Latest / Finding Jesus Again / Episode 11: The Will of God
Transcript
- John Smithson: Welcome everybody to Finding Jesus Again, episode eleven, third week together. It's exciting. Exciting that we've made it this far. Hope you had a great weekend, and I hope you're ready to start another week. Let's start on ⁓ chapter six, starting with verse 15. Again, we're reading verse by verse, we're not skipping anything. We're just seeing what God has to say to us completely unscripted. So Jesus aware that they intended to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone. Wow, I don't know if I've ever really noticed that before. At this point, everything that they'd seen him do, all the miracles and the things he said, they were ready to start a revolution. The problem is that they didn't understand what Jesus had come to do. That it wasn't yet his time to become king in the way that they wanted him to become king. But it says here that they had intended to come and take him by force and to make him king. And so to keep that from happening, he he went on, withdrew himself up to the mountain by himself alone. Now when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. In addition, the sea began to get rough because a strong wind was blowing. Then when they had rowed about twenty five or thirty stadia, they saw Jesus walking on the sea, coming near the boat, and they were frightened, but he said to them, It is I, do not be afraid. So they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. The next day the crowd stood on the other side of the sea, saw that there was no small boat there except one, and that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had departed alone. Other small boats come from Tiberius near to the place where they ate 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 small boats and came to Capernum looking for Jesus. And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus answered them and said, Truly, truly. Remember what I said last week about the truly, truly. When Jesus says, Truly, truly, you need to truly, truly listen, 'cause he's about to say something important. Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate some of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food that perishes But for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father God has set his seal. Therefore they said to him, What are we to do so that we may be may accomplish the works of God? This is another one of those important moments, okay? If we're seeking Jesus, I think that this is one of those answers, those questions that we're all looking for answers for. What are we to do that we may accomplish? Accomplish the works of God. Okay, God, what do you want us to do? He you know, he told him, He said, Don't don't work for the food that perishes, but work for the food of eternal life, which the Son of Man gives you, which Jesus gives you. So he's talking about eternal life here. He's talking about, you know, living forever. He's talking about inheriting the kingdom of God. And they said, Okay, we're in. What do you want us to do? How do we accomplish this? How do accomplish the works of God? This is the part where we really need to listen and pay attention. Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God that you believe in him who he has sent. So they said to him, What then are you doing as a sign so that we may see and believe you? What work are you performing? Our fathers ate the man in the wilderness, that is as at it as it is written, he gave them bread out of heaven to eat. Jesus said to them, Truly, truly I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven, for the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. Then they said to him, Lord, always give us bread. So okay, let's unpack this. It's so simple. It's so not complicated that it actually boggles my mind. What are we to do, God? What are we to do? And Jesus said, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent. Wow. Like how complicated do we make it, guys? How so complicated that we make it? The answer to the qu their question was, believe in me. Jesus said, This is the work that you must do. You must believe in me. And this is a people who have been so inundated with with work, who have been so inundated with like laws. Because you know, the law of Moses was all about laws. And then they created even more laws and even more laws. And so to do the work of God, they had to do A, B, C, D, E, F, G. They had to do all this entire list of things they had to do. And Jesus is saying to them, Okay, you ready? You ready for it? You want to know the work of God? This is what I've called you to do. Believe in me. Guys, listen. You want to know what God has called you to do? Believe in Him. That's what God has called you. It's the greatest calling. It's the highest calling of all of us. Does God want me to be a preacher? Does God want me to be a singer? Does God want me to be this? Does God want me to do this? I'll tell you what God wants you to do. He wants you to believe in him first and foremost. That is what God has called you to do, to believe in him. Then they said, Yeah, but but Moses gave us bread out of heaven. And Jesus said, My Father is going to give you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which has come down out of heaven to give life to the world. He's saying, That's me. You're still focused on the law, you're still focused on what Moses gave you, but I've come to give you grace. I am the one that you need to receive. Verse 35, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will not be hungry, and the one who believes in me will not be thirsty. But I said to you that you have indeed seen me, and yet you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me, he will come to me, and the one who comes to me certainly will not cast out. God will not cast out anyone who comes to him in Jesus' name. Verse thirty eight For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me, and this is the will of Him who sent me, that of everything that He has given me, I will lose nothing, but will raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day. Listen, guys, this is so simple, yes, so profound that it's just really it's grabbing me right now. This is in the moment, this is not scripted, it's spontaneous, but God is telling me right now. That his will is that I just believe in his Son. That I believe in Jesus. Did I believe in Christ? For this is the will of my Father. Jesus is giving us the will of God right here. He's given it to us to receive, to understand. For this is the will of my Father. Look it up. John 6, verse 40. This is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life. It is God's will that I have eternal life. It is God's will that I be saved, that I live forever. It's God's will that I be resurrected. Wow. That is such an amazing thing. The will of God is that I have eternal life. That's amazing. I hope you're receiving that right now. Hope you're finding Jesus again in those words. Past the religion, past everything else, past all the stuff that we have power on top of that. That you have to do and be. I hope you're just receiving that basic truth that it is God's will that you have eternal life. It's God's heart right there. God just showed us his heart right there. Receive that. Thank you for joining us today on Finding Jesus again. You know, I I don't do this on these podcasts, but I'm gonna do it right now. Father, thank you for that truth. Thank you, God, for just Speaking that to our hearts, that it is your will that we have eternal life. That we don't have to prove anything to you, God. We don't have to show you that we're worthy enough that you sent your son to give us eternal life. And if we'll believe on him and receive it, that one of these days that we're going to live with you forever. Thank you, God, for that.