Work Of God

And for content on all my pride. For content on all my pride. You know, man's a proud person.

And in his pride, he somehow wants to make salvation somehow a part of him. And somehow he's going to get some glory out of this salvation thing. So we have a lot of different ways to try to glorify man.

But salvation is no glory in man. And I was blessed to hear this morning there what Brother Dave was sharing. Actually, he shared half of my message.

So that will shorten me up a little bit today. But let's turn to John chapter 6 here as we consider this same theme. John chapter 6. I'm not going to read down through the verse.

We'll just teach on it and preach down through this. But this is the same thoughts, concepts. This is a Bible concept.

You know, the Bible is contrary to the natural mind. The natural mind, the Bible says, does not understand the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness unto them.

And if you don't have a spiritual mind today, some of these things might be foolishness to you. Well, I want to do just a little bit of review. We've been talking some about the feeding of the 5,000.

And we learned that Jehovah, Jireh, the Lord is our provider. The Lord provided for them. And he fed them miraculously there.

And so the people began to follow Jesus, not because they saw the miracles, but because they did eat of the loaves and were filled. And, of course, in verse 27 of John 6, Jesus encourages them not to labor for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you. So we're encouraged not to spend our efforts and our sweat and our toil for things that go in the mouth and go to the draught, or we spend our money on things that we purchase and like that cotton candy, in a few short years those things are rusted and decayed and go to naught.

But that you're to spend your effort and your strength, first and foremost, on the things that will go on forever, on the things that are eternal, and to labor for meat that will endure forever. And so this is a conversation going back and forth between these people who were fed, the 5,000, they've now crossed over the water and they met Jesus on the other side of the water. And the Lord gives them this instruction about laboring not for the meat which perishes.

And so we're going to pick up here in verse number 28. I'm going to read down through here and we'll talk about some of the instruction that the Lord gives. Heavenly Father, we pray for your direction now.

Lord, that you would quicken our hearts by your word. Thy word is spirit, thy word is life. Lord, if there's anyone here today that has not been washed in the blood of Jesus, may the word of God be very clear and plain to them that they might have eternal life.

Lord, would you alarm us and quicken us to the importance of the blood of Jesus and the body of Jesus that was offered many years ago upon the cross. And so I ask for your help that I could communicate your word clearly and truthfully. Lord, bless us now this morning in Jesus' name.

Amen. Well, the Lord responds to this crowd that is following him. Might I remind you in chapter 6, verse 2, it says they followed him because they saw the miracles that he did.

I mean, amazing. Saw the things that they were seeing in his life, miracles that he did. And then in verse 28, it says this, Then said they unto him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God? I mean, if you were following Jesus, you'd probably have the same question.

Lord, what can we do that we can do these works, these amazing things that we've seen you do? Lord, what shall we do that we might work the works of God? And then Jesus answers in verse 29, And Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he hath sent. Lord, what can we do? What work can we do that we might do these amazing works? And Jesus says, Here's the work you can do. Believe.

It's not about your merit. It's not about your effort. It's not about your works.

It's about you need to believe on him in whom he has sent. Remember in the book of Acts, Simon the sorcerer had the same mindset. He saw the apostles lay hands on men and women and how they received the Holy Ghost.

And his thought was to the apostles, Tell us, what can I do? Can I give you some money that I can have the same power on whoever I lay my hands, they might receive the Holy Ghost? And of course, he was rebuked. That's not how God works. God does not work on the merit system.

God does not work based upon filthy lucre. God does not work upon these things, the pride of men, but God works on the basis of faith. The Bible says without faith, it is impossible to please God.

And so they ask this question in verse 28, What shall we do? Are there any works? Is there any merit? What can we do to be able to do these amazing things that you do? And Jesus responds in verse 29, You need to believe. These miracles come forth by faith. They do not come forth by works.

The natural man thinks that God gives him things based upon merit. And I'll tell you, that thought can even be right here amongst us. It's a very subtle and deceptive thing.

We think somehow God will bless us based upon our goodness. God does not bless based upon goodness. He blesses based upon our faith.

Our faith in Him. Everything that we get comes through this avenue of faith. So the natural man tends to struggle because he is a merit-based thinker.

Now you think about all the miracles that Jesus did. All these amazing things, the healing, the opening of the eyes of the blind, the giving of hearing to the deaf, healing laying limbs, raising the dead. These miracles were done not because people merited them, not because of the good that those people had done, but because of their faith.

In all of these miracles, I mean, I looked at just a few of them, but the blind man comes to Jesus and said, Lord, I want to receive my sight. And Jesus doesn't look at this blind man and say, Sir, have you been going to the synagogue faithfully? Sir, have you been giving alms to the poor? Sir, have you been living out a perfect, obedient life? No, he says, Sir, can you believe? I'll heal you on the basis of faith. I will not heal you on the basis of your merit.

You know, we as people are proud people. We want God to do what He does based upon our faith. Based upon our merit.

The carrying of the four, they carry this lame man, and they took him up on a roof, you know the story, and they laid him down to the roof. And the Lord heals him. But He doesn't say to this man on the bed or these four men, you know, are you going to your synagogue services? Do you love your wife? Do you have all these requirements in order to do this? He just asks them, do you have faith? And the Bible says He heals them because of their faith.

God rewards man on the basis of faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that woman who came to touch His garment? And she said in faith in her heart, if I am to touch His garment, I shall be healed. And she presses through the crowd, and in faith in her heart she reaches out and touches this garment, and immediately she's cleansed.

You know, the Lord looks back and says, who touched me? You know, most people would think, but Lord, why don't you have her fill out a questionnaire and see whether or not she's been a good person? And who knows whether she was a good person or not? Whether or not she was even a Jew, or whether or not she was a part of a synagogue or she had a good reputation in the synagogue, it's not, we're not told all those things. All we're told is He healed her because she had faith. And she touched the hem of His garment.

Jesus did miracles to people because of their faith, not because of their merit. That's a hard thing for us to grasp. And I shared this with you in the past when we went through the centurion, the story of the centurion, but the centurion was a man who had a son whose son was about ready to die.

He was on his deathbed. He evidently had a great fever, and so the centurion sent some of his friends to go and find Jesus and tell Jesus to come and heal his son. And these friends, being naturally minded, came to Jesus and said, Jesus, this man is worthy.

He's got merit. He's a good man. You should come and heal his son based upon merit.

Well, that didn't work. Later on, this man comes to Jesus and he says to him, I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy.

I have nothing for you to even come under my roof. And so don't do this on the basis of merit. I have no merit.

He says this, just do it because I have faith. And the Bible says that Jesus looked upon his faith and he says, I've not found so great a faith in all Israel. Now, I don't know what this centurion is like.

There's no record of this centurion. He might have been in a bar last night. We're not told what this centurion's life was about.

We're not told whether he was a good man and whether he had a good reputation in the synagogue. We're not told those things. He was probably a Roman.

But he simply expressed faith in the Son of God. And the Lord healed his son. Now, this concept of faith is hard for the natural mind to understand.

But all that God gives to man is faith-based. Salvation is faith-based. Ephesians 2-9, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself.

It is the gift of God, not of works. Here's the key, lest any man should boast. I pour contempt on all my pride.

And so there's nothing in me. That merits what God gives. And I think Brother David expressed here this morning, when a man is saved by faith, then he receives all of these wonderful things.

He receives the Holy Ghost. He receives the gifts of the Spirit. He receives justification by faith.

He receives power. He receives grace. He receives wisdom.

And even James 1 says, if any of you lack wisdom, I'll give it to those people who are saved from a synagogue attendance. I'll give it to those people who are obedient in every area of life. I'll give it to those people who dress a certain way.

No, I'll give it to those people who have faith. And who ask me in faith. It's hard for us to grasp that we tend to be very merit-based in our understanding of how God blesses people.

Many people think of this, Lord, I deserve salvation because of what I've done. Lord, I deserve the Holy Ghost because of how I'm living. Lord, I deserve to have spiritual gifts because I'm giving alms all the time.

Lord, I deserve wisdom. I deserve, I deserve, I deserve because of my merit. But, God gives to man based upon faith.

You know, I experience this and you experience this too. You know, many of you say things like this, God can never do anything for me because I'm just not living up to where I should be living. How many of you are living perfectly anyway? Raise your hand if you're smart enough.

Is anybody here living perfectly? That means none of us here are living up to where we should be living, right? So, that means that none of us can have God do anything for us if it's a merit-based system. The Bible says, for all have sinned and come short. There is none righteous, no, not one.

And so, we have no merit. And apart from Jesus Christ, none of us would be blessed with God apart from His mercy and our faith in Him. Now, a lot of people think this way and I'm trying to correct our error of thought.

Lord, save me by your grace, but after I'm saved, then I'm going to get some merit. Then I'm going to get some merit. You know, this thing is, God, you do your part, and God, I'm going to do my part, and the both of us doing our parts will get to the kingdom.

No, I'm telling you here, you start out by faith and you end by faith. You start out with no merit and you end with no merit. And I think you'll get to the end of your life and you'll lay on your deathbed if God lets you die that way and you'll say from your heart, I'm 60 years old.

I'm still going to say this. It's in my heart. God, I still have no merit to this.

I still am unworthy of it. I'm as unworthy today at 60 than I was at 20. And I'm not looking to my merit at all for salvation.

I'm still looking to the Lord Jesus. The natural man thinks he must do, but Jesus says you must believe. This little boy one day came to his preacher, to the preacher, and he said, Sir, what must I do to be saved? What must I do? And the preacher said, Son, I'm sorry you're too late.

The boy says, Preacher, what do you mean I'm too late? Too late to be saved? No, too late to do anything? To get yourself saved has already been done. That's what Brother David was sharing this morning, once and for all. It's already been done.

All the false religions in the world tell you to do to be accepted. Only Christianity is the religion that says to believe and be accepted. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

Turn with me and hold your finger there. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter one. I'd like to read a few verses here from Ephesians chapter one.

Beautiful verses here that teach it's all God's work. Ephesians chapter one verse three says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ according as he, notice all these phrases, he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself according to the good pleasures will to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Notice it's all about him. Verse eight, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence having made known unto us the mystery of his will and all the way down through here. Verse 12 says that we should be to the praise of the glory of his grace who first trusted in Christ.

That's our responsibility is to trust, is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You know the Philippian jailer came to the fallen child there in the jail and said, Sirs, what must I do? That's natural man. What must I do to be saved? And his mind is thinking about maybe you want me to walk on my knees for a hundred miles.

Maybe you want me to give up all my money. But what must I do to be saved? Paul and Silas said, Believe. You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

And thou shalt be saved. Believe. A number of years ago, I went in front of some of the churches in Mount Vernon on Sunday morning.

We used to meet up at the YMCA and there's a lot of nice churches, older churches, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist churches right within a block or two of the YMCA. So our church service started at 10 o'clock and I thought, I'm going to get out and stand in front of these church buildings when the people come in at 9 and 9.30 and I'm just going to ask them a question. And as they come in, I'm going to ask them this question.

Sir, ma'am, can you tell me, I didn't act like I was a sinner, can you tell me how to get to heaven? So I did. And as one by one, these people come in, the Episcopal, Methodist and Lutheran churches, I would say, Sir, can I ask you a question? I'm wanting to go to heaven. When you're going to church here, how can I go to heaven? And you know what the answers were.

Well, son, pray more. Son, why don't you give alms? Or, son, read your Bible. Or, son, treat people nice.

Or, son, I remember one guy, I'll never forget what he said to me. He said, well, tell you what, why don't you come with me in the church? Maybe we'll both find out. Just blind.

Blind. But that's the natural man. Get to heaven? Do, do, do, do, do, do.

It is not what shall we do, it is believe on his son. Look back to John chapter six with me here in verse number 40. And this is given to us throughout the book of John many, many times.

But in John chapter six, verse 40, and this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone, and that includes each one of you here this morning, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. And over and over in the Bible, John 3, 316, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Now I'm going to ask you a question here this morning.

And John chapter six talks about it. I want you to examine your own heart today. Your eternity depends upon the question I'm going to ask you.

You examine your own heart. Look over to John chapter six. This is where your heart ought to be.

Verse 68. John 6, 68, Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Can you make that testimony today? Can you make that testimony today? The testimony, Lord, I believe and am sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

That's a good testimony. And that will be in your heart. You know there are people sitting here today who really aren't sure.

And oftentimes what happens when the Lord does it, persecution will come. Trials will come. And then their faith will waver.

I think it was Brother Caleb last week that said that some seed falls on the stony ground, it shoots up immediately, it looks like it has life, but when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word, by and by it is offended, and it is immediately burnt up because there's no death. You know, this is my testimony. I believe and am sure that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

I can't imagine ever doubting it. And I can see, and I'm trusting in God's grace, that I can see me going to the stake and burning at the stake and not turning back from my faith that I believe that Jesus is the Christ. I don't think a prison cell, martyrdom, burning at the stake is ever going to change my mind.

I know Peter said, you know, I'll never deny it. I don't want to take that position of self-arrogance and pride. I'll never deny it.

But I'll tell you what, deep down in my heart, I am totally convinced Jesus, as David said, died for my sins. He's the Savior of the world. Some of you young people here, are you totally convinced? Maybe I should ask some of the older ones here.

Are you totally convinced? Well, let's jump back here a few verses. In verse number 64, it says, but there are some of you that believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray him. Verse 66, from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.

There probably will be people in this congregation, with the sound of my voice this morning, who when trouble comes and persecution comes and maybe the word of God is preached and it offends you, that you will turn and go, I'm not going to follow that Christ Christianity anymore. You know, what is the motivation for you being here? What is your motivation? Do you have a motivation? I am here because I believe Jesus is the Christ and I am sure of it. He's the son of God.

Or are you here because it's a good place for social life? My friends are here, so I'm here too. It's my social group, so I'm just kind of here. Maybe Jesus is, maybe he isn't, but my friends are here.

It's a social thing. You know, Judas was amongst them. You know why he was amongst them? He liked the money that he carried in the back.

And he killed for it all, some of the money. And it was a good situation for him because he could steal. That was his motive deep down.

I saw the miracles. Yeah, he really amazed this guy, but he didn't believe in his heart. God looks over every one of you right now.

I mean, there's 120 people probably here, 115, and the Lord knows your heart and knows you, yeah, but he knows better than you. And I'm sure that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God. And those of you who don't, you're going to fall away.

The Bible says there's going to be a great falling away in the last days, and there will probably be some here who will fall away. And so salvation is by faith. It's not by words.

By the way, it's not by faith and works. Galatians curses those who add works to the salvation by faith. I remember as a young preacher, I gave an illustration.

It wasn't good. I regret it. Someone came up to me and asked me the question and said, oh, I shouldn't have done that.

But it went on a tape. You know how that is. You can't erase the tape.

But as a young person, I didn't believe it, but I gave an illustration. My illustration was this. You know, you get in a canoe and you need two oars to canoe across the river.

And so I said one oar is faith, the other oar is works. So you got faith and works, you know. We're going to cross the river.

And after the service, someone came up to me and said, are you sure that's right? And then he kept talking to me about it. You know, I shouldn't have done that. It's not a good illustration.

It's not faith and works. Now it is faith. That brings forth works.

But it's not faith and works. Salvation by faith gives us the Holy Ghost who then produces the fruits of the Spirit, the power to live above sin, wisdom, peace, all the good works associated with salvation. That is the outflow of a life that's truly met Jesus and has received the Holy Ghost.

Those works are not our works. They are the works of God in us. The Bible says it's God which works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure.

That's for the Christian. And so I come to Christ by faith. He gives me the Holy Spirit and now God works in me to do good works.

Those good works have nothing to do with my salvation. I was saved based on faith in Jesus. So if you've been saved by faith, you ought to manifest good fruits.

You plant an apple tree in the ground. Maybe it's just about that tall. And you say to your friends, that's an apple tree.

Well, your friends might say, I don't believe that's an apple tree until I see apples on it. Well, one year goes by, there's no apples. Two years goes by, there's no apples.

Three years go by, I'm starting to question whether I should buy an apple tree. Five years, ten years go by, there's no fruit. What are you going to say about that tree? Probably not an apple tree, right? So as a Christian, you're born again.

You're connected now to the vine. You're receiving of the Holy Ghost. Now the fruits should start to come out of your life.

Two, three, four, five, six years go by, there's no fruit. Someone has to say, hey, are you a Christian? Are you an apple tree? So God works in us, but those works that he does does not merit our salvation. Those works are not to save us, but those works are a testimony of God's working in us, in our hearts.

Obedience does not give life. Obedience shows that you have life. If you love me, keep my commandments.

Not if you want to be saved, keep my commandments. Well, you're memorizing, and this is an illustration. The Lord gives us a natural one.

You're memorizing John chapter three, but in John chapter three, we're given a very clear, natural example. Jesus said you must be born again. Now when you're born again, God does the work.

Let me ask you, every one of you probably don't remember it when you were born. Who remembers the day you were born? You were in the womb of your mother. Who did the labor and travail? The mother.

Your mother, my mother. I was there at the birth of my oldest son, Ezra, and I was at the birth of all my children, but my first one, a very traumatic experience, but I noticed that my wife did the labor and the travail, and that little baby Ezra didn't do anything, just, you know, the midwife wasn't down there freeing the midwife. She wasn't down there saying, now, Ezra, listen in there.

Now, your mother is pushing, and you're supposed to be pulling. So pushing and pulling. Ezra, do you hear me? You are birthed into this world physically with no labor, no merit of your own.

It's all your mother. And, of course, your father's probably there sweating, too, in the process. But the first birth was the labor and travail of your mother.

You know, the Bible says in Isaiah 53, God saw the travail of his son, Jesus' son, and he was satisfied. It's not about you. It's about the Lord.

The only thing I can say to you, I think this is a good illustration. Remember this, young people. The only thing I can say to you is, when I was born, they told me this.

I don't remember it. I was in the fetal position, you know, rolled up in a ball. Now, if you want to have a good spiritual birth, I would encourage you to get in the fetal position, too, kind of like this.

God, be merciful to me, a sinner! It's a good place to be. You can be born like that. Get in the fetal position, and God can birth you.

God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And so Jesus travailed on the cross to make it possible for our second birth. Your mother carried you and travailed for you to bring you forth into the natural world.

Jesus Christ travailed and carried you to bring you forth into the spiritual world. Well, let's keep reading verse 30. So they asked Jesus here, Lord, you tell us you're the Son of God.

We should believe in you. Show us a sign. Show us something.

You know, we remember our fathers. God gave them this amazing sign. He brought man and woman together.

After he delivered them, you show us a sign. Show us a sign that you are the Christ. Well, let's look at verse 32 and the Lord's response here.

And we can go back. We don't have the time this morning to go back and look at the Old Testament account. But I'd like to read here verse 32 and verse 33.

I believe you not that bread from heaven. In other words, it wasn't Moses that got that for you, but God sent it. But my father giveth you the true bread from heaven.

For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and gives life unto the world. Young people, think about it this way. In the Old Testament, is your life needed than bread and man and wilderness? Remember the question they asked, can God provide a table for Moses? Yes.

He brought man down from heaven. A little coriander seed tastes like honey. And he fed them in the wilderness.

And he kept them alive physically in the wilderness by this bread that every morning came down except for Saturday morning on the Sabbath, this seed was on the ground like dew. And they went out and gathered. And God fed them and sustained their life physically.

Now, Jesus said in the very same way, I'm coming down from heaven. I am the bread of life. The bread of life is coming down to sustain and to feed your spirit, to keep your spirit alive.

You need your soul to live. And I am the bread that enables your soul to live. If you don't eat of me, if you don't drink of me, you're going to die spiritually.

And so the Lord calls it the true bread. You know, he says true, true grace, true holiness. He talks about true bread.

He's talking about the bread that has to do with the inwards. Yeah, that bread that came down from heaven and fed them outwardly in their physical bodies was sustained. But I've got true bread for you.

I've got bread that's coming down from heaven. Jesus was incarnate. He came birth through the Virgin Mary and he lived before us.

The bread that came down from heaven, he went on a cross and died so that you could live spiritually. Your soul could live forever. By the way, it's all his work.

He is that bread of life. And so as the bread came down from heaven in Moses' day and fed them physically, so this bread comes down and feeds their spiritual need. They live by it.

And you need to live by the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look over to verse 48. We're going to jump ahead.

We're going to talk probably the next two messages on the bread of life, but it's a long chapter here in verse 6. Verse 48, Jesus says, I am the bread of life. Your fathers that eat manna in the wilderness are dead. That's physically, they die.

This is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. Spiritually, he can live forever. I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

If any man eateth this bread, he shall live forever. Do you want to live forever? If you want to live forever, mark it down. You must eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man.

You have to. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eateth this bread, he shall live forever.

And the bread, listen to this, the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. This is that bread, the flesh and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I will give my body for the life of the world.

He's talking here about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the gospel. Let me read a verse here, 2 Timothy 1.10. Paul says, God has called us and saved us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ. Now listen to this, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality through the gospel.

Life and immortality. That's what I want, immortality. He has brought life and immortality through the gospel.

The gospel, the death of Jesus, the burial and the resurrection, that is the gospel. Life and immortality comes through the gospel. Let's keep reading.

I just have a few more verses we'll get through here this morning. Verse 34, then said they unto him, Lord evermore give us this bread. Is that your heart today? I want that bread.

We're going to be eating some bread over here this afternoon. We're going to feed our bellies. That'll last us for maybe five or six hours.

We're going to have to do it over again. But if you eat the bread that comes down from heaven, and you embrace it into your soul and your bosom and say, I believe Jesus Christ is the son of God. I am sure of it.

And that he died for my sins. I, by faith, am forgiven. God can meet you today.

Verse 35, 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. Now these words cometh and believeth, they're in the present continuous.

By the way, whenever you see that ETH ending, that means come and come and come and come. Believe and believe and believe and believe. So as we come and as we believe, we need to continue in that faith.

We are saved and kept saved by continuing in our faith in the gospel. The gospel saves you and the gospel keeps you. And this is important.

I know these are things you probably don't think are important, but Brother David mentioned, we look to the gospel, we look to the promise, that saves you. What keeps you? He is both author and finisher of our faith. It is not the gospel saves you and I must keep myself by my merits and by my works.

No, the gospel saves you and the gospel keeps you. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15.

1 Corinthians 15. There's a lot of verses. We're not going to look at them this morning, but 1 Corinthians 15 tells us this very clearly in verse number one.

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you. That's where I was here before. And I shared with you the gospel, the death, the resurrection, which also you have received.

They received the gospel. They were saved. And wherein you stand, that's how you stand.

You not only received it, but you stand in it. You won't fall if you keep looking to Jesus. By which also you are saved if you keep.

Now this is important. If you keep in memory what I preached unto you, the gospel, unless you have believed in vain, for I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. Here's what Paul says.

If you keep in memory what I preached unto you. Now, I'm a great big fan of the Lord's Supper. Why do we do the Lord's Supper? To remember.

Why does the Lord want us to remember? Your salvation depends on it. You know, we don't come here and remember thou shalt not lie, remember be a generous giver, or remember modesty in dress, or all these things. We don't remember them, but we remember one thing.

And the reason why the Lord wants us to remember one thing is because we are saved if we keep in memory what he did for us, because your salvation doesn't depend upon all these other things. It depends upon that man on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so God has instituted the Lord's Supper not just to give us something to do in church on Sunday, but to constantly remind us, I saved you by my death on the cross.

Don't ever forget that. And if I could say one thing, if I was, this is my last sermon, and I was about ready to die, I would exhort you all, don't ever forget what your salvation depends upon. It's everything right there.

The Lord Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. To keep it in memory.

And that's why we have the Lord's Supper. We are saved by faith, and we are kept by faith in the gospel of the Lord Jesus. Now I'm gonna just read one or two verses.

Let's turn to just one or two, and then I'll close. Let's turn to 1 John 2. John, the same author, is writing here in 1 John 2, in verse number 24. Listen, if you die and go to hell and you're a million years, and you're thinking again about, oh, I remember that church service where the preacher there, I forget the guy's name, clearly taught us that we need to keep the breath of life to live forever.

Here I am a million years in torment. And there'll be some probably here who'll go to hell. But just remember, as Paul said, I want to be free from the blood of old men.

If you go to hell, you go to hell on your own choice, not that you weren't told. But you need to embrace the Lord Jesus and his death, burial, and resurrection. It is true.

1 John 2, verse 24 says, Let that therefore abide in you which you have heard from the beginning. That's the gospel, what you heard in the beginning. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, you also shall continue in the Son and in the Father.

And this is the promise that he had promised us even eternal life. You see, the gospel is our connection to eternal life. And if you break from the gospel, you break from life.

But if you continue in that which was preached at the beginning, the gospel, you also will continue in the Son and in the Father. Well, let's not add anything to salvation. Salvation is God's work.

Man can do nothing to add to it. In the book of Galatians, and we won't read the verses, Paul warns the men, don't add to the salvation that's in Jesus Christ. If you add to it, you become accursed.

All they did was want to add circumcision, simple circumcision to the gospel. What's the big deal? It's a big deal. Can't I do something in my flesh to get some pride, glory? Can't I do something? If you want to be born into the kingdom of God, I encourage you to just curl up in a ball and cry out to God and just tell him you're a sinner and let him birth you into life.

And then once you have life, what happens when you have a child? We start slowly teaching them how to please their mother and father. So the Bible tells us to teach them in all things. Well, I'm going to close.

There's a number of verses we could look at. Galatians chapter one talks about that the Lord wants to present you holy and unblameable if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. And that's what you need to hold to, the hope of the gospel.

Question. How many of you this morning have the same faith Peter had when he said, I am sure, I'm convinced that Jesus is the Christ? Or are you sitting here in your heart and your heart is weak? Let me give you a solution. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God.

If you want to find out who Jesus Christ is, I'll show you. Get into the Bible. I don't have much to say.

It might be just words because you're not searching. You're not searching. Faith comes by hearing.

I tell you what, you go out there and live in the world, you let the world bombard your heart and mind with all of its nonsense, you're going to start losing out in your faith. And some of these kids who go to these colleges, I talk to them on a regular basis. They say, I used to be a Christian.

I grew up and I heard all of that but now I'm not a Christian anymore. You know how that happened? They got underneath all of this nonsense. This teaching, the influences.

It's the gospel. Are you here with another motive? Is there a Judas here that has another motive? Maybe you're not here for the money, carrying the bag, but you're here because this is where my friends are. This is where my social activity is.

My heart is not convinced and the stomach is not convinced who Jesus is. My heart is not convinced that my sins are forgiven through his death bearing resurrection. I'm just kind of here going along.

Amongst the twelve that went with Jesus, one was a betrayer. Amongst a hundred, there's probably ten that go along that are not sure. I want to exhort you and encourage you to be sure that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Let's close with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you again this morning as best as we can that you sent the bread down from heaven to lead us.