In joy or sorrow, life or death, His love is still the same. Good morning. It's good to see everyone that is here this morning. If you'll turn with me to the gospel of John chapter 6. Do I need to put this on? Are you saying you can hear me pretty well without it? John chapter 6. And I'll begin reading in verses 25. John 6, 25. And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? And Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me not because you saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you, For him hath God the Father sealed. Then said they unto him, what shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he hath sent. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Gracious Father, we thank You for this day that You've given us to enter into Your presence, to worship You in song and prayer and in the preaching of the Word. We ask, Father, that You would open up our hearts, that we might be blessed to receive Your Word. And Father, bless us that we're not just hearers of Your Word, but doers of it also. Father, use your word to enlighten us, to challenge us, to cause us to think about why we seek you. What are we looking for? Who are you and your son to us? Father, are we as blind as so many others that we've come to you out of a wrong motivation? Help us, Lord, to seek and examine ourselves to see whether or not we are in the faith. Lord, let us not be lazy. Let us not take for granted the greatness of Your blessing or of our relationship with You. Lord, we pray that You would stir us up to end this day of such apathy that we would truly have a passion for You, a passion for Your Word. That, Father, it would be such a passion that not only would it change and direct our lives to be more like Your Son, Jesus Christ, but would be such a change that we must, that we are compelled to want to tell others of Jesus Christ, the Savior. Father, use us and we pray in this nation, Lord, that you would have mercy upon us. And Father, we all ask for revival. But Father, I know that revival must begin within ourselves. And Father, that revival will not come until you strip us of our pride and our arrogancy, and that you humble us down to where that we see ourselves and our sins, and that we cry out for your mercy and beg for you to turn us. Father, be with our leaders. And Father, we know that the heart of the King is in your hand. So we'd ask you to move. Lord, you've got the power to move the heart of our president, of our senators, our congressmen, our men on the judiciary, our judges throughout this land. We just beg you to turn the hearts of men toward the King of kings and Lord of lords. And it's in His name we pray. Amen. Today I want us each to examine our motives for coming to Christ. Sometimes I think that we get very comfortable with ourselves to think that we and our relationship with Christ, we're okay. But the scriptures tells us, even those of us who have committed our lives to Christ, that we are to examine ourselves to see whether or not that we be in the faith. A lot of times people don't want to be challenged to examine themselves to see, am I really coming to Christ for the right reason? And am I a professed believer for the right reason? Am I motivated for the right reasons to serve this King? Or am I just this because this is the way I was raised? Or this is because what's expected? Or because I'm expecting God to make my life better since I'm acknowledging Him? So I want us to look, what is your motivation? Why have you come seeking Christ? There were people here, evidently, that had an interest in seeking Christ, did they not? They went through a lot of effort to seek Christ. If you go back, Christ had been performing many miracles among the people. And if you look at the same passages in Matthew 14, 13 through 21, and Mark 6, 30 through 44 and Luke 9, 10 through 17, you will find the same circumstances here and it will tell us that Jesus saw the multitudes and he had compassion upon them and as a result of his compassion, he began to heal them of all their sicknesses and diseases. So we could look from one viewpoint that through His compassion and His healing, that these people began to see this one that could heal of diseases. And as a result, that they began to see that this man could make their life better. But I want to remind you, brethren, that is not the proper motivation for us to follow Christ. It's simply because He can make our life better. Sometimes we might get confused in that and thinking that when we hear the gospel and we call men to Christ and we tell men to come because He can make your life better. I don't doubt that knowing Christ enriches our lives. But I want to remind you that it's not the motivation by which we are to commit our lives to Christ. It's simply because He can make life better. Because sometimes we get confused with that and we're wanting Christ to make life better We forget that when Christ calls us to Himself, it is the way of the cross. It is the way of self-denial. And we find that the life of the Christian does not always become easy. Because we are commanded to deny self, that is never easy. We find that the road and bearing the cross becomes very difficult. We have disappointments. We have things that happen to us that disturb our hearts and disturb us. Some of us encounter many trials that we wonder and we look at and we wonder, is our life really better? And so we find that that's exactly what Jesus would say about some of the people who would receive the Word of God, that it fell among those upon the wayside. And that they received it for a while with joy, but when troubles and trials came, When difficulties came in their lives, when they had to make the tough decision that caused them to sacrifice, or that they had to yield to the sovereignty of God in their lives, and they didn't like the way a sovereign God moves in their lives, then they get disappointed because life, all of a sudden they see, well I came because I was expecting Him to make my life easier. But really, brethren, following Christ makes life difficult in many areas because it is a warfare we're engaged in against our own flesh and denying ourselves and what we want to surrender to the will of God. So I want to remind you over and over again, if you look at the study thoroughly, the book of Acts and many of the letters that the apostles wrote, They wrote to people who were suffering for the cause of Christ. Their lives weren't easy. Many of them had to give up their lives for the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. We find at the beginning of the book of Acts that those who followed Christ, that they were persecuted. They were driven out of their homes. They were arrested. They were stoned to death. They were put in prison. and they lost all they had. So from a materialistic viewpoint and a way of comfort, following Christ did not make their way easier. It made it difficult from an outward point of view, but their lives were enriched in many other ways. They weren't worried about losing their lives because their hearts were centered upon a kingdom that was a future and that they awaited where there would be no sin and they would dwell with God forever. So I want to ask you, why are you following Christ? Are your expectations of Him that He's going to make everything easy in your life? That everything somehow or another, if you become a Christian, that everything is going to be far better for you? That's not the way of it. But these people, they saw Him perform these miracles. They saw someone who could make life better for them and easy for them. And they began to see that. And then we find in this same chapter, not only did they, if you'll look at verses two of this chapter, John chapter six, and it says that a great multitude followed him, and it tells us why, because they saw his miracles, which he did on them that were diseased. I wanna remind you, the miracles were done for a reason. Because they were to manifest who Jesus Christ is. That's the purpose of the miracles. When John wrote this gospel, he wrote it for a purpose that in reading this testimony of John's, that you who believe upon Jesus Christ, that your faith in Him would be strengthened. John gives a hypothesis at the very beginning, or gives what I call the magnificent assertion of who Jesus Christ is. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So he was equating Jesus with the Elohim of the Old Testament. It's very interesting that Genesis begins with, in the beginning was God, that word there. As a matter of fact, in Genesis chapter 1, the word for God there is the Hebrew word Elohim. It's really interesting because Elohim deals with a God of power. It deals with a God of might. It deals with a God who is able to create and sustain His creation. It deals with, it's exclusively used there to say that this God is the creator of all things. It's very interesting because that's a unique word. It is a plural noun. It's a plural noun. And it's very interesting, though, that when this plural noun is used, it's always used with a singular verb. And that shows us that we have one God, but there's a trinity. And here we have John equating this Jesus Christ with the Elohim who created the heavens and the earth. If you'll look with me real quick at John chapter one, we find that he brings in the idea of creation. Let's look at that. Look at verse three. All things were what? were made by Him. And without Him was not anything made that was made. See, John wasn't confused about who Jesus Christ was, and what he was refuting was the idea that men have that He's just a man. But brethren, let me tell you, the Scriptures tells us Jesus Christ was more than a man. He was God. And brethren, He manifested the fact that He was God through the miracles that He did. So when you see the miracles, that you should see that God is in your presence, you should bow down, you should surrender, and you should worship and own Him as God and love Him as God. That's the purpose of the miracles that Jesus did, to manifest that He was God. As a matter of fact, if you'll go with me to John chapter 10, we're going to find this. And John was speaking to them here. Verse 37, If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. And he just says, you know, if there's nothing that I'm doing that bears up to my witness of myself, that I am the Father of one, and in that expression they understood exactly what that meant, I am the Father of one, because they began to accuse him of blasphemy, and they said, you being a man makes thyself God. So they understood Jesus's claims. And I want to remind you, it will never be because man doesn't understand the claims of Jesus. The evilness of man is that even in spite of the evidence, even in spite of what Jesus says about himself, man chooses to defy and not believe the record of God. And so we have people who have made all this effort to come. They saw evidence. They saw that this man could make their lives easier. But they did not see through that that he was God. So I want to ask you, why are you following Jesus Christ? Is he someone that you want to make your life easier or that he somehow can benefit your situation in society, or has he become your God? Because it makes a difference. If he becomes your God and you love him for your God, rather you go to the valley of the shadows of death with him. You can be like David and say, if I walk through the valley of the shadows of death, I will fear no evil, for you're with me. But if you're coming expecting Him to make your life easy when you go through difficulties and you haven't come to Him because He's your God and you love Him and you trust Him, what you'll do is that when you come into the difficulties, you become bitter. You become disillusioned. You become someone who will walk away and follow Him no more. And there's a lot of people that I've seen in my lifetime as a minister of the Gospel who started out making a confession of Christ, that it soon showed that they weren't following Him for the right reasons. Because those who know Him as God, they know, and we'll see at the end of this chapter, there were people who quit following Him, and He turns to His disciples and said, will you also go away? I think that's a question that each of you need to ask. Will you go away? Will you go away when things don't turn out the way you think it should? When afflictions begin to affect your family? When you begin to see that all that you do in trying to train up your children in the way of the Lord, it seems like these same children that you've taught and hoped for and had such promise, that all that you've done And all you've taught, all they've got is a head knowledge but no heart knowledge of God and they walk away from the God you love. Church has to begin to deal with young people because they start committing things that dishonor the name of the gospel, the name of Jesus. That's hard. It's hard whether you're a parent, a sibling, someone who loves these children. It hurts. What about when diseases afflict you? One of the great testimonies, Brother Shane gives a great testimony. He's got a great affliction, but he hasn't let the affliction, no matter how bad it gets, and you know that it may finally get so bad that it takes you. You and Sister Mindy have to keep trusting, don't you? No matter what, God's still your God. A lot of people can't have children. They wonder why. Brethren, that's in the sovereignty of God. God opens and closes the womb. Children are a heritage from God. And one might look at the sovereignty of God, well, why aren't I having that? Brethren, I can't answer all the questions why God blesses some to have children or not. He gives some heritage. That doesn't fall with Him in me, our choices. But are we going to worship Him as God and recognize that God knows the way that we take and that we're where we need to be in His will? Sister Leah, ever since I've known her, she's wanted a husband, and a family, and a children. But you know what? Well, I guess if you're going to have a family, you know, it includes children. My wife is looking at me, ha, ha, ha, honey. All right, where would I be without my wife? You know, you're gonna have those. You want that. That's been a desire. And it's the right desire because, you know, if we look at God's Word, that is something that we see that is a right desire to have. But what do we do when we have right desires, but God says, not yet. That's not what I want for you. I'm molding you and making you because sometimes God gives us desires but He chooses not to give us the desires of our heart according to His reason and therefore we have to learn, Lord I'm going to serve you whether you fill my heart's desire or not. And that gets down to the importance of why are we seeking God? Why are you seeking Him? Why are you coming to me? And that's the question that Jesus had and He knew the answer and He says what it is. These people had followed Him. Jesus said because of so much pressure put upon Him, it says that they didn't even have time. People just constantly were after Him. Then it got to where they didn't even have time to take time to eat. And so they go out into a solitary place hoping to find some time alone. But you know what happened? These people came out of the cities following Him. They stay there all day and it gets nighttime. Jesus performs another miracle and we know that where he fed above 5,000. It was over 5,000 because it was, you know, the 5,000 were the men that were counted. And there were women and children that were there also. And then, as evidence that what they saw was real, after they had eaten everything and it was all cleared away, they took up 12 baskets full of leftovers. And I think the reason they were there is because man has the tendency, once everything is settled and gone, we have to see with our eyes that once the evidence is gone, we can start making mistakes. Well, maybe it didn't happen the way that I really saw it. Or maybe it wasn't as great a miracle as I really thought it was. So we have here these leftovers that men could say, yes, what happened to us was real. Here's the evidence of it. These twelve baskets left over. And so, Jesus then we find in this sixth chapter, he goes off to pray alone. He commands the disciples, you get in the boat. They got in the boat and they were to cross over to the other side and we know that they rowed and rowed and rowed and rowed and got nowhere and a storm came up. Jesus comes walking upon the water just as majestic like He was on a Sunday little stroll in the park, you know. You know, I could just imagine going, he probably was singing, just making merry, skipping along on the water, just as happy, just as calm, because after all, he's the God of creation. He's the God of creation. He was in control. It didn't matter how, I mean, a hurricane could come through or a tornado, he would erode on the storm, you know, just as calm and majestic. Comes in there, steps in the boat. All poor little old man was frightened of the circumstances. And all it took was Jesus coming and saying, peace, be still. And everything was calm. And I love this because it says they were immediately on the other side. So I mean, you know, they rode all the time. And all he did was say, peace, and we're there. Boy, what a God. What a God of creation. What a wonderful God we have. And so, the next morning comes. You know what? That whole crowd was still there. Jesus wasn't there, and they finally found out where to go. They began to seek Him. Well, surely these people want to follow the Lord. I'll tell you what, men will do many things in the name of the Lord for the wrong reasons. Many men will say, I believe in Jesus, but all for the wrong reason. And there's going to come a day when this Jesus is going to stand before them and part the sheep from the goats. And He's going to look to them and say, Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, for I never knew you. And they're going to say, What do you mean? Didn't we prophesy in thy name? Didn't we do many good works in thy name? And He's going to say, No, no, no. Man deceives himself that he's okay with God. I'm going to ask you, are you self-deceived? Is there evidence that would convict you? See, that's what I'm looking for, for my life. And that's what I want to see in the life of the members of my church. I want everyone who's a member of my church to have such evidence that they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that there would be enough that if they were brought to trial, it would convict them and if they'd have to give their lives for the testimony of Jesus Christ, they would do so gladly. We will not do that if from time to time we don't ever examine ourselves. That we get to thinking, I'm not so bad. I'm not as bad as these people. When we start doing this comparison thing, I'm not so bad. God's words tells us that all are guilty. We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's not a one in here that can raise his hand and say, oh, but I'm different. I'm not so bad. I'm not the drunk. I'm not the harlot. I'm not the drug addict. I'm not the wife beater and abuser. I'm not the rapist. I'm not the terrorist that's out there. Oh, look at me. I've lived such a perfect life. I've never made a mistake. Oh, I've made some little mistakes. I've made some little mistakes. I'm not as bad as so-and-so is. A lot of people won't commit their lives to Christ for that very reason. They look at themselves, well, I'm as good as any of those Christians are, a bunch of hypocrites. I want to remind you, Christians have never claimed that they were perfect. We're not perfect. We, those that know the Lord, we know that we're not perfect. As a matter of fact, it grieves us that we are not perfect. Who can reach the standards of such a holy God? Every time I read there where Peter says, it's quoting from the Psalms, be ye holy for our God is holy. It ought to condemn every one of us, because we know how far short. That's why we need a savior. People who are okay don't need a savior. Are you self-deceived to think you're okay and that somehow you're going to stand before a holy God and that you're just going to be able to tell him, well, you know, I wasn't as bad? I want to ask you, if you've broken any of the 10 commandments, Have you ever lied? Have you ever stolen? Have you ever thought lustful thoughts about somebody else? Yeah. Jesus says, if we think in our heart or look at somebody with lustful thoughts, we've committed adultery in our hearts. Let's confess. Yes. Have you dishonored your parents? Yeah. Yeah. You know how you dishonor your parents is when your parents tell you not to do something and you go on and do it anyhow? You dishonored them because you set aside their counsel and said, you know, my own will is more important than obeying my parents. Scripture says the children obey your parents and the Lord for this is what? Wrong? It's right. So there are several commandments. Have you ever coveted what belonged to somebody else? Hmm? Yes. You know what? Covetousness, we don't think about that. We think of the adultery as being the bad sin. But you know what it says about covetousness? That it is as the sin of adultery. It's like bowing down to another god. Oh, I'm not the drug addict, but boy, I sure wish I had that house. I wish I had that new car. I wish I had the new dress. I wish, how about this, children? I wish I had parents like Josie's parents. I wish I had a husband like you. I wish I had a wife like you. I wish I had children that were like you. Like your children. Your children seem to obey you and love you. My children are just rebellious and I can't control them. I wish I had children like you. When my twins were born, I actually had a man, he was covetous that I had two sons, and he had twins too, but they were two daughters. He came to me and said, do you want to trade? One? And we could have one of each, and I looked at him and said, no, I'll take what God gives me, you should too. We're covetous. There's not one of us that is guilty and recognizes that we've got a desperate need. And we need Jesus to fix our need, not just to make our life easy, but to bring us into submission to His will. To make us right with Him. Not to make our life easy. Not to make us life as a Christian. If you'll just follow me, everything will be alright. Well, you know, I've been following Christ since I was six years old. And I found that that way, God has led me up on the mountaintops. And it was a struggle to get there. Mountain climbing is difficult work. Spiritually speaking. I'll get up on the mountain and God will bless me to see things and rejoice in Him and oh how wonderful it is to be able to see with eyes of faith far out into the realms of Canaan. To be able to look over and to have a sight of the promise of tomorrow in Christ Jesus. But oh brethren, I don't stay there. I come down. come down. Sometimes it's a slow descent. But more than likely, I'll get up there and somehow or another I'll make the misstep and it's a bumpy ride all the way down. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. You know, turn, turn, roll, roll, roll, roll. And then I'm down at the bottom, breathless, broken. What happened? How did I get here? Where's the smell of the fresh air? Look around, Jesus, where are you? Why are you leaving here to where I can see nothing but myself and my weakness? So why have you come? Why did these people come that is the question that Jesus for all? So they found out where he was at They took ship and they went over and they come and they want to say well, why did you come here? Why didn't you stay with us? you know why they wanted him to stay with us because they were want to make him by force to take him and make him by force their king and If you'll read those passages of scripture that deal with this, this is what their aim was there. It's that we want to take you by force and make you our king. Who wouldn't want a king? I'd vote for a president that had the power to heal my wife and my children, especially, not think so much, but my loved ones of their diseases. You know, we got people sitting in here that's got diseases. afflictions that they have to deal with on a daily basis. My granddaughter just had a test and she's got something that's wrong with her. As a grandparent, that concerns me. It hurts me that my sweet little granddaughter is having to deal with that in her life. But you know what? I can't take it away from her. And you know, God's able to. But brethren, even if He doesn't, what am I going to tell her? Even if He doesn't, is He still worthy of her serving, of my serving, and my surrendering to Him? I'm praying that she'll be healed. But more than that, I'm praying that she'll have sweet surrender and grace to deal with it. And that somehow or another, that I'll be there to point her, he's still worthy to trust, even if life gets difficult. Even if it's difficult. See, if you're just coming because you want him to make things easy for you, when things get tough, you're not going to stick it out. And a lot of people don't stick it out because life gets tough. And so they come and says, why did you come here? Why did you come here? And Jesus told them the answer. He didn't wait for them to try to figure it out. See, Jesus is honest. He knows our problem. He knows you. He knows what's in your heart. And He knows what's in your mind. He knows what's in my... He knows whether or not we will follow Him no matter what. He knows it. He knows that we're flesh. He knows our weaknesses. He knows whether we're play-acting with him. We can deceive one another. These people were deceived in themselves. Man, boy, we can deceive ourselves so many times. We never see ourselves as other people see us. We're never as bad as how other people can see us. We always justify why we do what we do. I see that with my grandchildren. That happened today. They came up. Peyton drove up to her Aunt Leah. The next thing I heard, why are you behind? Why'd you drive this back here in the wet ground? You know, he had his reason, but that's not what Aunt Leah wanted him to do. And he wouldn't be quiet enough sometimes because he wanted to justify, this is why I'm doing it. Peyton, you're not by yourself. You get that naturally. You're my grandson. Ask your grandmommy. When she gets up to me, what do I say? Wait a minute, wait a minute. We're like that. We want to justify our reasons. But brother, God sees through that. And so He comes down and He says, listen, I'm telling you that when you say that word, verily, verily, that's Jesus' way of saying this is of absolute certainty. Can't get around it. Jesus says, you're not seeking Me because of the miracles. Well, wait just a minute. What do you mean we're not seeking you because of the miracles? I mean, you're doing these miracles to help us, but what he was saying was the miracles for him to say, hey, I'm able to make your life easy, or was it to make them see, you're God, I'm gonna bow down and worship. I'm going to redirect my life to the Jewish. And by the way, I want to remind you, these were not irreligious people. See? He wasn't talking to people who were irreligious. He was talking to a very religious, moral group of people. Do you know the hardest people to convert are people who think? they're morally right with God, they are. The same thing applies today. These people don't need a Savior. They're okay. And when you talk to them about their relationship with God, and that they're going to have to face God, and their whole thing is, we're going to face God, but, you know, we're okay! Because I'm not a bad person. They forget they're dealing with a holy and just God who says that all of sin has come short of my glory. And there's not any sin, brethren, but it has to be dealt with by a just God. As a matter of fact, God is a good God, but because He's good, He is a just God and He is going to deal with sin the way that sin deserves because He is good and just. And so we find here that they come and he says, you're not seeking me because of miracles, but here's why, because you ate bread and you were filled. In other words, you know, you're natural. You're not worried about the condition of your soul before God. You want me because I made life easy for you. Because I did something that filled your bellies that no other man could do. Because it cost you nothing. You know, the man constantly wants things that cost him nothing. Children grow up. You know what? Parents, and this is part of our fault, is because we grew up in our American culture thinking that we have to supply our children and grandchildren with everything. We have to meet their every need. We see over and over, I go into houses where people have their children have more toys than their children even know what to do with. Half of them, they don't even play with. Well, it's more. Probably 3 quarters of the toys that they have, they have to get them every electronic gadget. I get so surprised at how young children have that have iPods, telephones, and things. Listen, I'm just telling you, we ingrained in thinking, let me give this to my child, we begin to ingrain them that they deserve it. This is what's expected. And what we grow up as they grow up, and they're not getting more and more of that satisfaction of us giving, what happens? Has any parent ever had a conflict with that with their child? Have you ever thought the reasons behind it is overindulgence and children begin to have that expectation? You know what? People are like that with God. It's not that they want him to love and bow down to him. They want him to be a God that makes everything easy. No sacrifices on their part. They want a religion that's comfortable. As a matter of fact, I get so upset when I hear all these surveys that people make to find out what people want in a church. That already is setting it on the wrong motives, because these people came to God based on what they wanted, not based on what church should be about what God wants of us, not what we want of God. Constantly people are trying to cater their churches to make it more comfortable. We see it in the dress. People act like going to church is more like going to their golf club, to their lines club or whatever. Coming to church has to be comfortable. Where do you find that in scripture? Where do you find that coming to church is to be comfortable? I want a gospel that when I come in there, instead of making me deal with my sin and rustling my soul and cause me to cry out that I'm a sinner and exposing me and the gospel exposing me and driving me to Jesus Christ, I want somebody to come and tell me what a wonderful fellow I am. To tell me I'm okay. To make me feel good about what? Self. I want to tell you, worship is not about you. See, that's idolatry. When it all centers around you, I'm like, God, I want to feel good about me. Well, brethren, that's not God's Word comes to convict sinners of their way and turn them from trusting in themselves that they are righteous to where they cry out for the righteousness of God. If you go to church and you never squirm at the message because it hits right at where you are, something's wrong with what you're hearing. And brethren, let me tell you, America is full of Christians who are not converted and feel guilty towards sin. They're made to feel good about themselves. And that's the danger. How many men are calling men to repent? And that's what Jesus always was calling. You need to repent of this. They didn't like what he said. Brethren, when men constantly like what you said, We know that probably our ministry is not being what it ought to because we're here to make people uncomfortable. Because we're to lead them to Christ. And they won't be led to Christ until they're uncomfortable with themselves. Because what needs Brother Jimmy have you of Christ if you think you're alright? If you've never wept because you're a sinner. Never fall and prostrate before His face and say, Lord, I'm guilty. You've never cried out like David did. Creating me a clean heart, oh God! And renew a right spirit within me. I want to tell you, you don't know Jesus Christ the way that you ought to! Because He's a Savior of who? Sinners! People who know they're guilty! Know that they have need. Know that they fall short. Know that without Him, they can do nothing. And they're not coming there because they're expecting everything in their life to be perfect. But they come just as they are. hoping that he cleanses them from what really is their problem. And brethren, your problem is not your diseases. Grace Ann's problem isn't if she has lupus or that other disorder. That's not her major problem she needs to be concerned about. Her major problem is my major problem, sin. See, there wouldn't be any disease if there wasn't sin. Right? There wouldn't be any hunger in the world if there wasn't sin. Sin is our problem. Sin is our major disease, is the disease. There's only one cure. And Jesus said, you didn't come for me for that cure. You came for me for the natural things. God's powerful. God's a good God. He blesses. He blesses the right to follow the just and the unjust. God is a good God. He does bless us. But brethren, I want to ask you, are you coming for that to make your life easier or are you coming for life's real need? I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I'm coming for you, for healing for that. And He tells him, labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you, for Him hath God the Father sealed. Here's a promise that Jesus is saying, if you come to Me in the right way, then I've got something for you. I've got life to give you. And I can give you that because the Father which is in heaven that you say is your God, He honors me. He sent me. I came from Him. He and I are one and I have the power to give life. But what did they say? No, we don't want it your way. You just tell us what we can do to work the work of God. There's a lot of people that wants that, don't they? We don't want you to be the sovereign in our life. You know, that's a great sin of man. I don't want to surrender to you, God. I'd rather you surrender to me. I want to do it my way. I want to have control of all the pride of men. I want to be in charge of my own life. Parent, have you ever had a child come up and tell you that? You know, I'm tired of you telling me what to do. I'm old enough to be my own man. I'm old enough to make my own decision. It doesn't matter if I'm 28 years old and I'm still living in your house. You're still paying my bills. You're still putting my clothes on me. You're paying for my school. It doesn't matter. I'm my own person now. Do you know we treat God that way? Oh! Jesus says, listen! He puts it back. What is God's work? We want to do God's work, they said. We want to do our own way. You just tell us how we can work the works, God. Okay, if you're telling us we came the wrong way, and you're not going to give us this, you know, and we have to believe in you, business, you know, no. I don't want to do it that way. I don't need Jesus. Somehow or another we deceive ourselves that we're going to be alright with God when we reject God's manifestation of Himself in the person of His Son. I can still have a relationship with God and deny Jesus. Well, I want you to know that when you deny Jesus, you're telling God He's a liar. Because God is the one who witnessed and sent Jesus here for a reason. I don't want you, God! If you're not going to do it for me, you just tell us what we can do to work the works of God. All the pride and vanity of men. That's like Eve. When she heard that, when Satan lied and deceived her, God said, the day thou leadest thereof, what's going to happen? You shall surely die! Satan comes along and says, oh no! You shall not die, but you're going to be like what? God! You'll be able to control your own destiny being God. You can break His jokes off of you. You can do your own thing. I don't want this God. And I've heard people say that. I don't want a God who's sovereign over my life. I don't want a God who will allow difficulties in life. Why? You know, we want to blame God for all the problems of the world. We're blaming the wrong person. Could God stop and intervene in any crisis, in any situation and change anything? Yes. God doesn't do so. Why? Because man rebelled against God, sinned against God, and he is having the full measure of what he wants. The problems of the world lies at the foot of men, not God. God's not responsible for sin. Man is. God is the only one who is able to do something about your sin. And brother, he did it by giving his son. So they come. What can I do? I don't want you, God. Let us be our own authority again. Let us do the work so we can make our lives easy. And so we find this, Jesus answered and said, this is God's work. You know what God's work is? God's work is that you believe on whom he has sent. That's God's work. God loves His Son, and He's going to have all men to honor His Son. As a matter of fact, because Jesus Christ was obedient even until the death of the cross, the Father has highly exalted Him and given Him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus Christ, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. That's how He honors that Son. So when we talk to people, whether it's your child, whether it's your spouse, whether it's your loved one, who deny Jesus Christ, they're denying God. Make no mistake. Oh, I believe there's a God. Oh, I believe in Jesus. These people saw the miracles. They came. Jesus said, you came for the wrong reason. God's Word is that you believe on Me. What does that mean to believe? If you believe on Jesus Christ, you know what you do? You raise up the flag and say, I surrender all. You follow Him. If He leads you down into deep, dark chasms, you go. If He takes you over there, let me tell you, there are people that are over there in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, in India, and in some of those Muslim nations in Africa. And let me tell you, some of them are losing their lives for the testimony of Jesus Christ. They didn't come to Him so that He can make their life easier. They came to Him because they saw in Him The God that they loved and adored and that they could trust in and that they put their hopes, not for this life, but in the life to come. And I want to tell you, this life is temporary. This isn't the major part of your life. Your major part of your life is to come. And brethren, either you're going to be going into the kingdom of our dear Lord, or you're going to be cast away as those who He never knew. And brethren, I want to ask you, is there evidence in your life, is there evidence in your life that you will be in the kingdom or that you'll be cast away? And don't take it for granted. Oh, we believe in once saved. Oh, I believe that. But brethren, let me tell you, I don't believe it in this way, that I'm saved and I can live any way I want to. I don't have to follow. I don't have to respond. I can live a life of rebellion. If you're living a life of rebellion to Jesus Christ, there is evidence that you're going to be cast away. Because Jesus says, all that the Father gives me shall what? Come to me. And he that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Jesus would say to these same people, he that is of God hears God's voice. They follow. Is there enough evidence to convict me that I'm a follower of the Lamb? Is there enough evidence to convict me that I have come to Him the way that I should come? Not because I want Him to make my life easy because He's the God of all power and might. He's able to make my life easy. and willing surrender. Brethren, Jesus has met your greatest need. That's sin. What more could you want? If you don't love Him for that, if you're not serving because He's forgiven you, nothing will motivate. Nothing will motivate you if you don't love Him simply because He paid the price for your sins. He's made it right. between you and God forever. That is why we serve Him. We believe Him as our Lord and Savior. I want to sing all the way my Savior leads me as our closing hymn for this morning. 523. All the way my Savior leads me, what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy, who through life has been my guide? my faith in him to dwell, for I know what e'er may fall have all things well. For I know I am before thee, Jesus, to have all things well. All the way my Savior leads me, cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace for every trial. me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter, and my soul a thirst may be, gushing from the rock before me, though a string of joy I From the rock before me, flow a spring of joy I see. All the way my Savior needs me, O the fullness of His love. Perfect rest in me is promised, In my Father's house above, When my spirit, clothed immortal, Wings its flight to realms of day, This my song through endless ages, Jesus led me all the way. Bless my soul through endless ages. Jesus led me all the way.