said to them I am the bread of life whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst this is a clash between fallen human nature which desires to control
Jesus and to control life and Jesus who is sovereign over all who is the bread of life who offers true satisfaction and living water the struggle for control
Jesus being in perfect control is offering them something that they can only take by not striving by not earning by coming to rest in him to believe in him this is the message of the passage notice in verse 15 the struggle is introduced in the desire of the people it says notice the language take make force do you see that they're seeking control they're not submitted to the king of kings and the lord of lords rather they seek to take him they seek to force him they seek to make him king little do they know he needs no help from them to make him a king he has always been the king of kings and the lord of lords he never changes he's the same yesterday, today and forever he was there before the world was formed fashioning it by the word of his power and he upholds all things by the word of his power he is king and submission needs to be the other way around them to him not he to they notice what they understood in verse 14 they understood by the miracle that they themselves witnessed that he was the prophet he does miracles like Moses did at the end of Deuteronomy chapter 34 there are no prophets like Moses who did the signs and wonders in Egypt except there is coming a prophet a greater prophet one like Moses Deuteronomy 18 15 to 20 and this prophet comes from God and you must listen to everything he has to say look at verse 14 when the people saw the sign that he had done they said this is indeed the prophet they get that much he's the prophet sent from God furthermore in verse 15 they desire for him to be their king they're not willing to wait on the
Lord but they recognize him as king so they get that he's a prophet they get that he's a king which aspect of the threefold anointing over Messiah are they missing?
Messiah means anointed one in the Old Testament there were three anointed offices and someone just called it out good job it is the priest
Jesus is prophet, priest, and king all three were anointed offices in the
Old Testament and it turns out that Jesus fulfills all of them in himself Samuel was a prophet he was also a priest but he was not a king
David was a prophet according to Peter in Acts chapter 2 verse 30 I believe it is Peter identifies
David as a prophet and David is a king but David is not a priest the coming
Messiah will unite in one person Jesus Christ all three offices of prophet, priest, and king they're missing something here they're putting the cart before the horse if you will because they recognize he's a prophet and they want him to be king but they are not submitting to his work as a priest where is it promised that the king will also be a priest where should they have gone to know this information and what are they missing what is priestly work first of all priestly work is intercession in Hebrews chapter 1 when the son is introduced in the past God spoke to the prophets at various times but in these last days he's spoken through his son he's the radiance of God's glory the exact representation of his being listen to what the author of Hebrews says after providing purification for sins he sat down at the right hand of the father in heaven the right hand of the majesty the sitting down of the king at the right hand of the father answer is a reference to Psalm 110 we need to go there to understand the prophet, the priest, and the king so turn back to Psalm 110 this verse of the
Bible Psalm 110 verse 1 is the most quoted Old Testament verse in the
New Testament the most quoted very regularly in Hebrews but likewise
Jesus in Matthew 22 will confound the Pharisees with this question the Lord says to my
Lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool to whom is
David referring? how can the son of David be the Lord of David?
what does the psalmist mean? the Lord that is Yahweh tetragrammaton the four letters
YHWH says to my Lord that is Adonai sit at my right hand well this is clearly kingly language this speaks of the
Messiah as king in fact look at verse 2 Psalm 110 verse 2 says the Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter that is the ruling staff as in Genesis 49 10 the scepter will not depart from Judah and from Judah came the king
David and a son of David the king will reign but as you read on with this kingly language in verse 3 the people offering themselves to the king verse 4 of Psalm 110 indicates that the coming
Messiah the king is also a priest
Psalm 110 verse 4 this is kind of like Jesus saying truly truly verily verily here there is an oath to indicate the importance of what's about to be said it reiterates the strength
God does not tell a lie everything he says is true but by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie he doubles down and reiterates something that needs to be heard and remembered and just like the truly truly or the amen amen in Psalm 110 verse 4 it says the
Lord has sworn you think you better listen and will not change his mind it's an unchangeable thing this is the word of the
Lord and you better pay attention the coming king the Lord is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek now wouldn't it be fun to do a whole sermon on the priesthood of Christ we did that in the book of Hebrews as we expounded on Hebrews 7 but suffice it to say here that there are three places in the
Bible where Melchizedek appears the first is in Genesis 14 the second is in Psalm 110 at the middle of the
Bible so beginning middle and then at the end of the Bible Hebrews Melchizedek appears again in the first instance in Genesis 14 you have
Abraham returning from war and one named Melchizedek whose name
Melchi righteousness I mean king Zedek righteousness the king of righteousness appears to Abraham and we're told he is a priest of the most high
God from Salem which later would be called the peace of Jeru Salem he's from Salem so he is a king of righteousness and a prince of peace and a priest of the most high
God this Melchizedek appears to Abraham and Abraham tithes to him indicating that this
Melchizedek is greater than Abraham because the tithe is given upward likewise
Melchizedek blesses Abraham which again indicates the superiority of Melchizedek to Abraham because the blessing is given downward but make note of this that when
Melchizedek appears to Abraham he comes bringing bread and wine remember the miracle of John chapter 6 the multiplying of the bread and later in the chapter
Jesus will explain that he is the bread from heaven and he is the true drink that we are to eat his body and drink his blood for his flesh is true bread his blood is true drink and this saying was too hard for them to accept they weren't understanding the prophetic implications of Melchizedek in Psalm 110 we're told the coming
Messiah will be a priest according to the order of Melchizedek like Melchizedek it could be that Melchizedek himself was pre -incarnate
Jesus appearing to Abraham or it could be that he was a priest man who was prefiguring the
Christ but in either case the order of Melchizedek indicates that this
Melchizedek reveals something of the coming priest and in Hebrews chapter 7 all of these things are brought together the images
I just talked about plus the fact of his indestructible life Melchizedek comes out of nowhere in the text and after two verses he's gone in the same way
Jesus has an indestructible life says the author of Hebrews he lives forever as the priest he is the true promised priest so here's where we are in John chapter 6 all that to say in John chapter 6 verse 15 the people are not believing in Jesus we're going to see later on that they are quote unquote seeking
Jesus but they have not come to believe in him as the
Messiah with a full understanding that he is not only the prophet who speaks for God not only the king that will come and reign and make things right but firstly before he reigns he must do his work as the priest of God they would install him as king now and to their own demise they would be destroyed because if he's the righteous king and they're still in their sins then by the breath of his mouth he will slay the wicked
Isaiah 11 and they would fall with everybody else they need a priest before they can have a king and the same is true of us church unless we're cleansed of our sins we cannot stand in the kingdom we would have no part in the kingdom we cannot bring our sin into the kingdom so the priest must first serve us to wash us and cleanse us of our sin these crowds liked the fact that he fed them and so they were drawing near and they're actually following him now but it is not true conversion because they have not come to believe in him as their priest and what is the sacrifice of the priest through all those years of the old testament it was the blood of bulls and goats which never took away sin but this priest will come and lay down not the life of a substitute animal but his own life as the lamb of God he himself will lay down on the cross and be slain to be sacrificed for sins he is both the priest the high priest who stands between man and God and the sacrifice he is the very lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world all of this is in Psalm 110 his priestly work is necessary and they seek to skip it what is their desire in verse 15 this is important it is to control to come and take by force and make him king they are trying to control
Jesus they have not come to submit to him in all of his work on their behalf they still seek to control things this is the problem of Israel and this is the human problem that's only overcome by grace the kind of grace that Anne Steele found in her life turn back with me to 1st
Samuel chapter 8 in a crucial parallel passage to what we're seeing here the people demand a king 1st
Samuel chapter 8 it was
God's right to reign as king over Israel but the people did not trust his reign and the theocracy that was
Israel they wanted to be like the nations why? so they felt safe so they could control their lives they wouldn't be overrun by enemies if we only had a king he would fight our battles for us they said but Samuel says no
God is your king and they say no appoint a king for us give us a king and of course they get
Saul and then David replaces Saul Solomon will begin to wander from righteousness and his own son
Rehoboam will become a tyrant a dictator at the very beginning of Rehoboam's reign he'll say my pinky finger is thicker than my father's thigh he demanded a lot of you you think he was tough
I'll whip you with scorpions he was a dictator he was authoritarian well this is just what
God said would happen and it was Samuel's job to deliver that news look at 1st
Samuel chapter 8 verse 10 and following this is what happens when you demand a king
Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him he said these will be the ways of the king who will reign over you he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots he will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers he will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants he will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officials his officers and his servants he will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys and put them to his work he will take the tenth of your flocks and you shall be his slaves and in that day you will cry out because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves but the lord will not answer you in that day did you notice the refrain that repeated again and again in that passage he will take he will take he will take he will take he'll take your sons he'll take your daughters he'll take your grain and your donkeys your servants he will take from you this king is no servant to them he is one who makes them slaves of him yet their desire is to control their own destiny and so they desire a king verse 19 they say no they refuse to believe this no but there shall be a king over us so they're demanding a king it is the nature of man in our fallen flesh to seek to control everything but what happens when people reject the theocracy of god that is the rule of god over all the earth because all of the earth is his what happens when people reject that they still desire something over them because they're aware that they're not in control they can't stop the surrounding hordes from coming into israel they can't control their lives they want someone to provide for them and so if god is rejected the next highest power that's left to man is government in israel it was a king we are blessed to live in a country that understands the three -fold ministry of christ being formed on this principle where there is a judiciary a legislative branch and an executive branch but not ruled by a messiah in the flesh there is an understanding of human nature that we must balance out power not putting too much power in anyone's hands lest you have a tyrant but the problem in a democracy of that nature is that if likewise god is rejected now the people in democracy will elect for themselves rulers in all of the branches who will grant them what they demand and so john adams said that this experiment that is america was made for a religious and immoral people and apart from that this system is wholly inadequate and some other political commentators some think it might have been alexis de toqueville it could also have been alexander frazier titler said a democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government it can only exist until the people discover they can vote themselves largesse out of the public treasury from that moment on the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy to be followed by dictatorship pierre courtier was a french huguenot do you know that there's still huguenots around in france protestant christians that date back to the reformation this one died in 2009 but he said listen the worship of moloch mentioned several times in holy scripture the worship rendered to the state as god to the welfare state the totalitarian state has always required complete and total control over men that is their servitude and when it so desires their complete and total sacrifice the reader would do well to turn again to first samuel 8 verses 10 to 18 which announces in a rather moderate fashion what will eventually happen to the people who rejected the supreme reign of god in favor of that of a man or a state well if this was the fate of israel rejecting god as king where do we stand here in the united states of america it appears from second thesalonians chapter two that there is a coming apostasy that as the last days arrive and we're told by paul that in the last days there will be difficult days he's describing the end times these difficult days will be characterized by a return to dictatorship the rise of an authoritarian state because if you don't have god as the king you're left with government as the next highest authority which will gain more and more power listen church that will eventually become the one world government of the beast as that power is seated over to a king a pseudo king who offers to bring peace to the world and offers to unite all things in the world under his reign do we know that this will happen in our generation no we don't because the restrainer is still here the holy spirit until he's taken out of the way he may continue to restrain evil and that's part of why we as the church who have the holy spirit are to be salt and light preservatives to the culture and to fight back against this rising beast system but recognize that this is the course of events described in the bible for the end times it is in accordance with the human nature to try to control things and rejecting god to grant that authority to a king to a dictator and so that's where we are today when our senate this week is debating a respect for marriage act a complete reversal of both the words respect and marriage notice that people are clamoring for an authority higher than self but rejecting god they want government to do it it must be the government to bless these marriages which are no marriages at all when a pandemic runs through the earth the impulse of those who have fear and cannot control the outcome of this pandemic is to turn to the state and ask the state to protect them and if it happened once with covid what would keep it from happening again with whatever the next tragedy is or the next fearful occurrence without god people become statists they turn to government to be their god and we'll have to move quick through john 6 because I got really worked up there and went down a long rabbit trail but it's an important one because what we see in john chapter 6 verse 15 is this clamoring for a king but notice how it comes full circle they don't know that the king that they're clamoring for is so much more and so much better than they want him to be
Israel rejected god to ask for a king and here the king that they're looking at is actually god the king of kings the lord of lords he is god in flesh and so much more than they know he is the prophet the priest and the king so in verse 15 while they seek to control him the disciples are out at sea when evening came his disciples went down to the sea got into a boat and started across the sea to capernium now notice john's language here that imagery of jesus as the light of the world and darkness and night when judas betrays jesus john will say and it was night here it says it was now dark
Matthew tells us this is actually the fourth watch of the night so between 3 a .m. and 6 a .m.
it's night it's dark jesus had not yet come i think john writing those words is looking for the second coming of christ and reminding the reader hey times are dark we're being persecuted put to death by the emperors the christians are on the run and jesus has not yet come here we are in the world that's turning darker and darker and it says here in verse 16 when evening came his disciples went down to the sea got in the boat started across the sea it was dark jesus had not yet come the sea became rough life was rough for and steel and maybe life is rough for you and some disappointment in your life or something you can't control some disease some sickness some disappointment some pain the disciples were in a bind here a strong wind was blowing but now the second major point first point was about control the second point is about jesus who is in control look at him when they had rode about three or four miles that's actually about halfway across the sea of galilee which is eight miles wide so they're right stuck in the middle of it they saw jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat and they were frightened my brother went for a kayaking trip with this buddy tom and when they went out it looked like a beautiful day but when they got a couple miles out on a long kayak out into the ocean the gulf of mexico kind of crazy out there my little brother's adventurous in rolled a storm and one of these storms that florida alone has where lightning flashes every few seconds they knew they couldn't make it back to shore so they saw a little island when they got to that island they realized it was only mangroves and the land under the water was six inches six inches underwater so they left their kayaks and they they swam away and they were laying in the water with lightning bolts flashing all around them you imagine that they were terrified somehow they avoided getting killed by the power of lightning they got back in their boats after the storm passed and they rode their way back to shore imagine the fear of these disciples they have 12 baskets of bread because they each picked up leftovers 12 disciples 12 leftover baskets reminders of the miracles that they'd seen but now those baskets in the boat are getting wet and the bread is all soggy and they think they're going to die their minds are on survival and trying to get out of this situation when all of a sudden they see
Jesus walking on water they get their eyes off of their circumstances and they look at him and Matthew tells us more about how
Peter will get out of the boat and go for a while and then sink and Jesus will help him up but the point here and John is they get their eyes on Jesus and that's when they're terrified when they see the holiness of one who can walk on water it says and they were frightened and Jesus says to them it is
I do not be afraid church you can't control your life you're a completely dependent being you can't control the oxygen that you need to get into your lungs to survive for one more minute it comes from outside of you from God you are fully dependent on God and here he says to you it is
I do not be afraid what do we have to fear if we have him and he gets in the boat and that changes everything they're very happy it seems to welcome him in to the boat they were glad to take him in and notice immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going do you suppose that that was instantaneous or a figure of speech
I think immediately actually in the Greek here communicates a miraculous speed of light travel from the center of the sea of Galilee to the shore and it made me think how did
Jesus get out to the ocean out to the sea I should say did he take a three hour stroll from the mountain and just walked on the water very slowly he very well could have done that but just as easily he could have traveled at the speed of light from the top of the mountain to the sea and certainly in Acts chapter 8 it looks like Philip experienced the same phenomenon point being we are dealing with one who can do anything he's
God he has absolute control he can immediately remove the disciples from their troubling situation and bring him straight to shore don't you think he can bring you to that eternal shore as well in the blink of an eye a snap of a finger everything that you so dread the clouds you so much dread are big with mercy and shall break with blessings on your head
God moves in mysterious ways he's God he can do everything he walks on water this is the point he's under control he has your situation under control and the
Christian is the one who has come to understand that quickly the third point this crowd here from verses 22 to 26 they're seeking
Jesus the Bible tells us but they don't know him in fact they're seeking is only of him for what they hope he'll give them they're seeking bread from him notice it's not a genuine faith that they have and this is a theme that will come out through John as we study there are those who follow him that are not truly disciples false converts here the crowd is depicted that way it says they're seeking
Jesus do you see that in verse 24 verse 26 is probably the most terrifying truly truly in the
Bible remember the truly truly's that's amen amen it's mentioned 25 times in the book of John and that's the only place where we have it recorded for us what is the meaning of the amen amen you better listen this is important pay attention don't be drowsy wake up amen amen truly truly but here's what he says this time earlier he said you must be born again
I am the bread he'll say here he says you are seeking me not because you saw signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves now that's terrifying because Jesus can speak as certainly truly truly to the motivation of your heart think about that he knows with absolute certainty truly truly the thoughts and intentions of your heart not just your actions not just what other people see and not even what you know about yourself he truly truly knows why you do what you do this is the language fit for God alone to know your heart and here he knows that their hearts are not genuinely seeking
Christ they only want the blessings of a king they only want to be provided for they have not come to believe in him and to rest in him and to trust him so then lastly in verses 27 to 35 we have
Jesus' answer to this which is surprising to them he says do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures to eternal life which the son of man will give you for on him
God the father has set his seal the seal the signet ring was the stamp of authority and the father has given his stamp of authority on the son that whatever the son says he speaks for God he has the seal and he's been sealed that the father recognizes the son in verse 28 then they said to him well what must we do to be doing the works of God and here church is the difference between a person seeking to control life and earn from God and the one who has come to believe in the son of God and rests in the work that God does for us this is the most important thing in the world because every religion in the world teaches the same thing you have to do this do that follow these rules and these commandments earn from God but look what it says and this is a key verse, verse 29
Jesus answered them this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent in Christianity alone we do not work to earn from God but it is the work of God that we are saved it's his work on our behalf his grace toward us what he has done and we come to believe and rest in that work now there is debate at verse 29 as to the meaning of this is the work of God some teachers from the
Armenian tradition which was about a hundred years after the reformation teach that here we have referenced a work of believing namely a godly work that you must do in other words here's what
God demands of you to do you have to dig down deep inside of yourself and make yourself believe faith has to come from you it's your work and God will judge the world based on whether you're able to generate that some interpret the work of God that way this is answering the question what must we do
Jesus says this is what you do the godly kind of work that you do is to believe but I want you to see something in the text that's not how the crowd understood him they understood him to be saying this is the work of God meaning this is what
God alone can do for you think of this when Nicodemus came to Jesus at night he asked the good teacher to explain the way to heaven and Jesus said you must be born again and he was taken aback by this
I can't I can't do that I can't be what am I going to crawl back inside my mom and be born a second time
Jesus says the wind blows where it wishes no one knows where it's coming from or going you need to be born from above you need this wind of God this work of God in your life and Nicodemus could not get his mind around that look now in the text verse 30 they said to him then what sign do you do do you see that that we may see and believe you they're recognizing they need faith to come from him to them they need a demonstration they need evidence they need to see something that would cause them to simply believe in fact they go on to say what work do you perform you see that there is a work that they need him to do and so they turn and they actually offer a suggestion here in verse 31 which
I find interesting they're like hey our fathers ate the man in the wilderness as it is written he gave them bread from heaven to eat they're still hung up on that food thing they're thinking about the food they're hungry maybe somebody here is their stomach is growling like you're thinking about lunch they can't stop thinking about the food they got free food for 40 years that would be a pretty
I'm just suggesting here you know that'd be a pretty good miracle if that's how you want to prove it to us we can eat as it is written he gave them bread from heaven to eat they even quote
Nehemiah 9 15 Jesus then said to them and here it is church truly truly the first truly truly was to the heart of man exposing their hypocrisy and their need to control him here he says
I say to you this is what they need to do they need to listen to him he's the prophet listen to the prophet
I say to you it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven but my father gives you the true bread from heaven and then he explicitly says for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world
I don't think they understand because later we'll see that they don't in verse 34 they say well sir give us this bread always ships in the night here talking about two different things and so Jesus in verse 35 said to them can't miss this
I am the bread of life whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst he's offering them by his word himself and he's presenting himself as the sign he himself the bread of life offered to them to believe in fact there's a play here on that Nehemiah 9 15 they said back in verse 31 he gave them bread from heaven to eat that verse goes on to say that they would never be hungry and they would never thirst so now he claims to be the bread from heaven and he says you believe in me you'll never hunger and you'll never thirst amazing but what does it say in closing in application church what does that say to you and to I this morning as we hear the word of the
Lord Romans chapter 4 verse 5 says to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly his faith is counted as righteousness what are you to do nothing there's nothing you can do you can bring nothing to God but your sin you have nothing to offer him to make you worthy in his eyes you can bring no work you cannot control this salvation in fact you can't even make yourself believe you are here helpless before a holy
God and his word comes to you sharpen the two -edged sword so that you would fall before his word beat your chest and say
I am a sinner have mercy on me you have nothing to bring nothing you could do no work can earn or bribe or change him he's
God but to the one who believes in him who justifies the ungodly his faith is credited as righteousness here's what you need to do only believe take him at his word where does that come from it comes from him it says here in Titus 3 .5
he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness but according to his own mercy you can't save yourself but you can turn to the word you can read his word and say have mercy on me
Lord I believe help my unbelief faith comes by hearing hearing by the word of God you can read the word and beg for mercy it's by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the
Holy Spirit you need that done to you by him you need a savior and that's who
Jesus is lastly you simply need to rest this is what the sabbath was all about why was there so much emphasis on the sabbath in the
Old Testament and then the debates in the gospels between Jesus and the Pharisees why the sabbath what is so important about this sabbath so then there remains a sabbath rest for the people of God but what does that mean for whoever has entered
God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his the sabbath of God the creation of the world in six days and God resting on the seventh was a picture for us to teach us to rest in Christ to stop your striving stop trying to control everything or anything because you can do nothing apart from him it's to rest from your religious work your self effort to save yourself it is to come to Christ and simply come and take what he has done for you do you see how that's rest it's not what you do it's not what you control it's to believe him for what he has done this is evangelicalism this is gospel this is the heart of Christianity this is grace the work of God on our behalf the bread of life offered to you if you only believe let's pray father as we read these words we can sort of sympathize with the crowd because here we are in a world where terrible things happen all the time people fall off horses and are paralyzed someone drowns on their wedding day debilitating diseases and pain and suffering and loneliness and hurt and it is the human nature to try to control things
God but this morning Lord I pray for those who are restless my heart was restless till it found its rest in thee
I pray that you will let them enter into a Sabbath rest in Christ Jesus Jesus paid it all
Jesus died the death that we deserve and he rose from the dead and he is seated at the right hand of the majesty in heaven so father we pray that you would grant to us today faith to believe help us to look at Jesus as the bread of life the living water and come to him if there's anyone here today that is not yet trusted in Christ I pray that they would look at Christ and be saved give the gift of faith
Lord repentance of sin turning to Christ and father for myself and for all of us in this room who have come to believe that Jesus is the
Christ we pray that we would trust Christ more implicitly that we would stop trying to control everything around us that we simply cannot control that we would rest in Christ and look to the one who walks on water the one who moves a boat from point