John 6:22-34 - ”A Question of Intent” - Abundant Life (Gospel of John)

Our Old Testament [snorts] reading is

from Psalm 78 verses 14 to 29.

Psalms 78:14–29

In the daytime, he led them with a cloud

and all the night with a fiery light. He

split rocks in the wilderness and gave

them drink abundantly as from the deep.

He made streams come out of the rock and

caused waters to flow down like rivers.

Yet, they sinned still more against him,

rebelling against the Most High in the

desert. They tested God in their heart

by demanding the food they craved.

They spoke against God saying, "Can God

spread a table in the wilderness?

He struck the rock so that water gushed

out and streams overflowed.

Can he also give bread or provide meat

for his people?"

Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was

full of wrath.

A fire was kindled against Jacob, his

anger rose against Israel. Because they

did not believe in God and did not trust

his saving power.

Yet, he commanded the skies above and

opened the doors of heaven, and he

rained down on them manna to eat and

gave them grain of heaven.

Man ate of the bread of angels, he sent

them food in abundance.

He caused the east wind to blow in the

heavens and by his power he let out the

south wind.

He rained meat on them like dust, winged

birds like the sands of the seas.

He let them fall in the midst of their

camp, all around their dwellings, and

they ate and were filled, for he gave

them what they craved.

Our New Testament reading is from John

John 6:22–34

6:22-34.

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.

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're 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."

>> [snorts]

>> 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 may

believe the one that he 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."

This is the word of the Lord.

>> So, I had a young friend in university.

I didn't know him very well, but he was

one of our InterVarsity Christian

Fellowship groups.

And he was an interesting guy. Every

time I ran into him, he was very careful

with his words. He was very pietistic.

He certainly didn't go have lunch on a

Sunday.

He did all kinds of things right. And

even when I would say something like,

"Oh, I'm not feeling well." He said He'd

say, "I rebuke that word, Emery. I

rebuke that word."

Cuz that word you're just cursing

yourself by saying it.

He's a very intense gentleman, but I

kind of liked him cuz I've always liked

the more esoteric people.

Anyways,

one day I decided to go to his house

because he had to be picked up for a

Bible study. He had no car.

And when I got there, I realized he

really didn't have a house. He was

living on top of a barn where he had one

room that overflowed. You could actually

see the cattle in the barn. Like I you

can imagine the smell of this place.

And it had a little bathroom. It had a

sink.

And the only other thing he had in this

whole place was this odd

cutout magazine cutout of a yacht.

Okay?

Now, this is back I you know you young

folks, this is before you could just do

like go on the internet and get these

things. He had to actually have gone to

a library,

get a pair of pair of scissors, find the

right magazine, and cut it, and then

stick it up. And that was the only thing

on all his walls. Now, I get bachelors

do not have great taste in decorations,

but this took it to the nth degree.

So, I finally asked him and you And

again, I I liked Ken, cuz that was his

name. I don't know where he exists

anymore, so I said, "Ken, why do you

have this boat up here? Like, is this

like clearly not yours? It's a

magazine." And he said to me, "Emery,

do you not understand that my father

owns everything.

And I'm like, if your dad owns

everything, then he doesn't like you cuz

you're living here.

And he said, "No, my heavenly father

owns everything.

And my heavenly father wants to give to

me just like he wants to give to all

followers cuz he's a good father."

He goes, "I just don't have

yacht faith yet."

So, I keep my

my picture on and I'm like, I would just

start off like I honestly I said this to

him. I said, "Why don't you just try

like basement suite faith without the

cows?" Like

Like let's all just, you know, we're all

on a journey.

And he says, "But one day I will get

yacht faith."

I said, "Well, how do you get this yacht

faith?" And he goes, "God is my father."

He kept repeating that. "And he is

faithful and he will give me all things.

I just have to show that I'm worthy of

that by having faith.

By trusting."

So, I looked at him and I had about a

'76 Toyota Corolla.

And I said, "Well, I have a '76 Toyota

Corolla. What kind of faith is that?"

And he goes, "That dead serious is '76

Toyota Corolla faith."

So, I said, "Are you telling me that if

I want Beamer faith, I can get it?" And

he goes, "Absolutely, Embry." And he

repeated again.

Because we have a father who has

everything and he wants us to get it. We

just have to on our end

do what's right.

Have you ever heard anything like this?

Well,

how true is that?

Is that what our father is about? I mean

we're talking Father's Day. Now, I know

it's the Hallmark holiday, and you know

how much I hate preaching Hallmark

holiday themes.

Is that what our father wants?

Well, interestingly,

this young man had the exact basic

theology of all of the Jews that hung

out with Jesus.

The exact theology.

And that's why they missed him.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank

you for your your goodness to us and

your love.

Breathe upon us today.

Fill us with your Holy Spirit. Open our

eyes and our ears.

May the meditations of my mind be

pleasing out of you

to you. May the words of my mouth be

pleasing to you.

Amen.

What they believed in the ancient world,

especially Judaism, was quite simple.

God had given them

the Torah.

And he had chosen them as the children

of Abraham.

And as long as they did the things

right, God would bless them because he

was their father, they said.

And Jesus, sorry, and they were the

children of God.

So, all they had to do was do things

right.

But,

what happens is when they do things

wrong, other countries, it's called

going into exile, would come in and take

them over, okay?

And we have all kinds of stories of when

Israel went into exile cuz they were

worshipping false gods.

So, they would try harder or they would

try and repent and sometimes they would

be released and you would have an

exodus.

Well, there was one story as we all know

of the great exodus. They had been under

the Pharaoh and God by his grace did

those incredible signs and wonders and

he actually had Israel taken out of

Egypt through the Red Sea into the

wilderness. You remember that story?

Well, that became the theme of this

nation's

pl- pl- plan for their lives. Because

the plight they had now was what much

much worse than Egypt.

By the time of Jesus, they were in and

under the Romans.

And they longed for deliverance just

like Yahweh delivered that first exodus

community out of Egypt.

So, the only question is how do we get

delivered out of Egypt?

And what they said

by the time of Jesus is all we have to

do

is obey the law,

obey the rules for 7 days.

Everyone obeyed Torah for 7 days and God

will send down his Messiah.

Now, his Messiah was nothing like what

Jesus was and that's part of the

problem. What they thought their Messiah

was was kind of like a Sylvester

Stallone as Rambo.

He was going to come down with a mighty

sword and like a King David, like a a

like a um a Moses figure and he was

going to come with great violence and

wipe out all of those in his way,

especially the Gentiles and the Romans.

And now they believed this firmly that

if they could just do the right things

just like that young man did, if we just

did the right things, if they just

believed well, healing would come.

And they would know

on that day that healing was coming,

that deliverance was near

when whoever this new deliverer came

started to do what he did in the first

Exodus. And the main one was feeding the

people.

Remember the manna being given to the

people in the wilderness?

Well, listen to this first-century

promise

by a Jew.

And it will happen at that time that the

treasury of manna will come down again

from on high.

And they will eat of it in those years

because they's are the they

who will have who will have arrived at

the consummation of time. In other

words, he's saying when that day comes,

the manna's coming again. Do you see

that?

Again,

Rabbi Isaac, as the former redeemer,

um Moses, caused manna to descend, so

will the latter redeemer redeemer,

the Messiah, cause manna to descend.

So, they were waiting for this moment.

They've been waiting for this moment

that this deliverer would come, and the

first sign they would get that they've

been kind of holy enough that he could

come for them

would be that they'd feed a bunch of

people.

Well, what did Jesus just do?

Remember 2 weeks ago? We had the water

walking on water before that.

Come on.

He fed the 5,000, right? He's on the

hill. He does everything just like he's

the Messiah figure, and he feeds 5,000

out of five loaves of bread, a little

kid's lunch, and two fish, right?

And that becomes I can't tell you all

the symbolism, but he when he did that

with the numbers he was using it proved

that he was using the new Exodus people.

He had enough and enough left over for

everyone who would follow.

And then what happened to them? Well,

without what I told you is that the

Messiah, this king, this Rambo type

figure

would feed them. So, what did they try

and do? They tried to make him king by

force, remember?

And Jesus sneaks away.

And then he goes off into the water and

he he walks on water and he brings them

to the shore and we talked about that

and he's basically saying now, I am the

God that controls. I'm the creation God.

I control chaos, seas. They've never

seen anything like this.

But what happens to the people that were

left behind who did not see that

miracle?

Well, they're still waiting because they

still want this guy.

He just fed 5,000 men because they

didn't count women, so probably 20,000

people.

So, they're starting to look for him and

that's where we get today.

On the next day the crowd that remained

on the other side of the sea saw that

there'd only been one boat.

And that Jesus had not entered the boat.

So, they're seeing something fishy went

on. They didn't see Jesus walk on water,

but they can do the math.

With his disciples, but that his

disciples had gone away alone.

Other boats from Tiberias came near the

place where they had eaten bread after

the Lord had given 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.

But what are they seeking?

See, this is the real question here.

That's the fundamental underlying

question here is what are they exactly

seeking?

And I'm going to tell you it's not good.

When they found him on the other side of

the sea, they said to him, "Rabboni,

Rabbi,

when did you come here?"

Do you remember what they were going to

do with him after he fed them? What did

they call him then?

King.

Now they call him Rabbi.

You understand that like a king's here

and a rabbi's like here?

All of a sudden, because he doesn't do

what they want, he drops in their eyes.

Do you see that?

The reason he crucifies he gets

crucified is because he doesn't do what

he wants.

They want. He does what he's called to

do. We're seeing right now why those

crowds can turn and say crucify him in

such short order.

So they say to him, "Rabbi, when did you

come here?" But that's not really the

question.

Typical Jesus, he looks right to their

heart.

Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly I say

to you." In other words, you better

listen to this.

"You are seeking me not because you saw

the signs." They aren't even seeking him

for the signs, which already we know is

not the right way to find Jesus. They're

not even doing that.

They're not even doing it for a

religious purpose,

but because you ate your fill of the

loaves." They're only wanting to follow

him because their tummies aren't

grumbling anymore.

That's it.

They're not even following him anymore.

They see is this God's man? They're now

following him because they just had a

like a little bit like the the hungry

kids that you know, you that you take to

the to the

what do you have now? IHOP?

Right? And then and they're going to

follow you because they might get

another lunch.

That's the level.

They're pretty sad, isn't it?

These crowds aren't even following him

that he might be the Messiah, that

they're this might be a sign. Now they

just want their bellies filled.

How human are they?

"Do not work," Jesus says, "for the food

that perishes, but for the food that

endures to eternal life." Now, they

wouldn't have any understanding.

They spent their whole life only looking

at this world

and this world alone and how much we

could get,

feeding their cravings. That's all they

have looked for. And Jesus says, "Guess

what? There is a food that transcends

just your physical cravings.

And you better get your mind off your

physical cravings cuz that's going to

let you down."

He says, "Which the Son of Man will give

you."

Now, Jesus says Son of Man, we often

don't realize what he's actually saying.

But he's actually saying something about

himself.

When he says and he calls himself Son of

Man, he's going back to Daniel

in this famous vision and he's making

himself the one who's the king.

It says, "I saw in the night visions and

behold with the clouds of heaven there

came one

like a Son of Man." Do you see that?

"And he came to the Ancient of Days and

was presented before him.

And to him

was given glory, dominion, and glory,

and a kingdom

that all people, nations, languages

should serve him. His dominion is an

everlasting dominion which shall not

pass away and his kingdom one that shall

never be destroyed."

What he's saying right now is come to me

cuz I'm the one that's in charge. You

see it?

I transcend anything. I transcend Moses.

I transcend everything because I am the

living God. And I am fulfilling this

promised king who's coming.

The very Messiah you think you want.

For on him, Jesus says, God

has set his seal.

You know what the seal was? Did you ever

watch those old old Roman movies where

the Roman Caesar would put his seal on

something? And once that was sealed with

his seal, it meant that was part of him.

And anything that was set on him was

him.

And Jesus has the seal on him. In other

words, anything the Father wants, he

is the representative.

If you look at him, he's the one with

the seal. He is the king.

Then they said to him,

They're not listening.

What must we do to be doing the works of

God?

I mean, come on.

What must we do? It's up to us.

Help us do it. If we get enough faith,

we're going to get it. Help us get

enough faith. Like, is that what you

need? Do you need me? Do you need us to

fast? Do you need us to to not eat fish?

Do you need us to stay away from pork?

Do you need us to circumcise our

children? Do you see what I mean? What

must we do? What work must we do to be

doing the works of God? Cuz we want to

be part of this.

Jesus answered them the most profound

answer.

This is the work of God that you believe

in him who he has sent.

And that's it.

There's no memorizing Torah.

There's no getting all these little

things right. It's There's no we must

get the right friends or group of

friends or we must memorize the right

texts or any of these other things. What

he says is and listen cuz this is

salvation, this line.

If you want to be saved, this is the

line.

Believe in the one

in whom the Father sent.

Jesus Christ.

Full stop.

So, they said to him

and they're not thrilled.

Because to believe in Jesus, to believe

in someone not being able to do it out

of your own goodwill on your own

strength,

that's tough to do. To completely trust

someone else to do something

for you,

that's tough.

Then what sign, they say, they're not

listening.

Do you do that we may see and believe

you?

What work do you perform? Notice how

they went from what work we can perform.

He says, "Believe in me."

And now they're saying,

challenging him,

"What work can you perform?"

In other words, it's that classic, "I'll

believe in Jesus if I see him do

something." You ever met somebody like

that? "I'd believe in God, he just has

to show up here right now."

And then he they quote an Old Testament

text and they condemn themselves in it.

"Our fathers ate the manna in the

wilderness as it is written." And

they're back to food.

And he quotes a psalm.

And they say, "He gave them bread from

heaven to eat."

Now, this is the most ironic thing they

could have quoted.

Because in quoting this psalm,

they are literally judging themselves.

So, what happened here in this psalm?

Now, you must remember in your New

Testament, whenever you see a text being

quoted, you have to go back to the Old

Testament text where it's quoted and

look at the whole context of the quote.

That's how it worked. They didn't have a

lot of

paper was very expensive. So, when they

put the quote, they expected the reader,

that was the rules, that you would go

back and understand the whole section it

came out of.

Now, they quote and it says, "He gave us

bread from heaven to eat." In other

words, Jesus look, we've already done

this. But, they missed the whole Psalm

and the whole Psalm is less than

pleasant when it comes to the people of

God.

The Psalm starts out with the first

Exodus community. Yet, they sinned still

more against them.

Rebelling against the Most High in the

desert.

They tested God in their heart. Are

these people not testing God?

By demanding the food they crave. Did

they not just demand food?

Do you see this?

They spoke against God saying, "Can God

spread a table in the wilderness?"

Did they not just do this?

God, for his part, struck the rock of

water and it gushed out and streams

overflowed. Can he also give bread or

provide meat for his people? They ask.

As they're asking Jesus for his sign.

Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was

full of wrath.

This very quote is showing what they

deserve.

God's wrath.

A fire was kindled against Jacob.

His anger arose against Israel.

Because they did not believe in God and

did not trust his saving power. What did

they say about the works that they

needed to do?

Believe in the one he sent.

What does this quote say from this

Psalm?

Because they did not

believe in God cuz they were seeking the

food

and did not trust his saving power. Do

you see that?

Yet he and yet this is the grace of God.

If you ever Anyone who tells you that

the Old Testament God is way too mean

and the New Testament God is nice is

full of beans.

I mean that. I can't be more serious.

The Old Testament God is so

long-suffering for a pathetic people

that it's unbelievable.

And I don't know if you read Jesus, but

when he starts calling you sons of Satan

and whitewashed tombs, I'm pretty sure

he's not always

Mr. Rogers.

Yet amazingly in his grace, he says,

"Yet he commanded the skies above

and opened the doors of heaven

and he rained down on them manna to eat.

He gave into it even though he though he

knew it was out of unbelief cuz he's

generous.

And he gave them the grain of heaven.

This is the section they're quoting.

And he's actually giving it in judgment

cuz they demanded it.

Man ate the bread of the angels. He sent

them food in abundance.

And they ate and they were filled for he

gave them all they craved.

The judgment was they never got the God

who they were supposed to believe in.

But he gave them all the food they'd

want.

The food that perishes and he gave them

all they craved.

Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly,

I say unto you,

it was not Moses, cuz they are seeking

Moses to do this,

who gave you the bread from heaven, but

my father gives you the true bread from

heaven. He gives you the good gift.

For the bread of God is he who comes

down from heaven and gives life to this

world." Who do you think he's talking

about there?

Jesus.

And if they don't get Jesus, their bread

and their stomachs are going to

be hungry again.

And even worse, their souls

will never be filled.

And they said to him, because they can't

get their mind out of it, "Uh sir, give

us this bread always." Who does that

remind us of?

The Samaritan woman at the well. Or

sorry, the woman at the well. You

remember that? The Samaritan. And what

does she say when he offers her water?

"Oh, give me more of this water so I

won't be thirsty."

What Jesus is offering here with that

feeding is more than just a feeding.

He's offering them the eternal life in a

bread that's going to go beyond, but all

they can do is come and demand from God

what they want for themselves. They want

for themselves. They want for

themselves. And they see God as someone

who should provide because they are his

children.

And they demand they get.

And they make religious systems so that

they can get.

But the only way God gives is one way.

Grace.

What must we do?

Just believe.

You see the problem that happens again

and again is called religious idolatry.

People come into a church and they say,

"Well, that must be true because I'm in

a church." But I'm telling you right

now, the church is no different than

Israel. Often and then often and often

again, we actually teach lies.

We teach lies that if you do certain

things, you can get certain things from

God.

And I'll tell you what, we're just like

the ancient pagans. You know what the

ancient pagans, and I've studied them

from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Assyria, they

all acted the same. They'd build a place

for the cave the god

and then they would go out and they

would get their meat for this god, and

they would

barbecue it up, hand it over to this

god, and if he was satisfied with the

meal, then he would pour himself down

and provide protection and give them

good crops. It was a contract.

In other words, what works must I do?

Well, they did their works.

And what works would the gods do?

They would provide.

It's called paganism.

It's how it worked.

And they did a lot worse things to try

and get their attention, as you guys

know.

The problem with us

is we keep going back to that system.

And there's a reason for that.

We can't get through our mind that God

is gracious and he provides whoever he

was whatever he wants, and it's not up

to us for what we get.

Cuz that takes our power.

Idolatry is when you worship what you

should use

and use what you should worship.

Let me say that again. Idolatry is what

when you worship what you should use and

use what you should worship.

In other words, you use God.

They're using Jesus here to get a full

belly, aren't they?

Yet, he deserves to be worshipped.

They're using God to get what they can

do.

My friend had a God that he was trying

to do things and he was going to use

that God to provide. As to a

relationship, it didn't matter.

Because as long as he did what he wants,

his father would continue to pour out

money like some divine Elon Musk.

Do you understand?

And it's always been this way. It's our

way of looking at God. If I do things

right, good things will happen.

We create things

again and again. We put pictures on

walls of that fake yacht.

We put little things around that give us

luck.

We create these things that we should be

using for other things and we worship

those things,

not the God who we should be

worshipping.

That's what Israel's doing.

They're even though the living God is

before them, they're questioning him.

They're asking him and they're trying to

use him so their bellies will be filled

so they will give what their cravings

they have.

And it destroys churches.

And there's one bigger thing,

the greatest idol.

Anyone want to guess what the greatest

idol is in their time and our time?

Starts with an M.

Money, money, money, money.

Right?

I mean, ultimately it always ends up

there, almost always.

It always ends up that if you have

enough faith, you will prosper.

Your business will prosper. You will get

your yacht. He's just got a million of

them and he's your good father, right?

Again and again, this is in us because

we all have been infected by this a

little bit.

Do you want to know how you have a

little bit of prosperity in you,

prosperity gospel?

I'm going to tell you right now, here's

your first symptom. When things go bad,

the first thing you think is what did I

do wrong?

Do you see?

Because you actually don't believe what

you have is by grace.

You believe you earned it, you deserved

it, and I must have done something

wrong.

Matt Chandler, we carry an insidious

prosperity gospel around our dark little

entitled hearts.

Because all of us like the idea that if

I pray enough, if I fast enough, if I do

this thing, if I actually go and suffer

with children by taking care of them

during that half hour in Sunday,

how can you tell I had to just take care

of kids a while back?

Though I do think God honors that one.

Okay.

That somehow God pays.

And that's why the good things happen.

And that's why bad things maybe get

avoided.

And we like it, and churches that are

into this fell up because you know what?

It gives us the power. But what if I

told you

that we don't have any power?

What if I told you

that there's a different God, a

different entity that promises you the

things of this world?

If you worship them,

would you be surprised?

You see,

I'm going to quote you something, and

listen to this.

And he said, "All these things I will

give to you if you will fall down and

worship me."

Sounds like that's what my friend wants.

But who's making that promise?

Then Jesus said to me to him, "Be gone,

Satan.

For it is written,

you shall worship the Lord your God, and

him only shall you serve."

The only being,

the only being that's ever offered you

the world for worship,

ever in scripture,

is Satan.

I tell you this cuz it's important to

me.

Because the theology my friend had was

damaging.

He spent hours being very pietistic. He

went to all the prayer meetings because

one day God would see how faithful he

was, and he would get his yacht.

Until it got to Christmas time.

And unfortunately, Christmas time hit,

and he got a bug.

Now, his theology believed that you

can't have bugs.

You can't even mention bugs. I I said to

him once in front of him, I said, "I

think I'm getting a sore throat." He

said, "I curse that in the name of

Jesus. I will not allow you to speak

that into effect or some crazy

witchcraft thing."

Anyways,

we didn't see him.

Couple days went by.

Month. Or sorry, week.

A month.

Finally, we got a phone call from the

landlord who went upstairs in that

little

cow shed.

And there he was almost dead.

Thank- thankfully, they were able to

take that kid out

because he would not get any medical

treatment and he was too embarrassed

to let anyone help him because he

wouldn't have enough faith then.

I never ever saw Ken again.

But a friend of mine told me that after

that,

he said God doesn't exist and he went

the other way.

I wish I was there cuz I would have

said, "No, Ken.

The God you just believed in doesn't

exist.

The real God's now waiting for you to

come see him."

Because he's not looking for us

>> [snorts]

>> to do works.

He's asking us to do one thing.

Believe.

That's it.

It's not fun. I can't fill churches. I

can't tell you seven steps to get rich.

I can't do any of those things because

the Bible doesn't let me. It says,

"Believe."

As to the stuff, it says, "Seek ye

therefore the kingdom of God

and all these things and

it all will be

Seek ye therefore the kingdom of God and

all these things shall be provided unto

you, the stuff you need.

I fought long and hard that often God

hits people with disappointment when

they have these kind of desires that God

needs to meet.

Not because he's angry,

but because he's loving.

I think sometimes our disappointments

are because God is so in so much loves

us, he's willing to let our our idols

die.

I also think that sometimes the greatest

judgment is somebody keeps saying more

and more, "God, I want this. God, I want

this. God, I want this." And God knows

it's going to destroy them. And I think

at some point

God just finally says, "Okay, your will

be done."

And he satisfies their cravings,

but he doesn't fill their soul.

We have a God that is so incredible and

he's so good and he owns everything. And

here's what he's saying to you today.

You ready for this? Here's what you got

to do. You got to listen.

Believe.

That's it.

Believe in him

because he's the savior. You're not.

He's the giver. You're not.

You own the naivety of these people that

they thought they could do it

themselves.

Listen, I love I love Don Carson.

"Tell us what works God requires and we

will perform them." From John's

perspective, their naivety is

formidable.

They display no doubt about their

intrinsic ability to meet any challenge

God may set them.

They evidence no sensitivity to the fact

that eternal life is first and foremost

a gift within the purview of the son of

man. You will never work your way in.

You never will. You won't be holy

enough. You won't be smart enough. You

won't think the perfect thoughts. You

won't come to the right church. You

won't get the right um uh

I don't know uh vision. Um

uh you won't speak the right tongues.

You won't get the right theological You

won't any of those works that people

think bring them in. There's one way in

and guess what it is.

Believe.

Do you believe?

>> Yes.

>> Then you're in.

Hey, you're in.

You know what that means?

You are an eternal people.

And this world God may pour out upon you

or he may not. I don't know.

But I promise you all things work out

together for good for those who love God

and are called according to his purpose.

Because you know I know that works out?

Because we have an empty tomb.

Because of the resurrection.

Our cravings now, if we knew what

eternity was like, would be looked as a

soul pathetic.

And the things we give up our lives for

now will be seen as nothing. And when we

go there, we will grieve that we wasted

our time.

I promise you, my friends,

this is good news.

There's no burdens I'm going to put on

you here. You are saved because of Jesus

Christ actions.

And all you have to do is say yes

to his yes.

To believe in him.

That's it.

I think let's pray.

Heavenly Father,

wow.

It's so easy to get caught into religion

and idols

and try to do something so that

we can manipulate you to help us.

Father, you are generous and you are

good.

You invite us to pray and ask for

change, but you equally

or more so ask us to trust you that you

will.

Father, whether we

are going through financial straps

or tough times, whether we're going

through health,

whether we're going through a relational

difficulty,

whether we're just living in nervousness

because of the world,

put our minds at peace again.

That we have one job to do,

believe.

And may your spirit bring the comfort

there

and take all of the anxiety, all of the

fear off of us.

And remind us that this world is

temporary.

That we are an eternal community because

we believe.

And one day we will be with you, which

will be worth more than any treasure,

any yacht,

any amount of bread

that this world can offer.

In Jesus name,

amen.