Benjamin Franklin said very famously, in this world, only two things are certain, death and taxes. I wanna add a third thing to that. I'd like to add unbelief. As long as this world remains, there is going to remain unbelief among men. I'm, of course, referring to man's unbelief pertaining to the things of God. First Corinthians 2.14 tells us, the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. Never underestimate the power of man's unbelief. The scriptures testify to it. History testifies to it. Man himself testifies to it. Case in point, I would ask you all to turn with me to John's Gospel chapter six. John chapter six. You've heard of man versus beast. You've heard of man versus nature, man versus machine. Well, here's a pretty well-known passage of scripture that pits man against miracle. As Jesus Christ walked this earth throughout the days of His earthly ministry, He gave nearly every man He ever came upon a valid rationale and reason to believe upon Him. As Christ taught, and as Christ loved, Christ performed miracles. These miracles, every miracle ever performed by Jesus, they had a manifold purpose. Yes, they showed his compassion for people. Jesus had a deep compassion for people. One might think of the widow of Nain. How Jesus sighed at the thought of this widow losing her only son. And at the height of compassion raised her son from the dead. And yes, his miracles were even sometimes used as illustrations. One might think of the cursing of the fig tree. But most of all, the miracles of Jesus Christ proved His power. They showed His credentials. They testified as to who Jesus was. We could say that the grand purpose behind Christ's miracles, simply put, was so that men would believe. So that men might believe in Him. So that they might believe in His Word. And as powerful as the signs and wonders that Jesus performed were, Sadly, they often prove to be no match for man's natural intrinsic unbelief. Here in John 6 we have the factual account of Jesus feeding more than 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. And then gathering up 12 baskets full of leftovers. Now this is miraculous supernatural power. And let me say up front, if there's anyone here who does not believe that this miracle took place, you're starting this off with a huge disadvantage. And I would add that you're in the ironic position of needing to see just how much you have in common with this group of people who actually partook of this miracle by eating of these loaves and fish. The title of this message this morning is Man Versus Miracle. Or if you like a lengthier title, you could call it the power of man's unbelief versus the power of Christ's miracles. See, this is a battle. This is a fight. It's not the fight of the century. This is the fight of the bi-millennium. And as the bout is about to begin, let me introduce to you the contenders. In this corner over here we have the natural man. This man is born into slavery to sin. He's got the same nature as his forefather Adam who plunged the entire human race into a rebellion against its creator. goes astray from the womb-speaking lies, Psalm 58, 3. This man has a deceitful heart, Jeremiah 17. This man, whose mind is set on the flesh, is hostile toward God and doesn't subject himself to the law of God, Romans 8, 7. And this man, according to Ephesians 2, is spiritually dead in his trespasses and sins. This is man in all of his unbelief. Now in this corner we have God wrought miracles. Signs and wonders they're called in scripture. Things that cannot be performed by any mere man. Instantaneous healing to the sick. Sight given to the blind. Demons cast out. Lepers cleansed. Crippled limbs straightened. The dead raised to life. All done by the incarnate son of God by the power of his word. In John 6, immediately following the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus, perceiving that this crowd of satisfied diners are going to want to take Him by force to make Him king, leaves. The text says he goes off, he withdraws to the mountain by himself. His disciples, no doubt upon his orders, get into their boat, and they begin to make their way from where they were, somewhere on the eastern shore of Galilee, across to the western shore, to the town of Capernaum. This, of course, leads to the well-known account of Jesus walking upon the water, walking upon the Sea of Galilee, and then joining his disciples in the boat when they're three to four miles offshore. Then in verses 22-24, John's narration tells us that the crowds who ate of the loaves and fish realized that even though Jesus had not gotten into the boat with his disciples, he was gone. He was no longer there. And so they began to board boats. to go to Capernaum to look for Jesus. I don't know how they knew he was in Capernaum, but somehow they knew to find him there. Verse 25. When they found him on the other side of the sea, probably in the synagogue at Capernaum, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you get here? It's always a curious thing when a crowd speaks in scripture, isn't it? It's probably not necessary for me to note this, but it's obvious that this entire crowd of people, upon finding Jesus in Capernaum, did not all say in unison, Rabbi, when did you get here, right? We can safely assume that when the crowd speaks, it's probably one, maybe a few people speaking on behalf of the crowd, voicing the general consensus of all the people present. Kind of like the way Peter used to do for the other 11 disciples. He used to speak up for them, right? I say this so that you can keep it in mind because what follows is a dialogue that the Lord has with this crowd. So again, they ask him, Rabbi, when did you get here? And the Lord doesn't answer their question. He doesn't say when he arrived. He doesn't say how he arrived. He also doesn't say, you know, it's good that you folks are seeking me because those who seek me will find me. He doesn't say any of that. Look at what he does say in verse 26. Jesus answered them and said, truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Jesus knows the heart of every man. He knows your heart. He knows my heart. He knows the very motivations of our hearts. He knows our motivations better than we do. And you see, knowing the hearts of this crowd, he doesn't mince words here. He says, you people partook of a miracle that I performed yesterday. And yet what drove you to seek for me was not what the miracle proved, but what the miracle provided. Have you ever been invited to an event where maybe the event itself didn't really excite you? But you knew the food was going to be exceptional. Maybe, I don't know, guys, maybe we're a little more accustomed to doing this. Remember, gentlemen, remember the time that you were invited to your wife's second cousin's daughter's brother-in-law's wedding? And the last thing you wanted to do was spend your Saturday traveling to this wedding, right? But the only consolation you had was, oh, the food is going to be top notch. Right? It's kind of like that. But it's much worse. Because the main event here is Jesus Christ producing enough food to feed thousands of people out of just five poor man's loaves. Barley loaves were considered the poor man's bread. Five loaves and two fish. And just for the record, these two fish were not a pair of 300 pound prize marlin. Okay? How do we know this? Well, because of what we're told in verse 9. Verse 9 tells us that one of the disciples, I think it was Andrew, he found a lad. The Greek word is pedarion. It's a small boy, perhaps 9, 10, 11 years old. And this small boy had these five loaves and two fish with him. Probably for the purpose of selling. And no doubt he was paid for by the disciples out of their little money box for these items. So this was not a boy carrying around two 300 pound prize marlin with him. So Jesus speaks the truth to the crowd. He reveals their true motivation for seeking him. Obviously they saw him as a prophet, right? Verse 14 tells us that. They saw him as a prophet. They may have seen him as a political messiah, able to meet their temporal needs. But they failed to see Jesus as the one who can satisfy man's deepest needs. Now what are man's deepest needs? Man's deepest needs are spiritual in nature. And they failed to see him as one who could meet man's deepest needs. So in the next verse, Jesus is going to instruct them. He's going to counsel them. Verse 27, he says, Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. In essence, Jesus is saying, you people, you're missing the forest through the trees here. There's something greater than a free meal before you here. He says, your work, the energy you expounded to row across Galilee to get here to Capernaum. He says, that should have been to seek me. not to seek the temporal benefits that I can provide for you. The food was the lesser provision meant to point you to the greater provision. And then he says, the Son of Man is offering to give you this provision. And, you know, here we see the wisdom of Christ's use of words right here. We see how he compels men always according to their present mindset. These people come to Jesus for physical food. He points them to spiritual food, right? It's like when the Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water, right? What did the Lord point her to? Living water. It's like when Nicodemus came to Jesus, a man trusting in his Jewish birth, and Jesus points him to what? A new birth. The Lord always met people where they were. He always met people exactly where they were in life. He was always able to answer what they were looking for with what they really needed. We should take our cue from this. Christians should take our cue from our Lord here, right? When we come across the earthly treasure seeker, we should point them to the treasure that is found in heaven. When we come across the hedonist, You know, the man living for pleasure in this world, we should point him to the eternal pleasure found in Christ. When we come across the sad, the lonely, the dejected of this world, we should point them to the one who promises never to leave or forsake his people. Jesus makes it clear that what these people need most, He has, and He is more than willing to give. Verse 27b, here's how He's able to give. In 27b, Jesus said, For on Him, that is on Me, the Father, not my father Joseph, but the Father God, has set His seal. In days of old, ancient days, whenever a king sent a courier with a message, the king would seal that message with his special, unique seal. Oftentimes, it would be sealed with wax, and he would take maybe his signet ring with that special mark on it, and he would impress his mark into that wax. And God forbid, anyone but the person who's supposed to receive that message would open that seal, right? He's saying here that the message, which is always identified by the authenticity of the king, he says, I'm not just sent by the Father. He's saying I'm sealed by the Father. I'm not only the sent one. I'm not only the courier. I'm the message. It's me. Jesus is saying I alone am commissioned and appointed and designated and sealed to be the giver of eternal life to men. What you saw me do yesterday, that speaks volumes. That is evidence that I am of God. I am of the Father. Believe the evidence. This was a work of God that you witnessed. Look at the bigger picture here. Now, his challenges met with a question in verse 28. Therefore, they said to him, What shall we do? Now, this is a good start to a question, right? Many a man have come to know the forgiveness of sin and the glory of Christ in salvation because they started off with this question. What shall I do? What shall we do? What must I do? But in this case, the question only seems to fall back on the natural man's quest for self-righteousness. What shall we do, they ask, so that we may work the works of God? They say, you have our attention. Eternal food, food that endures to eternal life given by God, we're there. You have our attention, just tell us what we have to do to earn this. Tell us what we have to do to get this and we'll try to do it. We'll do our best to do it. There's kind of a familiar ring here to a certain rich man that encountered Jesus, right? He came to Jesus and he said, what am I still lacking? Yeah, God's law, I've kept that from the time I was a baby, but what's missing? Where's the piece to the puzzle that's missing? What do I yet have to do? And sadly, that was a man who went away in unbelief. This expression that we may work the works of God, it's fixed on a performance formula. The works of God being the works that God commands in order to earn this food that endures to eternal life. What works must we perform to meet the demands of God, they're asking. And of course the short answer is none, right? Because a man by his works can never please God. Romans 3.20, by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in God's sight. Without faith, says Hebrews 11, it's impossible to please God. So Jesus, again, in meeting these people where they're at, he answers them in verse 29. Look at verse 29. But he changes their works of God, plural, the works that God commands, he changes that to the work of God singular, the work that God does. Verse 29, Jesus has answered and said to them, this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent. See, Jesus is pointing them to himself, the one who is both sent and sealed by the Father, by the eternal God. He calls them to faith in himself, He calls them to believe continually, to trust without wavering who He is and what He says. He calls them not just to believe Him. but to believe in him, to believe upon him. There is a huge difference between believing Jesus and believing upon Jesus. He is calling these people to put all of their trust in the one who says, I give the food which endures to eternal life. And this faith, he says, this believing trust, he says, it is the work of God. That is God's work. He says, you must believe, but it is God who kindles that faith in you. And faith, faith is the antithesis of work. Faith is the opposite, the polar opposite of work. Romans 4, 5, but to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. Let me read that again. But to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. You can try to do your best to obey God. You can do your utmost to try to keep the commands of God. You try your hardest. But I'm telling you, what you do will never be counted by God as real righteousness. Not until you first come to true saving faith in His Son, in Jesus Christ. When you can exercise a real trust A real trust in His works, what He has done, in His righteousness, in His faith, in His, I'm sorry, in His sacrificial death. Then, and only then, will that faith in Him be counted by God as your personal righteousness. Then, and only then, will you begin to do the works of God. But you see, believing upon Christ, this is a man's first step toward heaven. Works are going to follow, always. But believing upon Christ has to come first. And you see, having witnessed the teaching of Christ, and having witnessed the unlimited power of Christ just yesterday, and now hearing from him the prescription that will eternally supply every man with everything necessary for life and godliness, We're blown away by their response to this in verse 30. It just it knocks you over. It comes like a punch to the gut. Verse 30. So they said to him, What then do you do for a sign so that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Like, really? J.C. Ryle said nothing so thoroughly reveals the hearts of men as a summons to believe on Christ. You know, when you think about it, the Lord probably could have told these people to do all kinds of religious calisthenics. He could have told them to jump through all kinds of religious hoops, and they probably would have sought to comply. But the summons to believe alone, just to believe, it begins to expose the real hardness of the human heart. You can't help but think, what audacity. I mean, just yesterday, these very people were marveling, right? They said, truly, this is the prophet that has come into the world. These people were prepared to make him their king. Now they're saying, come on, let's see you do it again. Come on, come on, you're asking something of us. You're asking us of this great faith. Well, what are you gonna do to gain this faith from us? What are you gonna do for us? Come on, seeing is believing. Do something miraculous and then I'll believe. Then we'll be prepared to believe when we see you do something miraculous. Well, what is this? This is man's unbelief in action. This is man's unbelief in full swing. People often think, you know, if God would just show himself to me, just once, then I'll believe. I've heard people say this. I had a man in my shop one day and I told this man, he is one of the angriest men I've ever heard, angry man. And I was speaking to him about the gospel and how God can just radically convert that heart of anger into a heart that is peaceful. And he said to me, you know what? He said, God shows himself right now, then I'll believe. I couldn't convince this man, and you can't convince any of these people, you cannot convince them that even if an angel should appear in the light, in glowing blue light, appear in the room in glowing light, this would not change the heart of unbelief. It simply will not. I remember reading about the infamous militant atheist, Madeline Murray O'Hare, One of her sons became a Christian. One of her sons was saved. His name was Bill, Bill Murray O'Hare. He wrote a book several years ago about what life was like growing up with his infamous mother. And in the book, he recounts the time that his mother ran outside during a severe electrical thunderstorm. She ran outside cursing God, daring him, if he existed, to strike her with lightning. A few minutes later, she came walking into the house, soaking wet, and she looked at her young son, and she said, you see, there's no God. The irony of it is, you know, if this foolish woman had been struck and killed, then she would have believed, right? You see, just like Jesus dealing with men when he walked this earth during those three years of his earthly ministry, God has given every single man a valid rationale and reason to believe. Every man. I mean, all you have to do really is look at the creation around you, right? Just look around you, especially down here in Lancaster. It's beautiful down here. Creation, it screams designer. It screams it. The heavens are declaring the glory of God. It screams creator. I mean, you can look at the Grand Canyon, one of the largest expanses in our country, or you can look at a single living cell under an electron microscope. It doesn't matter. From the greatest to the smallest, you'll find everything that you need to see and believe. But guess what? Seeing is not believing. Why is that? Well, Romans 1 tells us man is a natural born truth suppressor. Truth can be screaming out all around him, and basically what natural man does is say, I can't hear you, I can't see you. Truth screams in his ear, but he suppresses the truth. With every reason to believe, we can see and still not believe. Seeing is not believing. In fact, even this cliche, seeing is believing, it's kind of a gross inversion of God's order. Because in God's order, faith comes first. First faith, then sight. Blessed are those who did not see, and yet believed. And this crowd of unbelieving Jews and Galileans, in the face of great light, they partook of a miracle, just yesterday, that they saw with their own eyes. but they're digging in their heels in their unbelief. Someone once said, none are so blind as those who will not see. You see, these people, they will not see because they have an agenda. They have set their hearts and minds on an agenda. They have one goal before them, and it has left them with tunnel vision. And it comes out in verse 31. Look at verse 31. They say, our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, he gave them bread out of heaven to eat. You see, Jesus, in essence, he had said to them, you come to seek me for food which perishes. I got something better. But they still have their minds set on their agenda. They still have their minds set on what they came for. And this obstinate group of benefit seekers, they actually quote scripture to try to get it. Now can you imagine quoting scripture to the incarnate word of God to try to get what you wanted? The devil tried this once. Satan tried this once. And they do the same thing. They quote scripture to the incarnate word of God. See, he's pointing them to himself. They're pointing him to Moses. They bring up the manna in the wilderness. They say, yeah, you managed to feed over 5,000 people yesterday, but look at what Moses did. Moses fed all of Israel for four decades, 40 years. It's almost as if to say Jesus has fed his thousands, but Moses his hundred thousands. Yeah, you fed us with some loaves and fish yesterday, but Moses fed all of Israel with bread out of heaven. Listen, if you're going to make yourself out to be better than Moses, Jesus of Nazareth, You better prove it. You better be prepared to prove it. You better start performing for us. You better feed us. We want to be fed. What an affront to God. And what a testimony as to the deadness of man's heart. Right? The power and the steadfastness of man's unbelief. Don't you wonder at Christ's patience I mean, how at this point is he even gonna continue dialoguing with this bunch, right? And yet he does. He speaks truth to them, missing a beat. He just masterfully, perfectly answers them. When many of us would be caught like a deer in the headlights wondering what to say to these people, well, he just simply and easily speaks truth to them. Verse 32. Jesus then 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. He corrects them on at least two fronts here. Jesus says to them, first of all, it was not Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven. It was not Moses who gave the manna. He says it was God. It was my father, God. And, you know, that bread, it was for feeding the body. It was a temporal feeding of the body. What would happen if that manna wasn't eaten? It would get wormy and it would rot. Secondly, he says, you people have to understand my father is offering you the true bread. It is my father who gives the true bread, the genuine article, the real stuff, the bread that endures to eternal life, the bread that will never perish, the bread given to feed the hungry soul. He says, this is the bread of God. Verse 33, for the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. Now we know what the Lord means by these words because we know what he's about to say in verse 35, right? In verse 35, he's going to say, I am the bread. I am the bread of life. But these folks, they're still stuck on their agenda. And you know, normally we'd probably be encouraged by the response in verse 34, right? Normally, it would be an encouraging thing to hear what they say. Then, Lord or Sir, always give us this bread. And at that point, you're tempted to think, oh, they get it. They get it. They know where he's going with this. These people want Jesus, right? But hold on. Turn back a few pages to John 4, 15. See, in John 4, 15, you see a similar response coming from the Samaritan woman at the well. In John 4, 15, she said, sir, give me this water. But then she follows that up with, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw. You see, she didn't get it yet. She will eventually, but not yet. And they don't understand yet either. They don't get it. Lord, they say, always give us this bread. The old commentator Lenski calls this their unspiritual denseness. He's not saying that as a derogatory term. That was just a quaint way that it would have been spoken, their unspiritual denseness. Remember 1 Corinthians 2.14, the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him. Well, that verse continues to say, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned. You see, there's a real sense where the natural man can no more understand spiritual realities than a four-year-old can understand a university lecture on quantum physics. Why is that? It's because there's a spiritual deadness within them. There is a spiritual deadness. Ephesians 2, men are dead in their trespasses and sins. You can't awaken a man, you can't awaken a dead man. You go up to a man lying in a casket at a funeral and you blow a trumpet in his ear, he will not wake up. Jesus' description of this bread, you see, this wonderful bread, it's captivating, it's enticing to them. But there's a sense where these folks are spiritually dead. And their use of this word, always, evermore, Lord, always, evermore, give us this bread, I think it sort of gives them away. It sort of reveals, much like the Samaritan woman, that their desire was for a permanent cure for their physical hunger. They still don't get it. And so our Lord makes one of the clearest statements regarding his identity. He had said to the woman at the well, he had said, I am. He said to her, I am the Messiah that you're talking about. And at that point, she got it. At that point, for her, the lights were turned on. And in verse 35, again, he says to these people, he says, I am. I am the bread of life. I am. That was to identify himself as God. And any Jew would have understood the implication of this. I am this bread that endures to eternal life. I am the bread out of heaven. I am the bread that gives life to the world. I am the great I am. It's me. I am. And listen. If you don't remember anything else from all that's been said so far this morning, if you can't remember anything else, I urge you to remember the words that Jesus says next. Jesus says, he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst. If you remember nothing else from this morning, remember these words, memorize them. Speak them back to yourself. Underline them in your Bible. Put them on an index card and put it next to your bed. Put it on your kitchen cabinets. He who comes to me will not hunger and he who believes in me will never thirst. If there's someone here and you know anything at all of a spiritual hunger, a spiritual thirst. If you've been wondering about the spiritual realm, If you've been thinking about what's going to happen on the other end of this world, if you've been thinking, what is all this about angels? What is all this about demons? What is all this about eternity? What's going to happen to me after this life? If you want to know why you do the things you do, if you want to know what this life is all about, if you ever feel like you're just kind of lost and you're seeking truth and you don't have all the answers, these words are never going to fail you. They'll never fail you. Jesus is saying, come to me. And your hunger and thirst will be forever satisfied. Jesus says, come to me and your quest for truth will be over. It'll be done. The seeking will be no more. You will be eternally satiated. Jesus couldn't have been any clearer as he spoke these words to that crowd that day. And yet the very next word that we read is that sad little word, but. Sad little word. The word but testifies to the stranglehold of power that unbelief has on every man, woman, boy, and girl. Verse 36, but I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. You've seen me in person. You've watched me do the impossible. You've seen me perform miracles, and yet you remain steadfast in your unbelief. You see, in this bout, man versus miracle, unbelief has won. Unbelief has won. And lest anybody think that this is an isolated incident in scripture, I would just quickly draw your attention to Luke's witness in Luke 6. You don't need to turn there. In Luke 6, Luke gives us the account of a man in a synagogue on the Sabbath who had a withered hand, a shriveled up little palsied hand, and it was a useless hand. And in the midst of Sabbath synagogue worship, Jesus told this man to stretch out his hand and it was immediately healed. And here's the response of the Jewish leaders in the synagogue after watching this miracle take place. Verse 11, but they themselves were filled with rage and discussed together what they might do to Jesus. We can look at Mark's witness, Mark chapter 5. Again, you don't need to turn there. Our Lord had just cast demons out of a man, sent those demons into a herd of swine grazing on a hill. This herd of swine took a suicidal plunge into the sea. And here's the response of the people, recorded in verse 17. And they began to implore Jesus to leave, to go away. One more, John 11, Jesus just raised Lazarus from the dead. Here's the response of the chief priests and the Pharisees. Here's what they say. What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, all men will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our place in our nation. Man's unbelief, it's more powerful than supernatural miracles. The power of unbelief cannot be overcome by signs and wonders. This is why we put no trust in faith healers. The Benny Hins and the Peter Popoffs of the world. Because signs and wonders have a stranglehold on men. I'm sorry, unbelief has a stranglehold on men and signs and wonders cannot change that. Nor can unbelief be overcome by human persuasion. You can't decision someone out of their unbelief. You can't shake the unbelief out of a person. Do you ever wanna do that? Do you ever wanna take a loved one, someone that you love dearly, and just shake them by the shoulders? Maybe your children or a parent. Just shake them and say, believe! You have to believe! Well, you can't do that. I mean, you can do that, but it isn't gonna work. You can't shake, you can't shock, you can't shame or sham the unbelief out of anybody. If men could have real encounters with Jesus Christ and his miracles and come away unbelieving, then we shouldn't be surprised when we have to face it, right? Don't be surprised at man's unbelief or its enslaving power. It is very powerful. So I guess at this point we're left asking like the disciples once did, who then can be saved? If unbelief has such a stranglehold on men, who then can be saved? And here's the answer, look at verse 44 of chapter 6. Verse 44, the words of Jesus, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. and I will raise him up on the last day. You see, there's one miracle that overcomes the power of unbelief. It's when God draws a sinner to himself in electing love. Jeremiah 24 7, God said, I will give them a heart to know me. For I am the Lord, and they will be my people, and I will be their God. You see, the one miracle that no man can resist is the miracle of God looking upon a man, and through his spirit, changing that heart of unbelief into a heart of faith in Jesus Christ. Christian, marvel at God's electing love. Think much of God's electing love. Ponder God's electing love. Meditate on God's electing love and give thanks. You were just as unbelieving as anybody else, right? What made the difference? Grace. Grace made the difference. Grace overpowered your unbelief. Grace gave you a hunger for the bread of life. Why was I made to hear thy voice and enter while there's room, when thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come? God's amazing grace. While you were yet an enemy, an enemy, God miraculously drew you to seek life through His Son. Jesus said, he who comes to me will never hunger. Christian, you came to him hungry, didn't you? Did you come to him hungry? And you never want to go back, do you? Any any Christian in the room ever want to go back? You want to go back to being the old man, the old woman? Why? Why is that? Why is it the Christians never want to go back? Because they're satisfied. Because they're fully and totally satisfied, right? Is Jesus Christ worthy of your trust? Is He worthy? Is He worth believing upon? Of course He is. How else can you explain the fact that all stripes of people come to saving faith in Jesus Christ, right? All kinds of people find their satisfaction in Christ and never go back. I mean, people from all walks of life, people with all kinds of backgrounds, every tribe, tongue, nation, children come to Christ, old people come to Christ, simpletons come to Christ, and PhDs come to Christ, and with Christ they remain, why? Because only Jesus can satisfy the hungry, thirsty soul. That's why. Have you come to Christ? Now I'm talking to you, personally. Have you come to Christ? If not, why? What are you waiting for? Surely you're not waiting for a sign, right? You can't possibly be waiting for a sign. Haven't you seen enough? Have you seen others come to Christ? Have you seen the miracle of God's electing love upon sinners? You have. Surely you don't think that you have more time to waste, do you? That you can just kind of take your time. Well, when I'm ready, when it hits me. I hope you don't think that way. Turn with me please to John 12. John chapter 12. Look at a few verses here with me. In John chapter 12, beginning at verse 37. Verse 37, though Jesus had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. Why weren't those people believing in Him? Look at verse 38. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet, which he spoke, and here's what he spoke. Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Now listen to this. For this reason they could not believe. For Isaiah said again, now listen again to this, he, that is God, has blinded their eyes and he hardened their hearts so they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted and I heal them. You see these words? When men continually and willfully shut their ears and their eyes to the truth, Isaiah is saying God will give them over. He will give them over to their unbelief and he will purposefully leave them in that condition to their own destruction. That's fearful. And you know what else that is? Well, here's what it does. It obliterates. It completely blows out of the water the I can come to God on my terms and in my time philosophy. You can't come to God on your terms and in your time. You know, sometimes people are led to believe. They can believe whenever they choose to believe. They can believe whenever they want to believe. Oh, don't worry. When your time comes, you'll believe. When you're ready, when you're ready, you will believe. That's just not the truth. You know, they paint the picture of Jesus just weakly knocking outside the door of the heart, just waiting to come in, just patiently knocking, knocking. And, you know, when you're ready, then Jesus will come in and sup with you. That's not reality. The reality is those who continue to turn away from the light of the gospel may find themselves hardened like concrete in their unbelief. Now, that's frightening. I'm not talking just unwilling to come, I'm talking unable to come. Remember the man in the iron cage from Pilgrim's Progress, a man not only unwilling but unable to repent. And yet, you see, here's the thing, yet you know that you will be accountable to God for your sin of unbelief. You will still be just as accountable to him. You still have to answer to God for what you know and for what you've seen. And I dare say you've seen enough. You've seen enough to be accountable. You know, you can't use the excuse, well, God hasn't drawn me. God hasn't hit me. It hasn't come to me. You can't use that excuse. You've seen enough to know that God is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. You've come to know enough to know that refusing to look to Christ by faith is going to have eternal consequences. And you also know that He calls you to repentance and to faith in His Son today. He's calling you today, and you know that. Let me ask. Do you really believe in the miracles of Christ? Do you really believe that He fed thousands of people with just morsels of food? Do you really believe that He walked upon water? Or in your mind are you trying to come up with some kind of scientific explanation for this? Or do you really believe that He could walk on the surface of water? Do you really believe that He ordered the wind and the waves to cease and they obeyed Him? See, because if you don't believe these things, how are you ever gonna believe that He is God's salvation offered to you? My friend, whoever you are, if you're here this morning and you are right now under the powerful grip of unbelief, let me urge you to cry out to God to change you. Just cry out that God would change that heart of unbelief. You know, there was a man in the Bible who once confronted Jesus. Actually, he was confronted with his believing upon Jesus. And you know what he said? He said to Jesus, I do believe! But then he said, help my unbelief. You can do the same thing. You can say the same thing that this man said. You can say to God, I want to believe. I really want to believe. I don't think I do, but I want to. And you can cry out to him, help my unbelief. Last time I was here, my niece was visiting. I don't know if many of you got a chance to meet my niece. My niece lived several of her young adult years in the grip of unbelief. She grew up around Christianity all her life, but she was living in that powerful grip of unbelief, and one day she began to ask God a question. She began to pray, and here's what she said to God. She said, I know enough to know that I should need you, but I really don't feel my need for you. And I wonder if anybody here is feeling like that. I know I should feel a need for God, but I don't really feel that need. Well, she began to pray, please help me feel my need of you, please. I know I'm supposed to need you, I don't feel it. Help me need you. Well, very soon after that, her husband came home from work one day and sat down and said, I don't want to be married anymore. They had just had a baby, just had a little girl. And her husband said, I'm done. I don't want to be married to you anymore. I'm leaving. Well, my niece said, okay, God, I need you now. She bowed the knee to Christ. And she hasn't had one day of regret since. Not one day. Never a day of regret. In fact, I distinctly remember her calling me on the phone and saying, Uncle Tony, I'm scared that my husband might come back to me, because if he comes back to me, I might be tempted to leave God, and I don't want to do that. She actually said that. He never came back, and she never had a day of regret. She lives today as a thriving, devoted child of God, following Christ at any cost. Just confess your sin of unbelief. Just say, God, help my unbelief. Help me. Help me look to Jesus Christ by faith. I know that that is what I need. Lord, always give me this faith. Well, in closing, I want to remind you all that one can approach God in two ways. One can approach God this way. They can come to God and they can say, show yourself to me and then I'll believe. or they can come to God and they can say, please show yourself to me. Please, give me the faith to believe and then I know when I believe I will see you. God will always resist that first approach, but God will never resist the second approach. A humble and contrite heart, God will always answer. I urge you to go to him today and may the miracle of God's electing love triumph over the power of unbelief in your life. Let's pray. Lord, you are the sovereign God. You give life and you take life away. You look upon the sons of men, Father. Oh, the pictures you must see when you look upon men. You being too holy, too perfect to even look upon sin. What you must see when you look upon this earth. And yet, Father, you do look upon some and you pluck them like brands out of a fire. And Father, many of us sit here today as those who have been plucked out of the fire. And Lord, how could we begin to possibly even begin to thank you for what you've done for us by feeding us upon the bread of life? Oh, Lord, please. Evermore, give us this bread. Evermore, give us the faith that is in Jesus Christ and for our loved ones here that may not believe. Oh, Lord, feed them. Give them hungry souls that apply to you for fresh grace and faith in your son. For it's in his name we ask. Amen.