A man was working on his motorcycle, kind of, it wasn't Brother Spurgeon, I'll tell you that, on his patio, and his wife was in the house in the kitchen. The man was racing the engine on the motorcycle and somehow the motorcycle slipped into gear. The man, still holding the handlebars, was dragged through the glass patio door and the motorcycle dumped onto the floor inside the house. The wife, hearing the crash, ran into the dining room and found her husband lying on the floor cut and bleeding, the motorcycle laying next to him and the patio door shattered. The wife ran to the phone, summoned an ambulance. Because they had lived on a fairly large hill, the wife went down several flights of long steps to the street to direct the paramedics to her husband. After the ambulance arrived and transported the husband to the hospital, the wife uprighted the motorcycle and pushed it outside. Seeing that gas had spilled on the floor, the wife obtained some paper towels, blotted up the gasoline, and threw the towels in the toilet. The husband was treated at the hospital and was released to come home. After arriving home, he looked at the shattered patio door and the damage done to his motorcycle. He became despondent. He went to the bathroom and sat on the toilet and smoked a cigarette. After finishing the cigarette, he flipped the cigarette butt into the bowl. The wife who was in the kitchen heard a loud explosion and came in to find her husband screaming. She ran into the bathroom and found him lying there on the floor. His trousers had been blown away and he was suffering from burns. The wife ran again to the phone, called the ambulance. The same ambulance crew was dispatched and the wife met them at the street. The paramedics loaded the husband on the stretcher and began carrying down the street. While they were going down the stairs to the street accompanied by the wife, one of the paramedics asked the wife how the husband had burned himself. She told them. The paramedics started laughing. They laughed so hard, one of them tripped and dropped the stretcher, dumped the husband out, and he fell down the remaining stairs and broke his arm. Now that's a bad day. Amen? I know that there's a good chance, if Murphy is well and alive, that many of you may have gone through some difficulties just in trying to get here this morning. That happens a lot of times. Hopefully, it wasn't this bad. I know sometimes that little things, I mean, you get up and you can't find the clothes you're going to wear, or they're dirty in the laundry. or you get up and you have trouble making breakfast, something gets burnt, or you wind up, one of the kids has a meltdown, or your husband has a meltdown, or your wife has a meltdown, but sometimes those things happen in preparation for going to church, it just seems to be kind of one of those rules in life, it's a law of physics, but you fought all those forces, and here you are this morning, amen? Amen, you're here, and that's a blessing. That's really good. You've made it. But I'd just like to ask you a simple question this morning. And that is this. That is, why are you here this morning? Amen? I mean, think about it. Why are you here this morning? I'd like you to think about that as we go through. And this morning, I have three cases where a person or a group of people came to the Lord and were seeking something. And we'll take a look at all three of those cases, and chances are you're gonna fit into one of those three categories here this morning. I'd like you to figure out which one of the three categories you are in. So before we get into the message, let's bow for a quick word of prayer, and then we'll begin. Our Heavenly Father, we do thank you again for the chance to be in your house. Father, to be among your people, reading your book. And Lord, we do ask that you would just set the cares and the worries and the troubles and everything that goes on in this life that doth easily beset us aside for a while. And Father, help us to focus on thee. I pray that you'd minister to each and every individual here in this congregation, that you would set me aside, Father, and let the words of your book and the thoughts of your mind and your heart minister to these people that are here this morning. Amen. I titled this message this morning, A Pilgrim's Progress. Now many of you probably know about the book, A Pilgrim's Progress. How many of you have ever read the book, A Pilgrim's Progress? Okay, we have a few out there. If you haven't read the book, A Pilgrim's Progress, or Pilgrim's Progress, I'd highly recommend it. It'd be a great read. It'd be a phenomenal book to take and read to your kids in the evenings or something like that because it's the story of a young man named Christian. And it's about his journey of seeking the celestial kingdom and all the things that he has to endure and the things that he goes through as he's walking on this journey. And it's an allegory, a phenomenal book. But it was written by a man named John Bunyan. John Bunyan lived back in 16, from 1628 to about 1688. His book was published around 1678. It's been published in over 200 languages and is probably pretty close to being outside the Bible, one of the longest running books in publication. Phenomenal, phenomenal book. But John Bunyan, John Bunyan was a phenomenal man. He started off and he wound up getting saved, long story and I'll condense it for sake of time, but he wound up getting saved and he wound up having a desire to preach. Only that time in England, well, when he first started, he had the liberty to do that. They were meeting in a church and he had the opportunity to preach. And some political things happened in a country as political things often do in a country. And what they wound up doing is they wound up outlawing basically somebody being able to preach without being approved by the state. They had all kinds of good reasons. It was for national security. They didn't want people meeting and conspiring against the king and all these things were happening. But John Bunyan had the tenacity to stand up in spite of all that, and he continued to preach in the church. They finally kicked him out of the church that he was at, and he still maintained and continued on and kept up with his service for the Lord Jesus Christ. It was told to John Bunyan one day, you know, the government, they're coming to get you. This law has been passed. You're not allowed to do what you're going to do, and they're going to come, and they are going to arrest you. And true to form, he stood up, and he decided he was going to go to church, and he was going to preach, and he was going to do his duty anyway. Amen? What a blessing. Sure enough, they came in, and they arrested John Bunyan. And they brought him up before trial, and of course he was found guilty. And they gave him this option. If you recant, if you agree to quit preaching, or you agree to be licensed by the state in the Church of England and be an official type preacher, then we'll drop the sentence. And he refused. And they threw him in prison. And he wound up being in prison for about 12 years. because he wanted to stand up and preach the gospel according to his conscience. He wanted to preach the Bible. What a phenomenal thing. During the time he was in prison, you know, of course he had a lot of time to think, and that was when he kind of came up with the idea of this book and wrote it, and it was called A Pilgrim's Progress. And there's a sequel to it afterwards, but again, I just encourage you, if you've never read the book, get it. Here you have a Christian, a saint of God, that spent 12 years in prison just because he wanted to preach the word of God. God called him to preach, and he wanted to do what God called him to do, irregardless of the consequences that he was gonna have to face, amen? Lord, give us grace that we'd all be able to do that in our lives. If you will, take your Bibles and open to John chapter 6 this morning to get started. John chapter 6 here this morning, and let's start off in verse 1, and we'll read the passage here. After these things, Jesus went over to the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. And Jesus went up into the mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, When shall we buy bread that these may eat? And this he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do. That's just like the Lord. Philip answered him, 200 penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of the disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, there is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, make the men to sit down. Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down in number, about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were sat down, and likewise of the fishes, as much as they would. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above them that had eaten them. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth, that prophet, that should come into the world. So here we have a very familiar passage of scripture. We hear about it all the time. It's probably one of the more notable miracles that we remember out of the Bible. And that is simply the Lord Jesus Christ sitting down and feeding the 5,000, amen? I mean, he gets down there and he's got all these people, 5,000 people, 5,000 men, plus women and children. And he looks over and he says, how are we gonna feed all these guys? I don't know, I got two bucks. That's not gonna do it. And it says in there, it says he said that to prove them, to know what they would do, to prove them. I mean, he knew what he was gonna do all along, amen? And you have in this passage, if you take deep down, all the human beings, all human beings, all of us, listen, we have this overriding desire to satisfy ourselves. Amen? You know, we look at that thing and we have this overriding desire to just satisfy ourselves. And there's 5,000 people that are following Jesus. I mean, they saw the miracles that he did, that he healed people of the diseases, and they decided this is a good thing. This is a good thing, let's follow this Jesus. Let's follow after him because we see him do miracles, and let's follow Jesus. The first category of people that I'd like to talk about this morning are simply that. Those folks that are just following the Lord Jesus Christ, seeking self-centeredness. Amen? Now, I asked you this morning, I said, why are you here this morning? more than likely you're here something to do with Jesus, right? Amen? I mean, I would hope so, right? More than likely you're here because you know that there's something about the Lord Jesus in this place, there's something about the Lord Jesus Christ that's gonna be preached from behind this pulpit, there's something that you're gonna get out of the Bible. But here you have 5,000 people who, when they saw what Jesus did, they saw the miracles and they saw him healing people, they decided, you know what, it's a good deal, let's follow Jesus. And they went following after Jesus Christ and they, you know, they tracked him down. They finally caught up with him. Jesus looks up and he says, whoa, where'd all these people come from? He said, how are we going to feed all these people? And he sat down and he fed the 5,000. And they all, like I said, they all sat down. But take a look down in verse 24. Now a little bit of time passes and Jesus walks away and they go seeking after Jesus again. He goes on the other side of the lake to get away from the crowd and sure enough the crowd winds up following him again. And then we get down to verse 24, when the peoples therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus. And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, whence camest thou hither? Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. You see, back there in the Garden of Eden, Eve was sitting around and she had all the trees obviously to choose from and Eve got to mulling over in her mind and she got to thinking in the back of her mind, you know, there's something missing. There's something else I want. I want the knowledge that the serpent's been talking about. Somehow or another, God has kept something back for me. And it all started way back there. Eve shows up, and you know what she decides? She decides to eat of that fruit of the tree, right? Amen, well here you have these 5,000 people, and they're following Jesus, and they're seeking after Jesus. But you know what? They're seeking for him because of self-centeredness. Listen, they're not seeking after Jesus Christ because of who He is and because they want to glorify Him and lift Him up and bring Him glory and bring Him honor and do Him service. They're seeking after Jesus because, you know what? He's got bread. I mean, He can fix what I need fixed. Amen? I mean, they're seeking after Jesus because they look at their lives and they look at their marriage. And don't misunderstand me, this is a great place to start. It is. There's nothing wrong with starting here. If you're here, this is a great place to be because you can seek the Lord Jesus Christ because He does have something for you. And that's alright. I mean, anything that'll get you in the presence of Jesus Christ is a good thing. But they're seeking Jesus Christ, and they don't know it yet. They're not at that level yet. That's why I called it a pilgrim's progress, because when Christian first started out, he was lost. And he had to learn a few things before he really got a hold of what this whole Christianity thing was all about. So the 5,000 here are sitting down and they've been fed, they've been filled, they've probably kicked back in the grass, hands behind their head, took a little nap. After you eat, you get kind of sleepy, they look up and all of a sudden the disciples are gone. And then Jesus is gone. And they get to thinking in their mind, wait a minute, it's about dinner time. This guy's got something else I need, right? So they start searching for Jesus and they find him. And the Lord Jesus Christ, in addressing them, points out this one thing. He says, wait a minute, why were you seeking me? Why were you seeking me? You were seeking me because you wanted something, amen? And we're all human beings, like I said earlier, we all have that fault. Brethren, we all do that. And at the beginning, that's not a bad place to be. There were, maybe you've heard this, but there were two friends that met for dinner at a restaurant. Each requested a filet of fish, and after a few minutes, the waiter came back with the order. Two pieces of fish, a large and a small, were on the same platter. One of the men proceeded to serve his friend. Placing the small piece on the plate, he handed it across the table. Well, you certainly do have nerve, exclaimed the friend. What's troubling you, asked the other. Look what you've done, he answered. You've given me the little piece and kept the big one for yourself. How would you have done it, the man asked. His friend replied, if I were serving, I would have given you the big piece. Well, replied the man, I have got it, haven't I? That's the way we are, amen? You know, I always loved it. You know, you have two kids and there's one piece of cake and, you know, cut the piece of cake in half and you two share it, right? So we always had this rule. Okay, one of you cut it and the other one gets to choose which piece they want, right? That just solves a lot of problems, amen? Because listen, deep down inside, we all have the same blood running through our veins. At a certain level, we all look at the Lord Jesus Christ and say, you know, what can I get out of this? What's in it for me? Why should I follow the Lord Jesus Christ? And like I said, that's okay, amen? If you're there this morning and you're seeking, you know, Jesus and self-centeredness, at least you're seeking Jesus, amen? But that's not where you should stay. That's not where you should stay. Unfortunately, this idea of seeking and self-centeredness is displayed all too often in our lives. You wanna know one big place it's displayed? Listen, it's displayed in a husband and wife. I mean, what should be the ideal, perfect picture of a marriage Right? The Lord Jesus Christ and the church, here we have that in our marriage, and oftentimes, one or the other, the husband or the wife, you know what they're mainly interested in? What can I get out of this thing? What a shame that is. What a tragedy. What a tragedy when, you know, when the relationship is at that level. One or the other is looking out for what they can get. They miss the miracle of what the Lord Jesus Christ is really all about, and it's sitting right there before their eyes. Like Eve, a lot of people enter into marriage and they think, if I can just get what I want, I'll be happy. Right? If I can just get what I want, this is one thing that I'm missing, I'll be happy. And you know what? It never works. It never does. I mean, there are some of you here before too awful long are gonna be grown up and old enough, you're gonna start contemplating marriage on your own. And you're gonna be tempted to look out and say, what can I get out of this deal? A young man grows up and he looks and he says, I wanna marry the most beautiful girl in the world. young lady grows up and she says, I want to marry a guy that's cute. But let's face it, he has to have a nice car. And he has to be able to support me so that I can be comfortable in the life that I'm going to live from here on out. Right? Right, isn't it? You know, guys back there in the back, what kind of job you got? I'm just wondering if you know. And at a natural level, that all sounds and makes a lot of sense. And there's an element of truth in it. But brethren, listen, there are some things that are so much deeper than what you look at on the surface. Amen? There are just some things that are so much deeper. And the Lord gave these 5,000 men and all the women and children that were with them bread for that day. Well, I mean, Matthew 6 says, give us this day our daily bread, right? You know what? That was gonna come along anyway. Amen? The Lord knew what he was gonna do long before he started even asking, well, how are we gonna feed all these people? He knew that he was gonna provide for them bread. Hey guys, you know what? When you wake up in the morning and you look over at your wife, whether she's been your wife for 30 years or a week, you're gonna look over there and you're gonna think, wow, she's the most beautiful girl in the world. That's just a given, amen? It should be that way. Wake up and you go, what a blessing, right? And ladies, when your husband brings you home a present and you're all thrilled, Valentine's Day just passed and some of you got candy or flowers or whatever you got, your husband brings you home a present, you're gonna think, wow, what a guy, he's so thoughtful. What a provider. Yeah, that's a blessing. But it's just the beginning. It's just the start. Listen, don't get married because of what you can get out of the deal. Amen? I mean, like I said, it's a start. I understand. Everyone starts there. We all have that same, you know, the same stuff that Eve had in her, we have in us. Don't get married because of what you can get out of the deal. You know what? You get married because of what you can give that other person. I mean, I imagine the Lord Jesus Christ probably sitting up in heaven, he was looking down there going, you know, if I leave heaven, this perfect place, if I set my glory aside, everything that I have, and I go down to the earth, I can be beaten, I can suffer, I can bleed, I can die, I can be rejected by my friends, because of what? All the great stuff we're gonna give him? Doesn't work like that. Amen? The Lord Jesus Christ died on that cross and came down to this earth because of what He could give to us. Amen. A pilgrim's progress. When people start the journey in seeking after Jesus Christ, they often start because of what they can get. And that's OK. That's OK. But it shouldn't stay there very long. I'm not even sure what slide I'm on now. Let's turn to John chapter five. Turn back to John chapter five. start off in verse 1. After this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season in the pool, and troubled the water, whosoever then at the first troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered, Sir, I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the pool. But while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked. And on the same day was the Sabbath day." Again, another familiar passage of Scripture, but here you have this guy for 38 years had this condition. You see, he's been looking for what he can get out of the deal for a long time. And he's down at this pool waiting for the stirring of the water for the angel to come down. And I find it interesting that he's down there waiting next to this pool, and I don't know how long he's been waiting. I mean, he's had this condition for 38 years. I don't know how long he's been coming down to the pool. 5 years? 10 years? 15? 20 years? But listen, he knows that when the angel comes down and moves the water, that somebody in there is gonna get healed, amen? But he's lame. And he goes down to this pool day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, and he's hoping to find something, yet he knows in the bottom of his heart, I mean, every rational thought in his mind tells him, somebody else is gonna get it, not me. Because when the water does move, I can't get up and walk down there. When the water moves, I can't get up. I can't even go down there. And I wonder sometimes, as I read through this passage, I wonder, why did he even bother? Right? Why did he even bother? Second category of people is just this, somebody seeking Jesus in submission. I mean, he went down to that pool, even though in his mind he had no chance of getting anything at all from that event. I mean, all his work was gonna be for naught because he couldn't get up and walk down to the pool when he needed to, right? So even though it seemed hopeless on the outside, he kept going back to that pool. Even though he didn't think that God was gonna work on him, he kept going back to the pool, maybe in the back of his mind just thinking, okay, I don't know what's gonna happen, but you know what? There's nothing better. Amen? There's nothing better. In the immediate future, I don't see any relief from my condition. I can't get to the water. Right? But he went down there anyway. He went down there and he basically in his heart had to say this, Lord, thy will be done. Amen. Second category, second category of people are people that go down. We're going to fix that. Are people that seek Jesus. And you know what? They're just willing to submit to him. Amen. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. They've gotten beyond the fact that Jesus offers them bread. Right? They're not really expecting the bread. And there's nothing wrong with expecting the bread. You understand that, right? I mean, go to the Lord Jesus Christ for the things that you need. Absolutely. But there's a second class of pilgrims that are now walking after the Lord Jesus Christ. And they know, if the Lord doesn't want me to have it, I'm not going to get it. but I'm gonna go down there anyway. If the Lord doesn't want me to have it, I'm not gonna get it, but I'm gonna go down there anyway. Listen, there's a big difference. The first people, the first group that we looked at, those that were seeking in self-centeredness, their focus was on what can I get? Is he gonna heal me? Is he gonna give me bread? What can I get? Is he gonna fix my marriage? Is he gonna fix my kids? Is he gonna fix my car? Is he gonna pay the bills? What can I get? What can I get? What can I get? Great place to start. But then you gotta go a step further. And the step further is this lame man here who goes down to the pool, and in his mind, he knows it's a hopeless cause. But he's gonna go anyway. He's gonna go anyway. He says, Lord, I'm going to submit. I don't know why you're doing this. I don't know what the answer is. But I'm going to go. And whatever happens, happens. See, we all have that little spark of self-centeredness in us. And it raises up. And we want to be the captain of our own ship, right? We want to control things. We want to dictate course in our life. You've probably heard this illustration, but it does get the point across. There was a captain of the ship that looked out in the dark night, and he saw a faint light in the distance coming at him. Immediately, he told his signalman to send a message. Alter your course 10 degrees south. Promptly, the return message was received. Alter your course 10 degrees north. The captain was angered. his command had been ignored. So he sent a second message. Alter your course 10 degrees south. I am the captain. Soon another message was received. Alter your course 10 degrees north. I'm a seaman, third class. Immediately the captain sent a third message, knowing the fear that it would invoke. Alter your course 10 degrees south. I am a battleship. Then the reply came, alter your course 10 degrees north. I am a lighthouse. Right? And we all have a tendency to kind of get there. But this lame man went down, and you know what? He just submitted. And when he got that first call to alter your course 10 degrees, you know what he said? OK, Lord, I'll alter it. Amen. What a blessing. Second category. Second category. Those people that are seeking the Lord Jesus Christ with that heart of submission. Not in self-centeredness, but just in submission. It may look hopeless, and for all that I know, it may actually be hopeless. The Lord may want me to stay right here next to this pool in this condition, lame, for the rest of my life until I die. But I'm gonna go down to the pool anyway. Amen. Amen. Yeah, I can't help, I listen to and hear, I don't know if any of you know or remember Rex Harrison. He had polio. He walked around with crutches. He contracted polio when he was a kid. And I think of him through years and years and years of having to live with the results of that disease. I mean, he came over and stayed at our house when he was passing through. And so we had a chance to talk with him a lot. And he would sit down when nobody else was around and let his braces free. And he'd just take his leg and just flop it wherever it went. I mean, there was nothing there. I mean, what a thing to live with. And yet somebody in that condition decided in their heart, the Lord put me here. The Lord will give me grace to see it through day by day. And he followed the Lord Jesus Christ in submission. He was made of the same stuff you and I are made of. He had his faults just like you and I have our faults. But he was seeking Jesus with this attitude, I don't know what's gonna happen, I don't know how the Lord's gonna work things out, but I'm gonna go down to the pool anyway. What a great place to be, brother. What a great place to be. Maybe you're here this morning, and I don't know all of you, but maybe you're here this morning and you're lost. Listen, there's a lot of folks that seek after Jesus Christ for what they can get. He'll fix my marriage, he'll fix my problems, and that's a good place to start, like we said. But when you get to the place where you can seek after Jesus Christ in submission, not my will but thine be done, Lord, I can't do this on my own. There's no way I can ever be good enough to get to heaven on my own. I've committed too many sins. Lord, I don't see any hope for myself, but I do see a Savior who bled on the cross and died for me, and I'm gonna put my faith and trust in that Savior, and that's all I got. I'm gonna submit to that Savior because that's all I got. That lame man went down to that pool day after day after day. You know why? He knew staying home wasn't going to do him any good. Amen? I mean, there's one place he could go. And so he went and he found the Lord Jesus Christ there. What a blessing. He sought the Lord Jesus Christ in submission. If you're here this morning, you've never trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen. you have to go seeking in submission. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, right? For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby ye must be saved, amen? Just go to the Lord Jesus Christ and say, Lord, just like that man, I don't have any reason to believe that you should save me because I'm anything special. I can't even get up and walk down to the pool myself to get in the water, but if you come by Touch me You apply that blood that you shed on Calvary. It'll wash my sins away What a blessing that is What a blessing that is I'll hurry on looking at time You got to get to that place where you just say I cannot do this on my own I've tried I failed And you know what for that matter? We talked a little bit about marriages and what to look for in marriages and kids and all that kind of stuff. You've got to get to that place in those areas too. I mean, you got to sit back, whatever the circumstances that you're going through, whatever trouble it is that you're having in life, your tendency at first is to be like that first group. I'm going to seek Jesus because he's got bread. The progress of a pilgrim should happen in your life, and you should eventually get to that place where you get here. I'm gonna seek Jesus because whatever he has for me is better than anything I would have had otherwise. Amen? And finally, take a look back in John 6. John 6, start down in verse 47. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. He shall live forever Or if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eateth of this bread shall live forever. These things said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. I'll tell you the final step on your progress as a pilgrim in this life. You start off by seeking Jesus. What can I get? What can I get out of this? Okay, good place to go. You graduate and you get to the place where you seek Jesus in submission. And you're willing to say, okay, Lord, I don't know the answer. I don't know how this is gonna work. Whatever it is, I'm gonna trust you for it. Amen? And then you take another step along the way And you're going to have to get to the place where you seek the Lord Jesus Christ in strength. Now get this picture. All right. Get this picture. The Lord Jesus Christ goes into the synagogue. You understand? He went into church. And he's talking to them. And he says, you have to eat this flesh and drink this blood. And they're sitting back going, what on earth is this guy talking about? He's nuts. This guy wants us to be a cannibal. And there's a big uproar about this. You understand? I mean, they're going in, they're looking at this thing going, no, no, no, no, this is not working. This is not working the way that I thought it was going to work. Right? Take a look at 59. These things said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore, verse 60, of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, this is a hard saying, who can hear it? Yeah, I bet they did. When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, doth this offend you? I love that. I love that. He goes down to the church and in church, he starts telling everybody, oh, you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood. And everybody's sitting back going, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because they know, they know in the back of their mind, and I'm gonna get my outline all out of order here, but they know in the back of their mind, listen, Genesis 9.3 says this, it says, every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you. even as the green herb have I given you all things, but flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. That's what they know. They know that beyond a shadow of a doubt, amen? I mean, Leviticus 3 says this, it says, and it shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings that ye eat neither fat nor blood. Pretty plain, doesn't take a theological genius to figure that one out, right? Leviticus 7 says this, moreover, ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast or in any of your dwellings. Don't eat blood, it's just, right, it's pretty plain. Leviticus 7.14 says, For it is the life of all flesh, the blood of it is for the life thereof. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh. Right? Oops, I need to go backwards here. Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh, for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof. Whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. The Lord Jesus Christ got into the synagogue in Capernaum. He started preaching to them things. You know what? They didn't understand what was going on. You ever wonder what happened to the unicorns? Say, I don't understand what happened to the unicorns. Hey listen, sometimes a Lord Jesus Christ expects for your progress as a pilgrim to get to a place where you don't understand everything that's going on. Amen? Amen? You don't understand what's going on. despite the truth that they thought they knew. The Lord in church was telling them something different. And they were struggling with that. I mean, it makes sense. 61, when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said, doth this offend you? Look at verse 60. Many, therefore, of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? Look at verse 62. What? And if he shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before. Look at verse 63. It is the spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not. Take a look down at verse 66. From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. You see, brethren, the Lord had, in this case, this pilgrim was on a journey, and he started off, and the human thing to do is what can I get from Jesus? Right? Bread. Let's follow Jesus for bread. And he recognized that. He said, wait a minute, you followed me because you wanted bread, not because of who I am. You take the next step, you get the lame man by the pool, and he's willing to follow Jesus even though everything else is hopeless. I mean, he follows him in submission. Okay, Lord, if you want me to be like this, I'll be like this. If you want me to do this, I'll do this. If you want me to go over here, I'll go over here. And then finally, he stands up in church one day, and he says, eat my flesh and drink my blood. And everybody steps back and they go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. I'm not a theological genius, but I know that's wrong. And then he goes on and explains, right? He goes on and he explains. Meanwhile, everybody in the congregation is having a cow. But he goes on and he explains, it is the spirit that quickeneth, verse 63, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. And we don't have time to go into the whole communion thing on eating and drinking of the body of Christ unworthily. And then it says in Corinthians, not discerning the Lord's body, right? Not understanding what it really is. Well, Jesus Christ told them right here in John, it's a spiritual thing. I'm not talking about eating my flesh. I'm talking about spiritually partaking of the bread that my father's gonna give you from heaven. Like the woman at the well, the water, right? It wasn't H2O from the hole in the ground, right? It was a spiritual living water. And he explained that to them. But in the midst of all that, you got a bunch of people that are sitting there and they're saying, no way. And it says there that many of his disciples departed from him, right? Many of his disciples departed from him. Gotta find out where I'm at in my PowerPoint. There we go. The final stage in your journey as a pilgrim is seeking the Lord in strength. Now, for the sake of time, I'll kinda condense things and we'll look at it real quick, but basically, the Lord went into church, gave them all this, They balked at it, a lot of them got up and left, and the disciples, the apostles, were hanging around going, Lord, I don't get it, all right? I don't get it, but what's up? Then Jesus said to the 12, verse 67, then said Jesus unto the 12, will ye also go away? Hey, listen, that's a good question. I mean, it's easy to follow Jesus when he has something to give you that's plain. I need him for this. Okay, you get this, and then it's easy to stop following. It's easy to follow Jesus when you don't have anywhere else to go. When you come to the end of your rope, and you just kind of have given up, right? The Lord wants you to get to the point where you seek Jesus in strength. I mean, he stood up in that congregation and he gave them something that was so contrary to what they were all about, they didn't get it. But he knew, he knew it would cause them difficulty, right? I mean, he knew that. And many of the disciples left. 68, then Simon Peter answered him and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? For thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. What a blessing. What a blessing. You see, the Lord's gonna walk us down this journey as a pilgrim, and we may start because we want something, because we have a need in our life, and perfectly natural, everyone goes through that, and there are times where you're gonna face it again. You may seek after the Lord Jesus Christ because you get to the end of your rope and you don't have the strength on your own to get up and walk down to the pool, and you may just have to lie there and take whatever he's gonna send your way. But the Lord Jesus Christ wants you to get to the point where these apostles are at. And he throws out something in your life that you look at and you go, Lord, I don't get that. I don't understand why such and such is happening. I don't understand why, you know, it just seems right to me that it should have been this way. It seems right to me that, you know, so-and-so should have done this. It seems right to me that so-and-so should have preached or teach this. I don't get this. And the Lord, the Lord is going to expect for you to dig down a little bit deeper and look and have the trust and the confidence in Him that, you know what? He's got the right answer for you. Amen? You're going to have to get to the place where you seek the Lord in strength. Those disciples sat up there and they basically said to Jesus Christ, I don't get it. Lord, I don't get it. It's above my head. But I know this. I'm sure that you're the Christ, the son of the living God. Amen. I'm sure that thou hast the words of life. This whole eating your flesh and drinking your blood thing, maybe I don't get it just exactly right now, but I'm sure who you are and I know that in time it'll all get worked out. We're going to get to the place, brethren, where you sink the Lord in strength. Where you're strong enough and you're settled enough and we're bold enough as Christians that when something comes down the pike, and we're faced with tribulation, we're faced with persecution, we're faced with whatever it is we get faced with in this country or on this earth, listen, where we can stand up and say, I am sure that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. That's where he wants us to be, amen? Amen. So I just ask you again, what are you looking for this morning? Which one of those three categories do you fall in this morning? What did you come here looking for this morning? Any one of them is okay to be in. But the idea is John Bunyan wrote this book, Pilgrim's Progress, and Christian starts off as a lost man. And it talks about the cares of the world and the burden of sin on his back. And he goes through and a worldly wise man comes up to him and tries to pull him aside. And there's the city of Vanity Fair off there that he's tempted to go and check out. But he keeps down the path. And as the book progresses, he grows in strength. And that's what the Lord expects from us. All right, we go to him because we need something. Okay. Then we get to the place where we go to Him in submission, not my will, but Thine be done. Finally, finally, the Lord wants us to get to a place where we are so tied in with Him, we're so in tune with Him, we're so close to holding on to Him, that even when whatever He says seems really weird and awkward, and I don't understand it, I know this, God's got the answer right here, amen? In this book. I can seek the Lord in strength because I know that if I'm seeking His will according to that book, it's right. And that's where we wanna be, amen? That's where we wanna be. That's how we wanna seek the Lord. Peter speaks up. And he says, in verse 68, then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? For thou hast the words of eternal life. And in closing, I'll just say here this morning, listen, if you're lost, if you've never trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, Peter just said a whole mouthful there. To whom shall we go? Because there is no other place, amen? There's no other place to go. Jesus Christ stands up in the middle of the synagogue and throws them a curveball that they don't understand. And they know all these verses. And listen, you know what they know? Think about this. They know in the back of their mind If I make the wrong decision about what this guy is saying, I'm going to be cut off from the nation of Israel. I mean, in essence, their soul is at stake. I mean, it's a serious thing. They're not just mad because he said something they didn't agree with. They know whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. And they're struggling with that thing. And when it comes to salvation, you know what, that's exactly where we get. We stand up here as Baptists and we talk about salvation by grace through faith, plus nothing, minus nothing. Amen? You know what that means? That means somebody who hasn't gotten to that point yet, when you talk to them about that, in the back of their mind, they're thinking, what if I don't get baptized? What if that doesn't, what if that really does wash away my sins and they're telling me not to do it? What if I don't take communion? And it's a struggle for them. And the reality is their soul is at stake. And they've got to wrestle with that and they've got to fight that. And they're not at a place of strength yet. And they're worried about, whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. That's what those Jews were worried about. And we have to take the Bible and open it to them and show them a more excellent way, amen? And we gotta show them the truth. Why? Because their soul is at stake. And what a shame and what a tragedy for a whole bunch of people to be seeking after Jesus simply for a piece of bread. They missed it. They missed what it's all about. Simon Peter stands up and he says, I don't get any of that stuff, but I know you're the Christ. I know. Right? And then after the resurrection, of course, he looks back and he says, I know that that man died on the cross for my sins. and that I had no hope outside of putting my faith and my trust in Him. And it wasn't the bread, and it wasn't the pool, and it wasn't the miracles. All those things were nice, but it was Him. It was Him. That's how He wants us to seek Him. We have to get to the point where we seek Him out of strength. Amen? Amen. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your book once again. Lord, for the salvation that you've given us through the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, it's a blessing to know that while we're human and we have earthly needs, and those needs drive a lot of our decisions down here, Father, those are just very base things and temporal things. It's a blessing to know that, Lord, you came down because of eternal things. You came down to sacrifice yourself on that cross for our sins. And Lord, help us to be the type of pilgrim that seeks you out, not out of self-centeredness, but out of submission and out of strength, knowing that whatever else is the case, our God is right, our Bible is right, and salvation is right. And I do pray that if there's somebody here this morning that is maybe seeking you for the wrong reason, maybe they've gotten caught on step one and they haven't been able to get past it, Father, that you'd help them to grow and get to step two, and then step three, and help us, Father, to follow you in strength. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.