Oh, to know the presence of the Lord, that's a heart cry, and that presence is the more that we need. And what a precious truth. It's interesting, I have not mentioned the music recordings that are back at the table yet. But there is a recording back there called The Presence of the Lord. It was the first thing on my stack here. And the first song on it is called Knowing Christ. That very song. And it is that heart cry to know the presence of the Lord. This is a recording that is a recording of prayers for revival. All 15 songs are prayers. They're heart cries for revival. Like, Oh, for a closer walk with thee. Ever had that yearning, that longing for that closer walk with God? There's a song here called, Lord, I Hear of Showers of Blessing. And that was not as well known. It came from 1860. A lady in London had just heard of the great 1859 revival in Northern Ireland. And she said, Lord, I hear of showers of blessing. And she goes on in the song and says, let thy blessing fall on me. What a prayer. And so that's on here. Pass me not, O gentle Savior. Tremendous words. I think that was played earlier this week. Create in me a clean heart. Search Me, O God. Of course, the words from the scripture, the one who put that together in English metrical form is J. Edwin Orr, the foremost revival historian from the 20th century. What a revival song that is. Breathe on me, breath of God, and so on. Spirit of God, descend upon my heart. Here's one called, O Breath of Life, in 1906. There was the last national move of revival in the United States of America. And during that year when all that was happening, a dear lady was stirred and she wrote those words. Oh, breath of life comes sweeping through us. Revive thy church with life and power. And so on. And then a couple of songs that my wife and I have written, Wind of the Spirit and Rend the Heavens. But these are all prayers for revival. Now, the burden behind that recording, where it originated, was God placing the burden to have a musical way to stir God's people to pray for revival. And I remember a lady came to me. She said, I've been listening to that recording. She said, you know what? It's stirring me to pray for revival. Well, hallelujah. That is the burden behind that recording. So that's vocal solo. This is Marilyn singing, and it's with a meditative type instrumentation that would fit with the prayers. It would be piano and cello, piano and violin, piano and clarinet. By the way, Jose, that was a great blessing tonight, and so on. Then we have a recording called What a Savior, What a Friend. These are piano stylings arranged by Mary Lynn of well-known hymns and gospel songs. Since it's just the piano line, the instrumental line, well-known songs, hopefully you can be thinking of the words and be blessed by the message as you hear the musical rendition of those good old songs that have passed the test of time. We have the biography called Mountain Rain, James O. Frazier, one of the Lisu people in western China. And there are two major things that come out in this story. One is the concept of the prayer of faith. What is that? And he walks you through a journey where God taught him the prayer of faith. It's outstanding. There's actually a little booklet on the table also called the prayer of faith and his excerpts from his journal on the same subject. This is his life story that puts it all together and gives you the background. And then the other major concept that comes through is spiritual warfare. He was seeking to win demon worshipers to Jesus Christ. It was a war. Last night, we talked about the authority truth. We looked at it defensively in the aspect of fiery darts and those kinds of, you know, there's an offense level to that truth as well. And he walks you through that very, very helpful. We have a book called The Life Changing Power of the Holy Spirit. What this is, is the author has taken well-known men from the past, like Jonathan Goldforth, A.J. Gordon, F.B. Meyer, D.L. Moody, G. Campbell Morgan, and on and on that list could go, and she She sets the chapters up where it's as if she's interviewing this person on a given subject, some aspect of the Holy Spirit and the ministry of the Spirit, the Spirit for life and so forth, and it's as if she's interviewing where she asks a question and then she pulls the answer right out of their writings. It's masterfully done and very helpful because of that unique arrangement. We have the book called Working With God Through Prayer, D. Edmund Hebert. He's written a number of commentaries. But this book on prayer is just outstanding. It's not written on the technical level like he writes the commentaries. It's written on the devotional level. And it is just, it's faith. building, and some tremendous illustrations in there as well. The one last thing I want to mention tonight before we get into the message, we do have a magazine called Revival. I don't know if you're aware of it or not, but the first Christian magazine on American soil before we became a nation was a Revival magazine. It was actually called Christian History. Thomas Prince, a pastor in Boston, was the editor. The First Great Awakening had begun, and he was burdened that people find out about what God was doing. And so he wrote to pastors where he knew God was pouring out of spirit, and he said, would you give us an account? And he began to compile these and began to send them out as a magazine to stir the people of God. Now, you can imagine what it would be like to pick up a magazine and start reading that God is pouring out His Spirit in this town, in this town, in this town, and it's not too far from, say, Wildwood and the suburbs or whatever that you live in. You know, would it not stir you to cry out, Lord, don't pass us by? And that was Thomas Prince's burden in printing the magazine. Really, it's that similar burden for this magazine. It's for those with a heart for revival. We have accounts of revival, both past and present, that we print in the magazine. You say, well, are there any present accounts? Absolutely. How many of you have ever heard of the Chin Hills Revival? All right, Pastor Hess. It is one of the greatest revivals in our generation. It took place in 2005 and 2006. On the other side of the planet, among Baptists in the chin hills of Burma, today called Myanmar. And 30 percent of the capital city of the Chin state was converted to Jesus Christ. God began to move in such a way they had 400 consecutive nights of meetings. And the story of intercession that leads up to it, to me, is the most thrilling part of it. And it's glorious. I've had the privilege of meeting two people who preached in the Chin Hills Revival, and so on. But that was printed in one of the past magazines. So it's that, as well as articles about Revival, preaching for Revival, articles that deal with various aspects of Revival, and so on. It's a gift-supported magazine. That is, individuals, and primarily churches, support the magazine, as well as some advertisers who pay for their advertisements. It allows us to send the magazine out free of charge. If you would like to be on the list, You can sign up at the back table there. It comes out as often as the Lord provides. And right now that is about, I would say, two times a year. If you have any questions, you can ask me afterwards about that. All right, tonight, John, chapter six. John, chapter six, in the word of God tonight. Now, friends, we have been dealing with the concept of revival, unfolding it as it relates to that personal revival, when it happens to many at once. Obviously, there's those other levels of extent. There's the whole dynamic of the outpouring of the Spirit, which we touched on Sunday morning. But we've been unfolding the dynamic of what happens when somebody steps into the revived life and knows it based on the sure words of God. And we saw that the clean heart is the way in. Brokenness is always the way into blessing. According to Isaiah 57, verse 15, God dwells with those that are of a humble and contrite heart to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite once. So if we are arrogant and proud, we don't know anything about revival. Brokenness. Honesty, humility about sin and about self. Got to be dealt with. We focus primarily on how to deal with the sin part of that on Sunday night in the message called The Clean Heart. Well, that opens the way then for the filled life, which is the Spirit filling you with the life of Jesus, that exchange life where we exchange our life for His, where the life of Jesus, the eternal life that moved in when we were born again may be accessed as the abundant life. And we saw the way for that exchange to take place is regularly, day by day, we surrender to what God wants and depend on His power to carry that out. Now, here's the deal when it comes to the spirit for life, this empowered life, this endowment from on high. The power is not for what you want. It's for what God wants. And so there's that surrender faith, access to this Spirit-filled life. Last night we went further, focusing on grabbing a hold of this truth right in the midst of our rubber-meets-the-road life, and we're hit with temptation in how to take the provision of Christ in you, how to take the provision of you in Christ, and deal with the world, the flesh, and the devil. And so we have focused much on that glorious provision. Now we want to build on that even further as we begin to recognize that all of this is accessed by faith. And so we're going to look tonight at a picture of faith that helps us understand the importance of the object of our faith, which is the Lord Jesus Christ based on the Word of God. You see, there is no spiritual life apart from the Word. Why? Because it's accessed by faith, and faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. So, the fact is, you do not have a spiritual life if you are not saturated in the words of the living God. Now, there are some people who fill their brain with the Bible intellectually, but that's it. They don't depend on it. That's not the same. But I want us to allow the Spirit of God to take this passage and open this up to our hearts tonight. And I trust it will begin to fill in a few more details to that which we've been dealing with this week. Let's go to the end of the chapter, John chapter 6. And the Lord Jesus is here speaking. And let's begin by looking at verse 56. He says some rather shocking and jolting words. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in What is he talking about? Eating his flesh and drinking his blood as the means to dwelling in him and he in turn dwelling in us. Well, let's go to the beginning of the discourse. If you look at the last four words of verse 32, we find out what he's talking about when he says, true bread from heaven. Ah yes, I want to speak tonight on the subject of feeding on true bread from heaven. Let's pray. Will you join me in asking the Spirit of God to be our teacher tonight and take truth and use it to confront us where we need it and to encourage us where we need it. Lord, we do thank you for what you've been doing in our hearts. And I pray, Holy Spirit, tonight, you would open our understanding to this glorious passage tonight, to the grand realities of truth that connect to the words and this whole concept of feeding on true bread from heaven. Now, Lord, would you show us tonight the futility of feeding on anything else? Lord, would you use truth to set free, to awaken, to confront, to encourage, to edify? Lord, I plead the blood of Jesus once again. Would you protect us from the enemy even right now? Lord Jesus, I claim our position in you at the throne and hold up your blood and in your name exercise your authority over the powers of darkness that would seek to hinder anyone here tonight. We thank you for it. Will you meet with us now, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. About 20 years ago or so, when I was still an assistant pastor to my father in the Chicago area, one day I overheard my wife on the phone talking to her mom, and she said something about feeding the starter. Well, I didn't know we had a pet to feed, and I thought, what is she talking about, feeding the starter? Well, you ladies, of course, know that it's not a pet. Well, I don't know what it is, but it has something to do with baking fresh bread. That much I figured out. And so what I did learn along the way is that when my wife applied this process and took this starter out and did what you do, and she would make, in this case, fresh, homemade sourdough bread, she'd have that in the oven and a beautiful aroma would begin to waft its way through our little apartment. And when that happened, I took that as my cue to just kind of mosey on down to the kitchen. You ever done that? And just happened to be there when that oven door comes open and those loaves, plural, of that fresh bread come out. And she puts it right on the kitchen table and then she takes out the butter. She would take it out and put it on the top and it would just begin to melt and drizzle down the sides. Are you hungry? And she'd take that bread knife, begin to slice that bread, and pull out some fresh strawberry jam or something, you know. And sometimes we need a half a loaf. Sometimes devour a whole loaf all at once. You know, it's been interesting to me. I've had the privilege now of preaching in 20 different countries. And every country has their form of bread. Bread is common to man. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the Master Teacher, uses something as common as bread to open our eyes and our understanding to rich, vital, life-changing spiritual truth. Now, let's set the table, shall we, by quickly looking at six introductory principles so that we can then focus in on our main meal tonight. But by way of introduction, number one, the bread of God is life-giving. Notice, please, with me, verse 33. Jesus says, For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, now notice, and giveth life unto the world. So this bread gives life. Number two, Jesus is the bread of life. Verse 35, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. So he's the one who comes down from heaven. He's the one who gives life. Now, friends, that's the life we need, not just to go to heaven, but to have heaven on earth. That is the life we need and Jesus is the bread of life. Number three, we eat this bread by believing on Jesus Christ. Again, verse 35, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. That implies that the one who comes eats. And he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Now, do you notice the picture, the imagery, is somebody coming and eating and drinking Christ, but it is explained in the phrase, he that believeth on me. And it thus teaches us that the way we eat Christ, this true bread, is simply by believing on Jesus. that is vital for understanding. In fact, there is another parallel right here in the passage that drives this home even further. Look at verse 47, and I want to ask you as a congregation a question, and I hope you'll answer it here in just a moment. Verse 47, barely, barely I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Now I want to ask you a question. According to verse 47, what is the condition for having everlasting life? The answer is believing on Jesus. All right, we've got 100% going so far. Let's jump to verse 54. I'll ask you one more quiz question here in a moment. Here Jesus says, whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. All right, according to verse 54, what is the condition for having eternal life? The answer is eating his flesh and drinking his blood, it's a little bit long, and it's something we almost recoil at saying, which was obvious. Now, do you see the parallel? between verse 47 and verse 54. In verse 47, the condition for having everlasting life is believing on Jesus. In verse 54, the condition for having eternal life is eating His flesh and drinking His blood. That lets us know that that's an illustration, it's an imagery, it's an analogy, it's a picture of the actuality of believing on Jesus. So again, it is emphasizing to us that the way we eat Christ, the true bread, is simply by believing on Jesus Christ. Now friends, that concept, that the way we feed on Jesus, the way we eat this true bread, is simply by believing, exercising faith, believing on Jesus, that is vital to a proper understanding of John chapter 6. Let's go a step further. Number four, we believe on Christ. By depending on his words, verse 63, Jesus said, is the spirit that quickness that gives life, the flesh profit is nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. And John, chapter one, Jesus is called the word. But the word, the logos, the whole is made up of the word. The parts. And it's another Greek word that is used for that. The rhemas. Okay, that's the word that he uses here. Now obviously, there then is a mystery of oneness between the incarnate Word, Jesus, and the inscribed Word, the Scriptures. So the way we depend on Jesus is by depending on the Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word. But the way you depend on the Word is by depending on the Words. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the rhema, the words, the specific word of God. Much more could be said, but that's a marvelous truth. So we believe on Christ by depending on His words. Number five, this begins with salvation. Look at verse 47. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. And when a person understands that sin is the problem, that hell is the consequence, and that Christ alone is the answer, and they pass their dependence on Jesus to apply that saving work to them, once and for all, at that moment, their sins are forgiven. The righteousness of Jesus is legally credited to their account. And they receive His very own eternal life. Ah, taste and see that the Lord is good. Friend, have you eaten that first meal? That's where it starts. And number six, this continues with the spirit for life. Verse 56, where we started, he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. And the key word here is the word translated dwelleth. It is a word that in John 15 is translated abide. And the word abide is a word that is not dealing with the moment of salvation. It's dealing with a responsibility beyond salvation. And that lets us know that at this point in the passage, Jesus is moving beyond the glorious truth of receiving His eternal life to another glorious truth of accessing His abundant life. Now, having set the table, and I know we moved very quickly through that, let's focus in on our main meal tonight. It is in verse 56, and we've read it twice. I want to read it a third time, but this time I want to note that all of the verbs are in the present tense, and you may know that that means that it is continuous action. So let me read it this way. He who is eating my flesh. In other words, it's repeated. And is drinking my blood, is dwelling, abiding in me, and I, by implication, am abiding, in Him. Now here's what I want us to see. Spiritual growth. I know we use that phrase. Spiritual growth. Growing spiritually. Okay. Spiritual growth occurs only through abiding. I could say it this way. Spiritual growth occurs only through feeding on Christ and thus being nourished by Christ. You see, to grow in the Spirit, to have spiritual growth, the only way it happens is when you abide in Christ, and He in turn abides in you. Now, I've said the same thing different ways several times here tonight. But truth is, a lot of people don't understand this. And they're frustrated as years and decades roll by, and there isn't much growth. Or they're deceived as to what they think growth is. Spiritual growth occurs only through feeding on the true bread. Now, how do we know that? How do we know that the only way you grow is by feeding on true bread or by abiding? And what does it mean to abide in Christ? I've heard that phrase for years. I wondered for years what it meant. What does it mean to abide in Christ? What does it mean for Christ to abide in you? What is that talking about? Well, John 6.56, by way of analogy here, reveals two simple factors that comprise this twofold nature of abiding and show us that this is the only way you can actually grow spiritually. The first factor, bread is necessary. In other words, the Lord Jesus is using the word bread here in the sense of food. Food is necessary. Bread is necessary. In other words, we have to eat. How many of you ate today? Alright. You know, we eat. It's not just that we enjoy it. Most of the time we do. It's not just that we like it. Most of the time we do like it. But the fact is, we have to eat. Aren't you glad? You know, that's just the way it is. We have to eat. Okay? If we did not eat, we would starve. We'd die. You know, it's necessary. This is a chief commodity. We have to eat. We could say it this way. We depend on the food. So bread is necessary. It's a chief staple. Without it, we would die. We are utterly dependent on it. Simple truth. In the physical realm, we'll make the analogy here in a moment, but bread is necessary, we depend on it. That brings us to the second factor tonight. Why is bread so necessary? Why are we dependent on it? What does that bread or that food do for us? Help me out here. Nourishes us. Beautiful. Right in line with the outline. Number one, bread is necessary. We depend on it. Number two, bread is nourishing. It enables us. Now look, in the physical realm, this is so simple. We get it. Okay, we have to eat. Bread is necessary. Food is necessary. Without it, we would die. We are utterly dependent on it. Why? Because that food nourishes us. It imparts life to us. It enables us. It strengthens us. It sustains us. You see, bread is necessary. We depend on it. Why? Because bread is nourishing. It enables us. So what's the point? It's the analogy that Jesus is after. Let's make the analogy. Number one, Jesus Christ, the true bread, is necessary. We depend on Him. Why? Because Jesus Christ is nourishing. He enables us. And friends, just as simply as we have to eat, we are dependent on that food. Without it, we would die. In the same way, we have to eat the true bread. We are dependent on Him. Without that, we're starving. We're anemic. Why? Because that bread, that true bread, Christ in you, is nourishing. He imparts His life. Remember, we've been talking about it. He moved in to impart to us His life. And when you eat, when you depend on Him, He imparts to you that life. He nourishes you. He enables you. So bread is necessary, we depend on it. Why? Because bread is nourishing, it enables us. Thus the analogy, Christ the true bread is necessary, we depend on Him. Why? Because Christ the true bread is nourishing, He enables us. Now friends, I remember I had an assistant pastor in California say to me, he said, you know, he said, Brother John, is it possible that I am stumbling over the simplicity of the spiritual life, just like a lost man stumbles over the simplicity of getting saved. I said, absolutely. You see, the lost man thinks that he has to do something and he has to come to the realization, no, Jesus did it all. It just depends on him. And the saved man has to come to that realization for sanctification just like he did for justification. That we still have to depend on him. It's continuous dependence upon Him. Now, before we move along here, I want us to note that these two concepts, bread is necessary, we depend on it, because bread is nourishing, it enables us, thus Christ is necessary, we depend on Him, the true bread. Why? Because Christ, that true bread, is nourishing, He enables us. Do you realize that those two concepts actually helped define for us what it means to abide in Christ and for Christ to abide in us. I don't know about you, but that abide word was an enigma to me for years. I remember when I was in college. I was in John 15 and I'm looking at that and I'm thinking, look at this, look at this. Jesus said, abide in me and I in you. And he goes on to say, he that abides in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. I thought, look at that. If you abide in Christ, He'll abide in you, and when He abides in you, you bring forth much fruit. And I thought, wow, there it is. That's how you bring forth much fruit. That's how you bring forth much fruit. And then I wondered, you know, I wonder what it means to abide. Because whatever it means, if you abide, He abides, and when He abides, you bear much fruit. That's what it says. What does it mean to abide? And I'll be honest with you, I wondered for years what it meant to abide. Now, the word is defined in 1 John 3, it's defined in John 15, but I think the clearest definition is right here in John 6, right in our text. Now look at verse 56 again. Remember it opens up with that phrase, He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood. Now we've already noted that that phrase is used in verse 54 and that it was parallel to another phrase in verse 47, so that eating his flesh and drinking his blood is not speaking of cannibalism, it means what? It means... Alright, you remember verse 54, remember that? That you eat his flesh, drink his blood, you have eternal life, and then we saw in verse 47, there's another condition given, and you have everlasting life. Okay, letting us know that eating his flesh and drinking his blood means what? I'm sorry, I'm making you work on a Wednesday night. This is really me. In the middle of the week, you've been working your head off, and I'm making you think tonight. But it's the believing. You got it there. Okay, that's the key. Now, he's saying, he who is believing He who is eating my flesh and drinking my blood. He who is depending, therefore, on the food, the true bread. He who is, therefore, believing on Jesus. Okay? And then he says, dwelleth, is dwelling, is abiding. So here it is. Pretty simple. He who is believing on me is abiding in me. He just defined it. Do you see it? He who is believing on me by feeding on me, thus depending on me as the nourishment that they've got to have. He who is believing on me, is dwelling, is abiding in me. Friends, do you realize when you're depending on Jesus, you are abiding. And then, just like food, Once you've eaten it, now it's not automatic that you eat it. We have to make that choice. But what is automatic is that once you eat it, it starts nourishing. Okay? So the whole context here is food. And so, the deal is, when we feed on Jesus, when we depend on Jesus, when we believe on Jesus, we're abiding in Him. And that's not automatic. We have to make that choice. But when we do, He, the food, starts nourishing. He enables us. He imparts life to us. So the way we abide is by believing. The way he abides is through enabling. The way we abide is through God dependence. The way he abides is through spirit enablement. The way we abide is faith. The way he abides is grace. That's how it works. When we are making faith choices, when we are depending on Christ, by depending on His words, we're abiding. And when we do that, He enables us according to the words that we are depending on. So there it is. Bread is necessary. We depend on it. Because bread is nourishing, it enables us. Thus, Christ the true bread is necessary. We depend on Him. And when we do, we're abiding in Him. And Christ, the true bread is never seen, He enables us, and when He does, He is abiding in us. When He's enabling us, it's the reality of the exchange life. Christ who is our life. Life. Sustenance. I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. That's how He abides in us. Our part is faith. Isn't that neat? Our part is to say we can't do anything, So God, we're going to depend on you. The one thing we can do is faith. It's the only thing we can do is to say, God, I can't do it. And so, God, I'm going to depend on you. And that faith is not a work. It's dependence upon the worker. And friend, when you depend on him, you're abiding. And when you're abiding, he's abiding. And when he's abiding, the life of Jesus begins to burst forth. And that's when you bear much fruit. Now, Let's open the windows to allow a little bit more light to shine in on this table of true bread from heaven. Let's use a little bit more of the analogy that Christ sets up here in this passage to fill out what we're talking about here. The first analogy is that physically eating is necessary for physical growth and productivity. We know that in the physical realm. Eating is absolutely necessary to grow physically and to be productive. Obviously, if a child is born into this world and that child does not eat, the child will die. Do you know what that means? It means the growing is not automatic. When that child is born, that child must eat, and if it does not eat, it will die. And even as we're growing up in our youth, even when we stop growing this way and start, well, we won't get into that. But the fact is, even as adults, we have to keep eating. Eating is necessary for physical growth and productivity. So let's make the analogy. Eating Christ the true bread, by believing on Christ, is necessary, absolutely necessary, for spiritual growth and productivity. Now think, if a baby can be born in this world, but if the baby doesn't eat, it'll die, it's got to have that food in order to grow. Look, you can be born again, but the growing's not automatic. Never has been. You see, you've got to eat in order to grow. My friends, this is crucial. It is crucial. You must eat. That's why you've got to know this book. That's why it's so crucial to be a Word-filled Christian so that you can be a Spirit-filled Christian. Every Spirit-filled Christian must of necessity be Word-filled. Why? There's no access to the Spirit apart from the Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word. So there it is. You've got to know the Words. Not just intellectually. You've got to eat them. You've got to depend on them. That's the God-dependence. That's the abiding in Christ. And friends, it's absolutely necessary to grow spiritually. It is absolutely necessary. Now, I realize a person has to be born before they can grow. The truth is, the growing is not automatic. Not physically and not spiritually. You know what? I think there's a lot of people that think that spiritual growth is by osmosis. That if they come to church, that somehow, as they're sitting there, spirituality comes raining down from the rafters and oozes into them. You know, there's no more true than sitting at the supper table with all that food right there before you, with your hands behind your back, waiting for that food to somehow ooze into you. That's not how it works. And you've got to eat it. You see, coming to church is really, in a certain sense, it's much like coming to the table. But someone else has prepared the food. But friends, it's not automatic. You have to eat it. You can sit there for years and think, oh, I'm a great spiritual Christian. I'm, you know, spiritually mature. I've been in church for 40 years. Friends, if you haven't eaten, you're not matured. You're an anemic tragedy. I mean, a baby that never grows, there seems to be something wrong there. Now friends, the fact is you have to eat. And some people come and they think it's by osmosis. That is not how it works. It's only when you make choices of faith and you access grace and God is bursting forth through your life. That's spiritual growth. It's life in the Spirit. My father used to say, people are going to be shocked at the judgment seat of Christ when they're going to think that they lived for God for 40 years and in God's record book it's six months. Because that's all that was in faith and the rest of it wasn't. Friends, you have to eat. We have to depend on what God says. God says be not conformed to this world. Man says everything else. Who are we going to believe? You see how it works? It's real practical. Are we going to choose to depend on the reality of the works and thus feed? Or are we going to say, well, I think? And so on. You know, every parent knows what it's like to have a child come to the table and is stubborn and he doesn't want to eat. But as a parent, you know, they've got to have the nourishment. Now, a good parent has various ways and means to help this child change their mind. It's called repentance. Change your mind. Okay. Now, do you know that there are God's children who come to the table, but they're stubborn? I'm not going to eat. I don't care what the preacher says. The issue is not the preacher. The issue is the food. The issue is Jesus. The issue is what God says. But oh, there's the stubbornness. I don't care what anybody else says. This is what I'm going to do. In other words, I'm not going to eat. You know, our Heavenly Father is a good parent and He has various ways and means to awaken you to change your mind. Friends, we have to eat. We have to eat. It is not by osmosis. You have to make choices to depend on the reality of the words or you're not growing. Now, you might say, Preacher, don't worry about me. Hey, look, not only do I come to church every time the doors are open, in other words, not only am I at the table every time there's a meal, I read my Bible every day. If you do, that is commendatory. I rejoice in that. You are reading the menu. You know, you can read a menu and not eat. Now, the Bible's more than the media, I understand that, but you see the analogies here. There are some people who intellectually stimulate their mind, but they're not growing spiritually because they don't make choices to depend on the reality of what God says. I was at a meeting one time. There was a marriage about to break up. The pastor came by. He said, can you go with me to this visit? He said, this couple in our church is having a big fight right now. Somebody's called me. He said, I don't want to go by myself. Will you come? So we get there and I'm telling you, man, oh man, it was not a good scene. I mean, you talk about venom, hatred. I mean, just telling each other off and all this kind of stuff. Well, when it finally got calmed down, we began to talk. I began to hone in on that husband. Obviously, he's the leader. Now, obviously, both have responsibilities, but he has even more responsibility as the leader of the marriage. Each one's responsible as an individual before God, but he has that extra responsibility of the marriage, and so forth and so on. And I began to hone in on what the Bible says about husbands love your wife and wives, and that it's agape love, which means to do right regardless. It means more than that, but that is a part of what it means. It's unconditional. I mean, you do right even when you're wronged. He said, it doesn't mean that. I said, it does too. Before it was over, he began to choose to depend on what God said. When he did, she started making right choices. It was an amazing thing. He was on some prescription drugs. I don't know if he should have been, but the doctor told him, and I'm not a doctor, but she was taking them too. I said, I'm going to tell you something. You've got to get rid of that. I said, well, are you willing to give it up right now? Will you go upstairs and get it? She said, okay. She went upstairs. She brought it down. I said, is this all? She said, yes. She said, you know, when I come off of this drug, she says it's a week and it's a pain and this happens and this happens. I said, would you mind, if you get down, we're going to lay our hands on you. We're going to pray that God will get you over this without any of that. She said, OK. And we prayed. And I'm going to tell you something. She had no ramifications. God immediately delivered her. And she and that husband came to church the next couple of nights in that meeting. And I haven't checked with the pastor since then. But at that point, they were going on. Hallelujah. You see, they ate for a change. Some people read the Bible, but that's just it. They don't depend on what it says. You've got to eat. Well, somebody says, Preacher, don't worry about me. Not only do I come to the table every time there's a meal, not only do I read the menu, hey, I memorize Scripture. And I hope you do. That's glorious. You know what you're doing? You're putting food in the cupboards. That's very helpful, because then you can pull it out when you need it. But you know, if you never pull it out, you don't grow. And it's possible to put verses in your brain But if you don't depend on the reality of what God says, friend, you are not growing. And some people shit piously because they go to church, or they read their Bible, or they memorize, and I'm glad for all of that. You've got to be around the food, that's obvious. But the fact is, you've got to eat it! And friend, if you're not eating it, you are not growing. Why is it? Why is it? You can have two people in the same church, for the same number of years, under the same pastor, hearing the same sermons, they're at the same table, they have access to the very same food, and one grows and is strengthened and strong in the Lord, full of the life of God, and the other is anemic and still like a babe in Christ. It's because one ate through choices of surrender, and faith, and others did not eat through choices of unsurrender and unbelief. Gotta eat. Gotta eat. Friends, we have to eat. You know how many times we heard, read your Bible prayer every day, I'm gonna tell you something, friends, we gotta have the food. And that's why the corporate gathering, the table is so important. God knows your needs. A lot of times we don't understand. We don't know our needs. And God will guide your chef to the nourishing foods you need when you need them. If you're not there, you miss out on it. But the point is, you've got to eat it. It's not just being around it. And I know I'm being redundant, but it's important. We have to eat. Spiritual growth only occurs through Abiding, do you see it? Through eating, through feeding, thus depending on Christ, abiding in Christ, so that He enables you and nourishes you and sustains you. That's how it works. Here's a second analogy. We eat bread one meal at a time. That is, we eat food one meal at a time. In other words, we're not always at the table eating. You say, well, I know a guy like that. Well, generally speaking, that's not how it works. No, we eat. We get up from the table, we go forward in the strength of that food, and when that strength runs out, what do we do? We go back for more. Isn't that how it works? I mean, just because you ate yesterday doesn't mean you didn't need to eat today. Just because you ate last week doesn't mean you don't need to eat this week. I mean, that's obvious. No, you eat, you go forward in the strength of that food, and when that strength runs out, we go back for more. Now look, have you ever been in one of those situations, maybe at a buffet or something, and you're trying to get your money's worth, and you overdo it. You know what I'm saying? And, you know, there are times when I stagger up from the table and think, what did I just do to myself? I mean, the next few hours are going to be miserable. And, you know, you just kind of stagger up and you think, good night. I am so full. I am not going to eat for a week. Then about four hours later, hey man, what's cooking? What happens was we eat, we're nourished, we're strengthened, we go forward in that strength. When that strength runs out, we go back for more. OK, let's make the analogy. We depend on Christ. Eat the true bread. One conscious choice of faith at a time. One meal at a time. That's how it works. It's one meal, one feeding, one conscious choice of faith at a time. So again, this is not a once-for-all second blessing. It is a repeated access of your first blessing. And just because you trusted Christ for some issue last week, doesn't mean you don't need to trust Him this week. Just because you had to trust Him yesterday, did not mean you did not need to trust Him today. Daily manna. Daily sustenance. Why? Because we have daily need. But we have daily sufficiency. If we'll depend on the true bread, he'll enable us for today, he'll enable us for tomorrow, if we depend on him tomorrow, and so on and so forth. Now, you might say, well, Preacher, give me a down-to-earth example of how this works. A couple of years ago, my wife and I were in a meeting in New York City. In fact, the pastor had grown up in Queens, so he was a true New York City New Yorker with the thick accent and all. It was kind of neat. And he had started a church that's now two blocks outside of Queens. And he was very typical of New York City ways. Now, you folks will have some understanding because you're in a larger city. I grew up in Chicago. You know, People in big cities are different than people who are living out in the country. And I find that people who live out in the country often don't like people that live in the cities. In other words, not that they don't like the people, but they don't like the waste. I've been downstate Illinois, and people say, ah, Chicago, man, I would never go there. Well, have you ever? Well, no, but I never would. And so forth and so on. And that's just how it is. And what it is is they think that big city people are brisk. Now, that was the nice way of saying it. Well, this pastor was very typical of New York City brisk ways, which, by the way, even makes a Chicago pale. It really does. Well, we're out making of some visits and he says now this next visit this lady's name is Arlene She's from the country of Haiti and he said a better time or two But as far as I know, she doesn't know the Lord. He said who knows maybe today she'll get saved So we knock on the door Arlene was home there with her son And so it was the pastor and I and a young man that was with us and she invited us into her home So we came into her home. So if you can imagine it's coming through the door this way. All right. Here is her living room She has an L-shaped sofa. So here's the short part of the L. Here's the long part of the L. And she comes around and says, you know, have a seat. She sits down at the very end of the long part of the L. And there was lots of room next to her, but for whatever reason, nobody sat there. Just past the joint is where the pastor sat down on the short part of the L. And then next to him was the teenager. Now, I really needed to get over to that obvious spot over on the long part, but there was a large coffee table, and I would have had to, you know, Climb over the legs of the teenager in the pastor to get there So I sat down on the short part of the L and we kind of look like three peas in a pod, but there we were Now let her forget this we got in there, you know and Started talking and no sooner had we begun in this pastor in his very typical, New York City brisk way Sam All right, Arlene. This is evangelist John van gutter and he's gonna tell you how to get saved All right, brother John. Go ahead You know, that's the quickest version of phase one in soul winning that I've ever seen. And she did not get excited. Now, I was there to talk, but this was awkward. I mean, it just it was awkward. I, you know, just it was just abrupt. And so I thought, well, Here I am. I guess I'm going to do this. And I thought, well, in the very least, I ought to get a little closer. And it was all awkward and kind of just a little difficult moment there. But I thought, well, let me just move a little closer. I said, do you mind if I move a little closer? And I grabbed my Bible. And as I'm climbing over the legs of the teenager and the pastor, I had just enough time to eat. Are you with me? I had just enough time for a transaction of faith. Let me digress just for a second. We'll come right back to the story. You know, in the physical realm, isn't it true that there are certain foods that you like so much you eat them repeatedly? Sure, absolutely. In fact, there are certain restaurants you go there, you order the same thing every time you go. And I often do the same thing. Why? Well, you like it, even though there's many more things. Well, in this menu, which is far more inexhaustible than we realize, it still is true that there are certain meals. that are just so blessed, certain words, certain facts, certain promises that are just so rich and so relevant over and over again that we go back to those words over and over again. One such promise for me is Psalm 55, 22, ever since my college days, cast thy burden on the Lord and he shall sustain thee. Boy, what a promise. And so, back to the story here, I didn't have a whole lot of time to think about the menu. I needed God's help now. I had like a second, maybe two or three, and I'm going to be talking to this lady who's not excited about what's happening, at least doesn't appear to be, and so forth. You say, well, how did you do it? Did you excuse yourself and go pray? I wish I could have, but it was not the opportunity of the moment. Now, I did pray, but I prayed with my eyes open because I didn't want to trip as I was crossing over the legs of the teenager and the pastor. You say, well, how did it work? It worked like this. Not out loud, but in my heart I'm thinking, oh, Lord, help! That's how it worked. And you know, once I cast my burden upon the Lord, I couldn't keep thinking, focusing on my exercising faith. Now at that point, I had to go forward in the confidence that the food was going to nourish. That the Spirit of Jesus would enable according to the words of Jesus. And I sat down with an open Bible, and I began to declare the gospel to this dear lady. She was expressionless much of the time, but God was working. That was just her personality. And before it was over, that dear lady got saved. And she came to the service that night. She brought her son, this teenager. He got saved at the end of the service afterwards. And three years later, when I came back to that church, both of them greeted me Sunday morning. Hallelujah. You see, it's one conscious choice of faith at a time. It's these transactions throughout a given day. Thirdly, physically, the nourishment is for productivity. We do not eat to lay down and go to sleep except on Sunday afternoon. But generally speaking, we eat so that we have strength to be productive. OK. Similarly, by way of analogy, or spiritually, The enablement that Christ abided in you, part of it, is for obedience. Isn't this just wonderful? The Lord Jesus doesn't just tell us, obey. No, He moves in so that we can depend on Him and He'll enable us to obey that which He instructs us to do. You know, when you yoke up with Jesus, He carries the load. You see, the nourishment, the Christ abiding in you is for obedience. It's that trusting to obey. And over time, old bad habits of unbelief can be replaced with new good habits of faith. Old bad acquired habits of bad character can be replaced, therefore, with new good habits that are good character. More could be said, but I want to focus in on our last analogy tonight. You know, physically speaking, you develop an appetite for what you eat. It really is true. There are things that you may not really care for initially, but if you keep eating it, you know, it's pretty good. And after a while, man, it's just great. I was talking to a teenager one time, I said, hey, you like such and such a food? Oh, no, man, that's nasty. You ever tried it? No. And you know, if you can disguise it, you know, smother it in cheese. And they're thinking, oh man, this is great. What is this? Oh, you've got to be kidding me. There's cauliflower in there? Well, it was, you know, it was cut up real small and it was smothered in cheese. And, you know, after a while they can eat it without the cheese. You know, you develop an appetite for what you eat. It's kind of neat, even in the United States, you have certain things that are known in certain areas, and people develop an appetite for that, and that culture of that region of the country. As I travel in other countries, it does get rather interesting. I remember when I was in Africa, and they took me to a place that featured the game animals of Africa. Well, I'm not a hunter. I'm a city boy, so I'm not even used to the game of animals of North America, much less Africa. And I'll never forget this. Next thing I know, I'm eating giraffe. Now, you talk about red meat. I was just hoping it was dead meat. And then they, you know, bring some crocodile. Too bad, a little bit too much cartilage for me, but hey, you know. You know, I'm trying these things, you know, trying to, you know, have an adventurous spirit, you know, and they bring out this horse-sized antelope called a kudu, and that was a little bit more normal, and so forth. And then they bring out animals I've never heard of before, like a hartebeest, something like that, you know, I guess you could call it roast beast, at any rate. You know, we're eating this stuff. I've been in Asia many times, many times. Now, maybe you're used to this. I wasn't as a city boy from Chicago. But when they serve you fish in Asia, you know, they bring out this plate of fish. You look down and he looks up. And the delicacy on that fish is the eyeball. Now, that's amazing. And if you're the guest of honor, Whoever's sitting next to you is who serves you. Thankfully, one time when I was in Beijing, they brought out this fish, and I thought, oh, man. And fortunately, this teenager next to me, he wasn't thinking about the honored guest, praise the Lord. He got his chopsticks, he popped that eyeball right out, and he plopped it right in his mouth, and I thought, well, praise the Lord, it's gone. You know, it's been interesting. I remember one time I was at this wedding reception in Singapore, and they got this, you know, multiple course meal, and it's beautiful, and all the stuff, and they brought this dish out, and the people were saying, oh, you've got to have this. Oh, okay, what is it? Well, we'll tell you later. Well, you know you're in trouble if that's what they're saying. And it looked like sauerkraut. But I knew I was not in Germany. I was in Singapore. And so I thought, well, I'm going to have to do this. So I ate a bite. And OK. And I ate another bite. And then I ate a third bite. And it was OK. It was kind of cold. It was kind of mushy. But it was OK. It wasn't great. But it wasn't terrible. It was OK. Then they told me what it was. It was jellyfish raw. That was different. I remember one time they said, oh, you know, we need to order some sea cucumber for Brother Van Gelder. I'm thinking, okay, cucumber, vegetation, I can handle. Well, a sea cucumber is not vegetation. It's a sea slug. You know, large enough to be pickled vertically, but anyway, it's kind of like a gummy worm, but there you go. And on and on the list could go. If this was a teenage audience, primarily, I would give extra details that I am sparing you, believe it or not. I remember one time in Hong Kong, they got a glint in their eye and said, oh, we've got to order Brother Van Gelderen some chicken's feet. Now, I've eaten just about everything I thought there was to eat on a chicken, but I've never eaten a chicken's butt. And I thought, well, I hope it's disguised. Well, it wasn't. It's almost like whack, dip it in a sauce, here you go. And, you know, you just kind of chew on it and spit out the little bones. Well, that was different. The other night we were talking about some food there in the Philippines and there is a delicacy there called Balut. How many of you know what pollute is? Several in this audience do. Some audiences don't know much about it, but they can correct me if I'm wrong here, but it's something to the effect of a chicken egg or a duck egg, and the little duckling or the little chicken is growing, and just at that point when it's about to grow its feathers, that's when they eat it. Something like that, you know? And one Filipino lady in Chicago told me, she said, you just close your eyes. And, you know, because it's, you know, beak, web feet and all, but nonetheless, you should just close your eyes and go like this and dump a little bird in your mouth right out of the egg. Well, I have not yet done that, but you know, that's the way it goes. Now, for some, it's a delicacy. You see, you develop an appetite for what you eat. Now, what's interesting to me is when people in those parts of the world find out what Americans eat. And just as we grimaced and laughed and whatever about certain things, that's what they do about what we think is great. I remember this Chinese man in Singapore said to me, he said, you know, you Americans, he said, you like cheese. He said, we don't like cheese. And you stop and think about Chinese food. There's no cheese. He said, we don't like cheese. He said, cheese is mold. Well, there's some accuracy to that statement, but, you know, we like it. Why? Because you develop an appetite for what you eat. Now, let's make the analogy. I know we've had probably a little bit too much fun here, but we probably need it in the middle of the week. OK. Here's the analogy. Spiritually speaking, you develop an appetite for what you eat. Now friends, here's what that means. If you don't have an appetite for Jesus, if you don't have an appetite for the Word of the living God, if you don't have an appetite for the things of God and the people of God, what that means is you're not eating at that table, you're eating somewhere else! Because you develop an appetite for what you eat. Now, all of us eat. The question is, what do you eat? What is it that you depend on? What buoys you up? You say, well, how do you know what table you're eating at? It's wherever your appetites are strongest. That's where you eat. Because you develop an appetite for what you eat. And friend, if you don't have an appetite for Jesus and the things of God and the Word of God, it's because you're not eating it. Which means you are eating at another table. What a tragedy for a child of God who has access rights to the banquet hall and feasting of the king to go out and feed on the pay pen of the world. What a tragedy. You see what buoys you up? A certain style of music? Get you through the trauma of the day? Pills? What do you depend on? What table are you eating? Stock market? That'll be a disappointment. On and on it goes. Now, friends, all of us eat somewhere. What is it for you? You know, it is a tragedy when a child of God turns his nose up at the real food. and insult Jesus Christ as he chooses, rather, the table of Hollywood, or the table of sensuality in so many of its multiple avenues of access, or the table of materialism Or the table of recreation. Not wrong in and of itself, but boy, it can become the thing. How many of God's people blow off Sunday after Sunday after Sunday to go camping? Show us what table they're eating at. Little League. The bowling club. All these things that take precedence over the real food. I was in a revival meeting. A lady said to me, she was a medical doctor, and she had been coming. We had some good conversations. She says, oh, by the way, She said, I won't be here tomorrow night because she says, I play cards with my lady friends on such and such a night. And she said, I'm going to be there instead of here. And I don't think it's wrong for me to do that. Well, she obviously had a guilty conscience or she wouldn't have felt like she had to tell me. Friends, I'm not trying to be unkind, but I'm going to tell you something. American Christianity has to wake up. We have so much false food around us that many prefer the junk food than the real thing. And I'm going to tell you something. If you think, well, yeah, but I like this and I like that. As if this isn't very likable. As if this is kind of dull. I'm going to tell you something. When you start accessing what we're talking about, when you start accessing Christ in you for victory over the world and the flesh and you in Christ for victory over the enemy. I mean, when you experience Christ's very life and you experience his victory in your mind, in your words, I mean, maybe you used to always you know, blow your stack, and you're irritable, and you begin to access Christ's life, and His patience is imparted to you, then there's a change that comes about. And you begin to access His victory, perhaps in some habit that you had, and now you're experiencing His victory over that. And you experience His victory in your marriage. And you experience His victory in training your kids. And you experience His victory in the stewardship. And you begin to trust Him for this. And you trust Him for that. You begin to trust Him to free you to actually declare the gospel and to see Him work. And you begin to see God use you. And you see the miracle take place in front of you. And you're trusting God. And He's enabling you. And day after day, you are experiencing the very life of Jesus Christ Himself. I'm going to tell you, there's nothing boring about it. Brenda, what table do you feed? I was preaching in a meeting in Florida. One night, a girl who'd been in the Christian school chapels during the daytime showed up. She hadn't been there until the middle of the week, but she'd been to school every day and kind of began to probe, and she could have been there and so forth. I said, why don't you come to church more? She said, our church is boring. I said, you want to know why? Boy, she turned her head aside as if to say, no, I don't. So I told her. I said, you're feeding at another table. And she was big time in the world. What a tragedy. Demas hath forsaken me. having loved this present world. And friend, when we are not experiencing the life of Jesus, and there's that thrill of the reality of God and His presence and His leadership and His power, and as my wife sang, tasting and hearing His voice, And all that goes with that. And I'll tell you something, friend, it is a tragedy when God's people are missing out on the provision. I mean, you think of the cleansing power of the blood and the enabling power of the Spirit and all that we've been talking about, and people just go on their merry way as if it's no big deal! What an insult to Jesus Christ! American Christianity better wake up, because we may be facing what our dear brothers and sisters have had to face in other countries in this last half of the century, where they've been under persecution. It may be us. We'll find out who's who. The issue isn't us. The issue is Jesus. But if you haven't been accessing Jesus, you're going to fall apart. I was up in New England preaching one time on this. And a dear lady came forward, among others. But her husband told me the next morning, he said, my wife, I have never seen her walk an aisle. Ever. He said her walking the aisle last night was like the house shaking in Acts 4. But it was so interesting because this dear, refined New England lady was on her face. When the service came to an end, she stood to her feet and I came off the platform And she was very serious. She said, you know, when you said you're feeding at another table, she said, I knew what table I was feeding at. This is what she told me. She said, I have been feeding at the table of interior decorating. Now, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with interior decorating. But here's what she said. She said, by my bed is a stack of magazines on interior decorating. She said, before I go to bed at night, that's what I meditate on. That's what I read. She said, when I get up in the morning, that's what I turn to. She said, I don't read my Bible. I don't do any of that. I pick up my magazines. And throughout the day, that's what I'm focused on. You know what? She was feeding at another table. See, it doesn't have to be that which is obviously wicked. It can be that which is not intrinsically wrong, but it becomes wrong because we give it the priority. We get obsessed with it. You know, I remember reading a statistic about ten years ago. I don't know if it's still true today, but at the time it was the number one industry in the USA was recreation. Now, there's a place for rest and all that, but I'm going to tell you something, we're obsessed with it. And it is amazing what God's people place in front of God. I wonder what God thinks. What table are you feeding? I was preaching, ironically, on this subject in the country of Hungary. And a dear lady afterwards came to me in reverse interpretation Somebody was helping her there. She said, you know, up until now, my life has been like this. And she went like this with her arm. Tears coming down her cheeks. She said, now I know why. I am undernourished. She's right. But you know what? That can all change. We can come clean with God. We can stop being a stubborn child at the table. We can say, okay, God, Wow, what provision! The cleansing power of the blood. The enabling power of the Spirit. Christ in you to free you so that it's His life flowing through you. That'll change a marriage! What a dynamic in child training if the kids actually see and hear the voice of Jesus. And on and on we could go. May we feed on true bread from heaven. Let's bow our heads.