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Sing aloud to God our strength.
242 He has brought us hitherto.
He will bring us home at length. This the Lord our God will do.
242.
Great, our God and our Father we.
Thank you for this opportunity once again to have thy precious word before our souls. We know all the ingredients are here and uh.
Yes, we are, uh, cast only to, uh, take those things and make them into, if it were a loaf, something we can get a hold of, something we can take with us, something to nourish our souls, to build us up, to sustain us in the wilderness. And so we look to thee for the guidance and direction leading of the Holy Spirit and this, uh, 6th chapter of the, uh, book of John.
And, uh, we pray that the Lord Jesus might be ever more exalted in our hearts and our thoughts and, uh, that, uh, thy love and thy grace and all thy ways, uh, that shine out so perfectly and might be brought home, uh, more closely to our souls. And so we just, uh, commit this time to the now and just looking to the expectations.
Our God and our Father, and the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We ask it.
Reading in John chapter 6.
Do I begin at first? Go ahead, go ahead. Would it be in order to perhaps read the entire chapter? Because I noticed this morning there was reference quite often to later in the chapter.
Especially with respect to the work of Christ, the fact that He's our Passover.
You up to that John, starting at verse 15 or I would start at verse 14 if that's OK.
John chapter 6, starting with verse 14.
Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said this is of a truth, that prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a king.
He departed again into a mountain, himself alone, and one even was now calm. His disciples went down onto the sea, and entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum, and it was now dark, and Jesus would not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. So when they had rode about 5 and 20 or 30 furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea and drawing nigh unto the ship. They were afraid. But he saith unto them, It is I be not afraid.
Then they willingly received Him into the ship, and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went the day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there save that one where unto His disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples were gone away alone. Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberius nigh unto the place where they did eat bread. After that the Lord had given death.
When 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 unto him, Rabbi, when cometh thou hit her? Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me, not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
Labor knob for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life.
Which the Son of man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed.
Then said they UN. Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the work of God, of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the true work of God, that you believe on him whom he hath sent.
They said therefore unto him, What signs show us thou then, that we may see and believe thee? What dost thou work our fathers to eat manna in the desert, as it is written? He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, 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.
00:05:22
Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, 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, for I came down from heaven not to do my own will.
But the will of Him that sent me, and this is the Father's will which He had sent me, which had sent me, that of all which He had given me, I should lose nothing. I should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone would see it. The Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him off at the last day. The Jews then murmured at him, because He said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
And they say it is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know.
How is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and said unto them.
Remember not among yourselves, No man can come to Me except the Father which hath sent Him. Draw with except the Father which had sent Me. Draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets, and they shall be taught of God. Every man, therefore, that had heard, hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. Not that any man hath seen the Father, say he which is of God, he has seen the Father.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your Father's did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh.
Which I will give for the life of the world.
The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus saith unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is Drake indeed.
He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in Him.
As the living Father had sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your Father should eat manna. And our Dad, he that eateth of his bread, shall live forever. These things, said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.
Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying, who can hear it? But Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it. He said unto them, Thought this offend you?
What and if you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the Spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profited nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not, For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were, but believe not, and who should betray Him? And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except that were given unto him of my Father.
From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus, unto the 12 Will you go? Will you also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?
Thou has the words of eternal life, and we believe in our shores that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you? 12 And one of you is a devil, he spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for here was that should betray him, being one of the 12.
00:10:09
Uh, no doubt we have a picture here of the.
Of the Lord, as was mentioned this morning in his priestly service, we departed into a mountain, Himself alone.
Well aware of what the disciples were battling with on the uh, on the Sea of Galilee, encountering uh.
Contrary winds and storms.
The Lord was aware of that. Uh, and, uh, the picture of the Lord's intercession for us at God's right hand. He's our great high priest.
Umm, serving us there in, uh, ironic character. That's an intercessory priesthood which we need every step of our earthly pathway down here. We won't need that priesthood in the glory. It will come to an end, although the Lord will continue a priesthood of a Melchizedek pattern throughout the Millennium. But here I think it's a picture of the the Lord's service as.
High Priest, It was dark, it was contrary to them. They were, uh, might say, at their wits end and, uh, the great wind blowing and, uh, they thought they would be, uh, shipwrecked, but uh, in the time of their crisis in the.
Man's, uh, extremity as God's opportunity. And the Lord came down and walked on the water and draw and drew night to the ship, and comforted, exhorted, uh, met them in their deep need. Well, the Lord does the same for us. He is, umm, there at the right hand of God, exalted, glorified, but He is in manhood there. And, uh, He carries on that priestly work for us.
Not to restore us from sin, that's his advocacy, but to support us in our weakness, our infirmity. He understands fully about us and He's able to, uh, strengthen us for the journey.
He understands us perfectly.
And sympathizes too, as our great high priest, not with our sins, we're not, we're not, we don't want sympathy for that. We want to judge that unsparingly. But, uh, the Lord's, uh, intercession is to, uh, support and to strengthen us, uh, in the wilderness journey.
I just think it's lovely to see how the Lord Jesus, he has, uh, a great compassion for the multitudes and seeks their good. But we find too, that He had the disciples on his heart and He could see them in their adverse circumstances in the midst of a storm.
And it's wonderful to contemplate the Lord Jesus at the present time, as you say, as our intercessor, the ever lives to make intercession for us.
And we find ourselves in difficult circumstances. Let's not forget the Lord Jesus knows all about what's taking place.
And he intercedes on our behalf.
It's often been said, but I think it's worth repeating, that he does have our best interests at heart.
All the time.
And the fact that he comes to them.
Walking on the water.
Shows that he has everything in his control.
It's not limited by the forces or of.
Nature. The laws of gravity.
Because of who he is, Son of God.
They knew that, uh.
There was a coming day.
And a coming Kingdom that was going to be set up from the Old Testament prophetic scriptures. And in a certain sense, this crowd is more intelligent than many Christians today who deny that fact that the Lord is going to come and set up his Kingdom and power and glory in this world. And Israel will be restored and be the head of the nations and not the tail. And they knew that, but they didn't believe.
00:15:22
He was the Christ.
That's the difference. Looking back in Deuteronomy in the 18th chapter, we find who they did think he was.
Deuteronomy chapter 18.
Moses speaking to the people.
In verse 15.
The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thy brethren like unto me, unto him ye shall hearken. And so they knew there was.
A profit coming who is going to be like Moses? Well, Moses had, uh, as they looked at it, fed them in the wilderness, provided for them. The Lord brings out that it wasn't Moses, but it was God the Father that had provided. So they had that expectation, the other, uh, scripture, uh, that might go along with that, that they would have known as 132nd Psalm.
Call 132 and verse 13.
For the Lord hath chosen Zion, He hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever. Here will I dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless your provision. I will satisfy her poor with bread. And so they were surmising. Well, look at this miracle.
There must be time for the Kingdom to be set up. This is that profit that Moses talked about. Let's make him the king.
And they would have taken him by force and made him a king. You know earlier in John's Gospel they come to John's the Baptist, and they say, art thou to Christ? He said, no, I'm not. Art thou Elias, I Elias? Art thou that prophet then? No, not the prophet. They didn't see that the prophet Moses was Speaking of was the same person as the Christ.
They thought it was a different person and so, and they're saying this is that profit. They're really denying that he's the Christ.
One might suppose it's an abundant honor to be going on on him, but really they're they're not believing who he really is, who he's been saying he is.
And so they wanna take him and buy the their own force and power. They're going to put him at the top of their system. And you know, that's just how it is in Christianity Today. They've taken Jesus Christ and they've put him at the top of their system and said this is the perfect man. And Christianity is all about getting us to the place where we can be like this perfect man. And we're all capable of getting there because we have a perfect example of humanity.
Crowning our system to aspire to.
The flesh profiteth nothing, and he would not take that. They'd love to make him an ornament on their system, even if it was the chief one. He would not take that place. The Kingdom is going to be the Kingdom of God, not man. That Christ will be the center of it and will reign over and will establish in this world, and God will bring it in. No effort.
Of man is ever going to bring in that Kingdom. Another great fallacy of professing Christianity, to think that through the force of men, Christian men and women in this world, that the Kingdom is going to be brought in. No, that would still be a Kingdom of men, not of God.
It was so easy for us to allow circumstances to, uh, be cloud the, uh, presence of the Lord and uh.
To look at circumstances.
In our lives, we're getting that the Lord orders our circumstances.
Circumstances do not produce our state of soul, but they surely manifest it when a difficulty comes into our lives. And, uh, we're not in communion with the Lord, we're not depending on Him. We, we cannot understand the dis dispensation in our lives.
00:20:17
Everyone, I'm sure, in the company here this afternoon has circumstances that you cannot understand. You have an answer to that.
Uh, you must look to the Lord, He is, he is behind the scenes, moving all the scenes that he is behind. And if God be for us, who can be against us? But you know, we're unbelieving believers and no matter how many times the Lord has delivered us, you come to another, uh.
Crisis in our lives and we go down, we don't realize that the Lord is ordering, uh, those circumstances if we turn over to, uh.
Uh, Psalm 32.
32.
Verse 7 Thou art my hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.
I will instruct the and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine. I ye not as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle. Thus they come near unto thee.
Well, sometimes the bit and bridle are used of God to umm, to speak to us and umm, we need to, uh, take our.
Circumstances from the Lord, our difficulties to the Lord and if we're in communion with him, we, uh, we can see that he is doing the best for us every day of our lives according to our state of soul.
So before the Lord does set up the Kingdom, before He brings it in, what takes place in these few verses must take place before that day.
And so it's been brought out. The Lord is on high right now at this place of intercession.
And what is the yet unfold in this world is a storm called the Great Tribulation.
And there is going to be a little company of the faithful that, uh, battle through that storm and they're going to roll hard.
A little company, a little remnant of Israel, and they're going to roll hard in that storm and they're not going to make very much progress at all.
But there's gonna be progress in their souls.
Even though there's not progress in an outward way, they're going to be very afflicted, they're going to be poor, they're going to be persecuted. In many martyr Satan is the Prince and power of the air, and he's the one that stirs that storm up all ordered of God and what he's doing and preparation to bring that Kingdom in.
Lord has his eye on that little remnant, but they don't see the Lord.
They're unaware He's hidden. We have some scriptures, uh, that were brought before us from the Psalms. We apply them to ourselves, but they're really the echo of the remnant, asking why is the Lord forsaken and when will I see the Lord? When will I come into his presence?
Where is the Lord? They say unto me continually, Where is thy God? And that's going to be the taunt to the remnant going through this storm. But the Lord has his eye on them and all that they pass through.
And finally, at the end, he's going to appear.
For their salvation and their blessing. But you know at first his appearance as the lightning shines out of the East, even unto the West, and is a confirmation for the whole world. It's going to be for that little remnant at first too.
Disappearing is going to almost seem to add to the trouble. What is this that's going on?
But you know he's going to make himself known to that little remnant. And so here the Lord comes after they had made so little progress.
00:25:07
Their long-awaited Messiah appears. They see Jesus walking on the sea drawing now, but they are afraid the glory of his appearing just adds to their situation that seems to be so against them.
He saith unto them, It is I be not afraid. And he is going to make himself known to that little remnant. And the moment He does, they're going to arrive at the place that they have been so struggling to come to and could never get to by the their own efforts. He's going to bring it in and they're going to be safely at land.
All that has to take place before he is reigning on the throne? Asked King.
I was just thinking too, it's kind of a sample of the two different ways or a contrast, I guess I should say, the two different ways of the Lord coming here. Because these people thought, well, we can take the Lord and through force that through violence and through overthrow of a government, we can make him into a king. And umm, as you were saying, Mr. Stewart, to make him the head of their organization or their system. And that was not going to be the way that the Lord, uh, came to his people. He was not going to come.
And make a big crowd and a big violence and overthrow the government that was there so that he could reign. As you said, that would not be of God. But when he does come, what a contrast in verse 20. But he says unto them, it is I be not afraid. And so such a difference, not him coming and raising up a bunch of of angry citizens disgruntled with the government and trying to overthrow it by violence, but simply coming to his own and saying in his eyes, be not afraid.
It's important to see that the Church is not a moral force to build a better world. As our brother mentioned, this is the character of things in Christendom today, that umm, we are here to improve the world.
But brethren, we are completely separate from that whole system socially, uh, politically, religiously. Satan is the Prince of this world politically.
God of this world religiously.
And, uh, he, umm, controls things socially too. And so, uh.
Are the path of the believer is to be present from this, uh, uh, separate from this present evil world, not isolated were sent back into the world to be a testimony, but not to, uh, mix ourselves up with it and, uh, part of the, the system which, uh, God is going to judge.
Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out. And so, uh.
Umm, we are umm, left down here.
To be ambassadors for Christ. It's man's day and man's time of exaltation.
Umm and uh, where God is allowing man to uh, pres to uh, exalt himself.
And, uh, the whole, the whole, uh, principle is we don't want God in the system. We can do without him. And, uh, this is the, the character of the world that we are, we are in, it started with Cain and it's gone on and developed, uh, remarkably now, but we don't wanna get away from our chapter here too far. Umm.
The Lord.
Wasn't the time for the establishment of the Kingdom here the Lord goes on to speak of his death and his sacrifice. It's not a time for the, uh, establishing of the, the royal rule of Christ. That will come in its own time in the Millennium. But now the Lord speaks of, uh, of his death and, uh, what he must go through, uh.
In the uh.
The vanity of the flesh, the real the real condition of man and many of the disciples. You know, being a disciple doesn't mean that you are a genuine child of God. There were disciples here. A disciple is one who follows the teachings of Christ, but not all disciples are true believers. The Lord speaks of disciples indeed, because many of these in our chapter here.
00:30:22
When they heard these things.
That the flesh profited nothing, as the Lord says later on in our chapter. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. They didn't want that truth. They still thought there was something good in the first man and uh.
They re refused their Messiah. They refused that truth. Uh so that uh.
The Lord here and he's Speaking of the true, uh, the true nature of the of man and uh, his death eating his flesh and drinking his blood is really appropriating the sacrifice of Christ to my own need as a Sinner.
You know, we feed upon Christ in three ways, really. The manna is presented here, uh, in the Passover. So Christ is presented in those three ways as the Passover lamb, which is, uh, brought before us in this chapter. But he also mentions the mana, which is a picture of Christ in his pathway down here. Umm, we feed upon the manna.
And the Passover at the same time, because as we contemplate the perfect life of Christ down here, we are feeding upon the manna. We get that in the, uh, Gospels, especially its wilderness food. We don't need the manna in the glory, but we'll have the remembrance of, of walking with the Lord down here like the Whitestone. But then it comes to the old corn of the land. When they entered the land of Canaan, you remember the man has ceased. They no longer had mana in the land of Canaan.
They had the old corn of the land.
Now that comes out clearly in Joshua chapter 5. It doesn't mean that we no longer need, uh, the example and pattern of Christ before our souls as a man down here, but we are to know him in a different character now. We are to know Christ as exalted at the right hand of God. We are to feed upon him in that glorified condition. We know I'm now in a heavenly character.
That, uh, was not even known to the disciples at, at this, uh, time, this juncture here, they did not, uh, weren't able to apprehend Christ in that character. Remember that Mary was told not to touch the Lord.
Uh, touch me not, for I'm not yet ascended unto my father. Why was she told not to touch the Lord? Where the, uh, the women of Galilee took him by the feet and held onto him. But Mary, because in the Gospel of John, you see the character, it is introducing us now into a heavenly position, especially the upper room ministry from 13 to 17. It's bringing us into a heavenly character of things.
And therefore we don't dwell upon the Lord.
As a man down here to set up the Kingdom, we know I'm now in, in a, in a heavenly character, uh, by the Spirit of God, which uh, is developed in this book. And so the, the character of John's gospel is to bring us into the enjoyment of Christ in his heavenly character and our position with him there. That is the, the theme of the, uh, gospel of John.
And so, umm, all is the result of the work of Christ. But uh, just mentioning that the old corn of the land, uh, is Christ in resurrection. And they fed upon that when they got into the land of Canaan, the land of Canaan.
Is often referred to as a as a picture of the heaven.
Sometimes in relation to death, but really, uh, that is a very restricted view of Canaan. Uh, we now have the privilege of, uh, of entering into these heavenly things. This, uh, new position we have in Christ. We are in him before God. Brother mentioned this morning, eternal life. It's a different character to the life the Old Testament Saints had. It's a.
00:35:13
It's the same life, but it is a life in the intelligence of, uh, of our position as sons of God and our heavenly position. That is eternal life. Now that we enjoy the very life that Christ himself has and, uh, connected with, uh, our, uh, our position before God, which the Old Testament St. did not, uh, he did not enjoy. And so, uh.
The old corner of the land is a picture of our heavenly blessings and that, uh, that took place when they entered the land of Canaan. And the point is, I believe that we can enter into those things even now. God would have us to enter in and to enjoy heaven before we get there.
And you could see that because when they entered into the land of Canaan and there wasn't just the enjoyment, there was war.
Yeah, it was when they entered into the land of Cana Canaans when the battles began. And so it's a picture of heaven. Yes, but our enjoyment of it is now because we're not gonna be fighting battles when we're actually taken there. Correct. That's the, the, the conflict in the, uh, in the believers life actually, uh.
The old corn of the land would correspond with Ephesians chapter 6, where we have the conflict in order, not in order to possess those blessings. We have them already, but the conflict is to enjoy them. And Satan is, will oppose us at every step. And so Ephesians 6 is important to see. It's not the struggle of the flesh and the spirit. That's uh, Galatians, uh, five, but it's as our brother mentioned, the conflict to possess and enjoy.
What is ours, uh, in price as as raised with him?
We might see that.
Also in verse 21, because you know, as soon as they allowed him or welcomed him into the ship, they were immediately at their destination. So again, I can speak an application to me and be made to our experience that when we, uh, when we enjoy communion with the Lord, when we welcome into our ship, so to speak, we are immediately in the enjoyment of heaven.
I was thinking about the same point here and if we look at verse 16 to verse.
2021.
Uh, if we think about it about every verse verse 16 says and when even was now come the disciples went down onto the sea 17 and entered into the ship and went over seat over Capernaum and it was now dark and Jesus was not come to dance First we were entering and achieved and the Lord was Washington wasn't with them. And then it says and the and the CRO's by the reason of a great win that blew. So when they when they had wrote about 5 and 20 or 30 furlongs.
Which I was talking with Aaron here and it's around 4 miles. I mean, that's a pretty long distance to be rowing in the middle of the dark in the ocean. And if we see that they start rowing after the great wind chain. So they went to the to the to the sea when it was dark without the Lord, they entered the ship and then the wind came.
When they were already there.
And instead of saying, OK, let's go back, they kept growing like trying. I imagine what was happening in their minds were OK, we have a a storm here, we've got to get get out of here. And these are rowing and rolling for four miles. That's that's a pretty long way to go. And if we follow it, continue reading test.
And drawing light into the chip. And they were afraid.
But he said that to them it is I be not afraid. I like to think that all those four miles that they were rowing in the dark without seeing anything and with that storm that came after them before they before they start rowing. The Lord was working with them besides them all the time. They just didn't see them. They they just didn't see him because in verse 21 Says.
00:40:02
They, uh, then they will receive him to the ship and immediately the ship was at, was at the land, whether they went. So I was thinking and trying to associate with our life, with our or our own life. And he's in this, this early world. Uh, sometimes we go to the sea. We, we know that we don't supposed to go even even more if it's too dark and then we start.
It would get involved in a journey or some travel that we ourselves put in that spot to begin with, and then the trouble start to come. And instead of turning back to the Lord and asking for His health, we tried to, for our own means, get out of that, of that problem, of that situation. And the Lord is with us all the time. We just don't realize that He's there and we don't turn back to Him to ask for His help. And it's like a long way after we have been.
Struggling with that or with passing with that trouble, that 4 miles, I don't know how, how long in our life could be like days, weeks, months or years traveling with something. And then at the end we said, OK, Lord, I can do it anything. I, I just put this in your hands. And we receive the Lord and our chief in our life and we call him, we welcome him again and we asked him to take care of the problem and immediately.
We we can see that the Lord start asking our lives and all the problems even though the problems are not solved.
But we have a piece that we don't know how we how we could have gotten that piece in that situation just by leaving everything in the Lord's hands. You know, I probably we are passing through many problems. I know by my own experience, I have had problems that have lost months, weeks that I was just trying to get out of those problems by my own means. But as soon as I turn to the Lord and I started like praying on my knees.
Just putting everything in his hand, He gave me the piece and right away, right away I felt the peace and justice left it. No caring about anything else, but the Lord my Father will take care of me and things start aligning in the right place and going towards the right end. And it's just amazingly how when we trust the Lord enough, like to put everything there and no care and more about our problems, the fees that we can find with Him.
Well, Susan, Isaiah 26, I will keep him in perfect peace.
Whose mind is stayed on deep?
And I I believe that peace isn't necessarily the absence of trouble.
But it's the absence of fear in the midst of troubles, realizing that anything that takes place in our lives, God is in it. God is in everything.
And I do believe that.
As I said earlier, he has our best interests at heart.
He wants the very best for us, and how can we question that this is not true if we recognize the love that's been displayed to you and to me?
In that, God the Father would send his Son to be the Savior.
He would not spare his son, but he delivers him up for us all.
And the Lord Jesus the Son, goes to the cross, and there he lays down his life, sheds his blood in order to redeem us.
This is love that we can only begin to talk about. We'll never Plumb the depth of it.
It's infinite.
So we've been redeemed. I believe the Lord Jesus paid the price.
To deliver us from the curse of the law.
To deliver us from the power of the enemy, Satan.
Uh, to deliver us from.
Our students paid the price. It's a ransom.
But I believe the counterpart you know to redemption is purchased.
And so he's purchased us with his own blood, and we belong to him.
Somebody has said.
That redemption makes us.
Christ's freed man.
But purchase makes us Christ's bondsman.
00:45:03
And I always enjoyed that.
Or at least seem to make it clear to my own soul.
That we're not redeemed just to live as we please and do our own thing.
We've been purchasing. We belong to Christ.
And I believe our happiness is to submit to him.
I just noticed and also a little.
Verse 23 it says.
These boats, they came from Tiberius Nyan to the place where they eat bread. Now notice it says after that the Lord had given thanks. That's in verse 23.
It just seems to me emphasize the importance of Thanksgiving now we noticed earlier in the chapter.
Maybe we didn't say too much about it, but in verse 11 it says Jesus took the loaves and when he had given thanks he distributed to the disciples. Well, if the Lord Jesus plays importance on giving thanks, how much more should we?
And appreciated the conference here. Somebody gives thanks for the food.
Well, it's so nice, you know, when we sit down at home and give thanks for the meal.
But many don't do this.
They got the idea that.
They deserve to have a nice meal. You know, they just take it for granted. Well, this is what's coming to me. We don't deserve anything. We need to be thankful, and I believe a thankful person is a happy person.
Because we realize we're getting what we don't deserve. Hey, sorry, go ahead.
I was just wondering if these people in verse 23.
They heard that the Lord had given thanks and had distributed this food, and they thought, well, we're gonna come and get some of this food for ourselves. So they all bring their boats over and they expect, uh, to have a big dinner along with everybody else. But you notice what the Lord says? He says in the 26th verse, Ye seek me not because he saw the miracles.
But because you did eat of the lows and were filled labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life. The Lord was teaching them that sure, it's nice to have your stomach filled, but you know that's just something that will last temporarily. What you need is something that is good for your soul, that will last for eternity. And I think this is a very important lesson for all of us because we're.
Very anxious to go to the Lord and have them solve everyday difficulties in our lives and we forget about the spiritual lessons that we have to learn. And the Lord, I believe here is telling them that, uh, you've got to be concerned about your spiritual soul as well as your physical. And so they say to them in the, uh, 28th verse, what shall we do that we might work the works of God. So they thought well.
If we're gonna get to heaven, we're gonna do some work. And what if the Lord answered them? He says This is the work of God that ye believe. So salvation is not a question of work, is it? That's what the natural heart thinks.
What is really important is believing what God has said. So I think the Lord was just trying to teach them here some spiritual lessons when they were only interested in, uh, filling their stomachs.
The Lord is faithful too, because they come with a pretense. How did you get here?
Their curiosity as to how we got there was not what brought them there.
They wanted their belly filled.
You know, we don't perhaps feel it in the same way much of the rest of the world does, but most of the world 50% or more of their incomes used to buy food, very small percentage of our income by food.
But for the rest of the world, food, the struggle and the thought of someone that could just provide you meal after meal and they could be like the children of Israel in the wilderness and every day there'd be manna and never have to worry about anything again.
Would be tremendous. What a luxury. And so like, how did you get here?
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And he just strips away their pretense and he says, This is why you're here. You want your belly filled. You know, man doesn't like his pretenses stripped away. But the word of God does that, doesn't it? It lays bare of the soul. And that's what the Lord is doing here. He strips away the pretense and he says, This is why you came.
This is why labor, not for that meat that perishes, that's what you're working for. And they say, well.
Look, if you're not going to give it to us, tell us how. Tell us how to do this trick.
Tell us how to do it.
If you're not gonna cooperate.
That's really the attitude behind what they're saying.
Tell us how to do the works of God to make those loaves multiply and those fishes multiply and like what we've read in the Old Testament.
And the Lord again, he brings it right back to their conscience.
As to what they should be laboring for.
Believe on him who he hath sent, and that was at the root of it. They didn't really believe who he was.
And that's what he is bringing them and really stripping away every pretense and getting down to the issue. They didn't really believe who he was.
It's wonder, wonderful to see the Lord's provision throughout this chapter, and I believe that in a certain sense, for the natural man, it is not so difficult to recognize God's power.
But to Noah's heart is quite a different thing, and so we see here towards the end of the chapter.
In verse 67 then Jesus said unto the 12, Will ye also go away? He desired to bless them. And we also see his desire to provide. I believe for the practical needs when he feeds the thousands with the bread and for believers.
Maybe it's easy for us to remember God's power.
But it's also easy to forget that not only can He bless us, but He will, and He wants to, and that is his desire to do that.
Man wants the blessing.
But he wants it apart from God.
He wants the benefits, but he doesn't want God.
And that's really in this part of the chapter. The Lord speaks. He's exposing that fact in the hearts of this crowd. They want the blessing, but they don't want the Son.
He just had to do it. Give us this bread, you know, teach or teach us how to do it. But they really don't want him. But, you know, life and blessing is only had in the sun. It's not something given out of the sun or something we can gain apart from the sun in any way. We have life and especially brought out in John's ministry.
In the sun, except the corner of wheat fall into the ground and die to buy this alone. But if a diet bringeth forth much fruit, and you and I are like those kernels of wheat on that stock, and they have their life because they're on that stock that sprung from that kernel that went into the ground. They have their life and virtue of their association with that feed that went in the ground. And you and I have our life.
In the sun.
Not apart from Him, not outside of Him, even given from Him. It's in the sun, it's in that connection with Him. But they wanted the blessing, but not the Son.
Because the heart of man is that enmity with God.
Sing 312.
312.
Our God and Father, we just come before thee and thank thee for this time together. We thank thee for thy beloved Son, the Lord Jesus, that one who is now on high as our great high Priest, and that is care for us. Lord Jesus, as we walk through this world, we know that there are many storms that come along in our lives. But Lord, we thank Thee that thou art greater than these things and that we can trust Thee whatever comes along and.
We think of that terrible storm that is on the horizon for this world, and yet we think, Lord, of how thou will preserve our testimony of those who love thee through it all. And, uh, they'll come into that place of blessing in the Millennium. And so, Lord, we would just pray that thou encourage us here. Uh, we pray that we might not be just concerned about everyday matters for we know it's only for a moment, but Lord, that, uh, we might be more concerned with those things that are for eternity.
And we might be building ourselves up on our most holy faith. And so we would just continue for the ask, meaning for thy blessing on the meetings to follow. And we ask in the worthy and precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Amen.