John 6 part 2

Good evening, everyone and welcome back to Church of the Bible. It's a great day to be here, great to be with you all, to be able to worship together, to read God's word and to be touched and renewed by it. By way of announcements, before we begin, just in case I don't know that everyone's heard yet, so we're going to make some announcements that we've had. My neighbor, who lives on my street, has lost her 16 year old son and her boyfriend in a terrible car accident this week. So I'm just announcing that to the church.

If we could lift this family up in prayer and support them as well. As I know most of you guys are far away from where I live and whatnot, but if we can come together as a church to meet any needs, I'll let you guys know as there are needs, as I'm aware of them. But if we can support this family, they're unsaved. And so we want to come and surround them in God's love. We want to let them know not only that we're here for them, but God is here for them.

And ideally, we see that God uses the situation to save their souls. We'll also be doing Bible study on Wednesday at 630, here in Zoom. We'll be on Daniel, chapter six, I believe, or seven, where Daniel gets thrown into the lion's den.

As a note about Bible study, this last week we replaced our normal Bible study session with a discipleship training class and it was well received, everyone there that I had a chance to talk about it. They greatly enjoyed it. And we have decided that once a month we're going to go ahead and we're going to introduce that every month in place of one of the Bible studies. So I'm working on the next discipleship training class right now, so it's ready when we come together to do that again the first week of next month of October. So just be looking forward to that.

And again, if anyone has any questions about what we taught, what we did and whatnot or you're running into issues using it and out in the world and in real life, let me know. Let's work on it together. This way we can be out there making disciples and growing the kingdom of God. And then as we've come to finish up Daniel, we still got a few weeks left in Daniel, but just so everyone can be preparing, we'll be going from the Book of Daniel to the Book of Revelation.

Learning about the end times. Learning about what? The things that are to come. The tribulation. Learning about the rapture.

Learning about the new kingdom of heaven, the new heavens and new earth that will come. So be looking forward to that and even be reading ahead, be getting ready for it. It's going to be a great study. I greatly look forward to it. And then we will have Bible study as normal on Friday in Cedar City at 06:00 p.m..

And then just a reminder for everyone, this way it doesn't come up and surprise people. I will be gone the 27th through October 1. I'll be on a mission trip in Los Angeles, so we won't have church from the 27th to the first. So I'll continue to remind everyone as it comes up, but I don't want anyone to forget and be caught by surprise. With that said, let's open up with prayer.

Let's worship God. We've introduced a new worship song today for some people, for others it's one that we played last in 2020. So we're introducing a new worship song for everyone today. And then next week also, I know I said we're going to pray, but this just I'm remembering stuff as I'm going next week also, we'll be introducing some new components to worship service. We'll start some of you saw I had a five minute timer today and it was clunky because of the way I had to do it.

But we'll be introducing some timers before church begins, just so everyone can be aware. And we're going to broadcast that timer and we're going to start broadcasting our announcements during that section. It'll be in slides, it'll play for five minutes to get all of our announcements through, but this way we can be slightly more efficient with our service and get into worship, which I feel worship is more important thing than announcements. So let's go ahead and pray now and we'll turn the time over to worship and I'll see everybody back after that to continue our study in John, chapter six. Father, we thank you for this beautiful day.

Lord, thank you for the weather that we're receiving here in Utah, for the moisture, Lord, and Your goodness and Your graces to us. Lord, I thank you for the people and the car wreck who survived, for Your protection, for those people, Lord, that you kept them safe from harm, lord, they walked away on their own. 2ft and Lord, I just lift up the families that are hurting right now from the loss in this community. Lord, I pray that you'll bring to them comfort and Your peace, not peace as the world gives, but Lord, Your true and perfect peace. Father, I pray as we go into our worship service that our hearts will turn toward you, that we won't be distracted with the things going on in our lives in the world, that we can focus on you alone for this next time.

And Lord, I pray that you'll open our hearts and our minds to what Your Word says. Lord, reveal Your will to us. Reveal Your Word to us that will not only be hearers, but doers, that you will be glorified in heaven and we thank you for these things. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Last me on the rock that thing and I hope you break my fall and live me time and time again oh my God never give up never give up on me oh, should be love for me oh, my God never give up on me oh, yeah waiting on my shame I made from death now we got love for me oh, my God for me I'm not afraid to think so I'm seeing you are good. There is Christ. Arise in your freedom. You are good. You make a promise.

Keep it. You keep it. You are good I praise the name as long as I breathe it you are good.

You are good. There is a Christ behind freedom. You are never give up courageously. And there he bled and died for me. Hallelujah for the cross.

And on that day the world was changed. A silent, old perfect man was slain. Let. Earth and heaven now proclaim hallelujah for the cross what could I face? My step too great for me to face but God my favor made away hallelujah for the cross in my life was found when all my chase fell to the ground when Jesus blood came through hallelujah for the cross hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah and when I breathe my final breath I have no need to fear that rest this hope will guide me into death hallelujah for the cross hallelujah, hallelujah over Jesus.

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah to every heartbreak, to every circumstance I believe that you are my fortune. Oh, you are my fortune. You are my hiding place. Oh, I believe you are the way the truth in your life. I believe you are the way with you in your life.

I believe whoever regret every breath I take. I believe that you are provider. Oh, you are protective. You are the one I love.

I believe you are the way, the truth I believe you are the way, the truth the light I believe you are oh, you are who you are into you and you meet me here today with mercy that I knew all my fears and doubts they can all come through because they can't stay long? When I'm here with you it's a new and you meet me here?

My fears and now they can all come to me because they can't say when I believe you are the way through the light I believe you are the way the light you can make it wish you the Bible tells us to give thanks to the Lord for he is good his love endures forever. And that's a thing we've seen in scriptures, in our Wednesday Bible study a lot lately, that the Lord is good, his love endures forever. And so I think this worship service that we do, it's critical, it's important because we connect with God and his leavenders. We should worship Him for it and give Him thanks. Today we're going to be in John, chapter six.

We did verses one through 15 last week. So we're going to pick up in verse 16 today and we're going to try and get through verse 29. We'll see how far we get though, and we'll go from there. But we're going to begin in verse 16 and we're going to read verses 16 through 21. But real quick, just remember last week what had happened.

Jesus, it was near Passover and there was a large crowd following him and he sat them down and he fed them the 5000 people. He fed them with the bread and the fishes that multiplied. We talked about how God can use the small things, those things that we think are insignificant, our small gifts, and it could be multiplied greatly in his hands. But it ended in verse 15. It said that Jesus had to withdraw to a mountain on his own because he had become so popular at that moment that he knew they would try and take him by force and make him their king.

Oh, what's so sad about that is only a couple of years later, two years later, the same group of people want to crucify him, but right now they want to take him by force and make him their king. And so we're going to pick up right there at verse 16 says now when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea and getting into a boat, they began to go to the other side of the sea to compern him. And it had already become dark and Jesus had not yet come to them. And the sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. Then when they had rode about 25 or 30 stadia, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat and they were afraid.

But he said to them, do not be afraid, it is I. So they were wanting to take him into the boat and immediately the boat came to the land to which they were going. How cool was that? They got to teleport.

I don't think they realized they teleported, but they got to Teleport. And everyone says that Star Trek is only science fiction, teleportation is not real. But they did it. And everyone who knows that I close each week with live long and prosper, they know where I'm getting this from.

The multitude had come and wanted to take him by force. And so he withdrew to a mountain alone. As Jesus had perceived what they were about to do. Remember, he's God, he knew what they were about to do. He also knew his time had not yet come.

It was not yet time for him to be crowned King. And so he had to disappear. And as he disappeared alone, the disciples were waiting for him at the boat. They knew they had to leave, they knew they had to go to Capernaum and they were waiting for him. But as evening came, as it got dark, as it was getting late and the winds were blowing and they knew they had to get to the other side, they took off without him.

What we read here in these few verses and 16 to 21, that's five verses six. I'm not going to do math. Okay, I'm sorry, but such a short few verses. We see here in these verses the story of humanity.

There's so much suggestive meaning here about the Christian walk from lostness to salvation in these verses that we need to even though it's telling a literal story, these are events that actually happened. It's full of suggestive meaning. And I think that Jesus did that on purpose. A lot of what Jesus does, he went by the wayside into Samaria. He did a lot of things that ended up becoming a real story, but had suggestive meaning that applied, and he could teach us through that.

So they get on the boat and they begin their journey into Capernaum, and it has already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. I want to bring a distinction between darkness and lightness in the human life. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the light of the world. He is who gives light into the souls of all mankind. And without Jesus, you are walking in darkness.

I want to bring light to that. We are in darkness without him. In John three, when we read in John three, it told us that the difference between those who are perishing and those who says that he who has believed will not be condemned because he is already believed. But he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the only begotten of the Father. But then it says that it's because they love darkness rather than light.

Right? So what is their condemnation? Their condemnation is not that they didn't believe. Their condemnation is that they loved darkness rather than light. And you cannot believe in Christ when you love darkness.

You cannot follow Christ when you love darkness. And that was the condemnation. So we see here with the disciples, we actually see a story of a man's progress from lostness to salvation. And what we see here is that men are in darkness because Christ has not yet come to them.

All of the people in the world right now walking in darkness, christ has not yet come to them. He's not yet there. He's not active in their life. He's not living in their hearts. He's not shining light into them yet.

And here is what we see. This darkness looks like the sea in verse 18 began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.

The sea is stirred up. Anyone who knows anything about the sea and a storm you could have out in the ocean. This is on a relatively small sea. But as you look at the geography, the sea sat very low and had extremely high mountains all around the sea, and the winds would actually blow from the top of the mountains at night as it began to cool off. But what we know today is during the day the sun heats the land in the air and it causes all the wind to rush because heat rises.

So all the air moves up to the high mountains. But at night, when it begins to cool off, cold air sinks and things fall typically a whole lot faster than they go up. So as the cool air came on the sea, the air rushed from the top of the mountain down and back across the sea. And what we know about these winds is they can cause strong swells, strong waves. We're talking ocean swells that can be 60 to 70ft tall and they have capsized large ships.

And so we see this picture here of turmoil, of distress. It's dark. They don't have their Lord with them. They already know Jesus personally. He's not with them.

And it's dark. And in this darkness, they're being battered by these strong winds and they're being tossed to and fro. In other gospels, we read through Matthew and we read through Mark and we read through Luke and we got John and some of these other gospel stories. We know that the boat was taken on water and they are becoming greatly afraid and fearful. Isn't that what our life is like?

Look at our lives before salvation. And if we look after salvation, we still have storms in our life. But there's a difference between the storms in our life now and the storms in our life then. But look at your life before you knew Christ. Isn't that really what it was like?

You're like a matchbox on a sea and you're being tossed to and fro as the winds batter you and the waves push you and you're taking on water and you just cannot stay afloat. Everyone who has come to Christ has been at a point in their life where they could not stay afloat. And they knew it. They were sinking.

That is what the world is. But the world is this great big ocean that swallows us up, that pushes us around. And without Jesus in it, we are helpless to control it. We really are.

As livestorms rage upon us, we are in danger. We feel deserted. We feel hopeless and lost and there's not a lot we can do as we deal with grief. There's people right here in this town who are dealing with grief right now as we deal with grief, what help is there when Jesus had not yet come to you?

As you deal with fear, maybe of maybe you've got a kid who is struggling with disease and illness or you've got a kid who is struggling with addiction. Or you are struggling with addictions. What help is there when Jesus had not yet come to you?

We see the story here of the human life who is in darkness, who is being swallowed up by the sea, they're taking on water and there's this conscious need and the condition of humanity is painful.

It's treacherous.

The state of the disciples in the boat right now resemble that of the majority of the world. Resemble that. I shared statistics three weeks ago that there are 183,303 souls in southern Utah who would perish for eternity if they died today.

And this week, one of those people for sure perished. Right? That's the state of all these people walking around in the world right now. They're walking in darkness. They're walking in danger.

They are Christless. And most of them are not even aware of the condition that they are in. They don't know that, but it's where they are. Now, the disciples we know from the other gospels, they are really nervous right now. They're panicking because we know the boat's taken on water.

They fear that it will sink. And as they are panicking in verse 19, it says that they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near to the boat and they were afraid. Well, first, I might be afraid too if I saw a guy walking on top of the water in the storm.

But they were afraid. But they see Jesus. He's walking to them. Isn't that a great discovery? Wouldn't that be a wonderful discovery?

And everyone who has Christ today, they know that discovery. They know that darkness.

They know what it feels like when their ship is taken on water and they fear they're going to sink. And all of a sudden Jesus appears as if out of nowhere. And that's how it was for Jesus. I don't think he walked from where he was and down the mountain to the shore and across the sea. I think he just know a couple a hundred yards out or so and began walking toward them.

We know he can teleport because he teleports the whole boat to the shore.

So he just as if out of nowhere he appears in the darkness, in the storm, in this dangerous and sad condition. He and to the man who is living in sin, who is filled with sorrow and heartache and fear, maybe they're filled with jealousy or grief and they're comfortless.

The greatest discovery that anyone could find in this life, in that darkness, is Jesus as he appears in the middle of the night. Here's the thing, and this is why we started discipleship training. How are they going to find Jesus? Does Jesus just appear to most people? Not typically, but Jesus is found as we share the Word, as we share our testimony, as we share the gospel and let people know who Jesus is and what he did and what a great discovery Jesus was.

For me, the night and the day that I discovered him.

When I sat the week of Thanksgiving up on my couch, shawnee was at work, working graveyard and I sat there and was ready to die. And was also so afraid. And what a great discovery when Jesus showed up, when he held me off long enough to show up to church the next morning so that the gospel could be presented to me.

So that the storm, that darkness, that I was in. And those winds that were battering my boat and those waters that were filling it up seemingly stopped as he entered into my life and as he told me that everything I'm dealing with, he's enough for it.

What a great discovery.

No matter how threatening the battle we face or how deep that sorrow and grief or how distressed we are, jesus can find his way into that situation.

Those who feel helpless I know what feeling helpless is like. He can help them. For those who feel unloved, he can love them. And for those who really can't seem to just get a grip on their own life, he can take care of that. So he appears seemingly out of nowhere and look what he says in verse 20.

He says to them, it is I do not be afraid.

What a comfort and message. Before you were saved, think about this. Would you have been afraid to meet God before salvation? I've said this before, I'm going to say it again. There is no such thing as an atheist.

No such thing as an atheist. Every single person knows that God is there. We know it. We know it deep within us. And every single person is afraid to meet God.

Why? Why are we afraid to meet Him? It's because we know we've been given a conscious. Every single person who has ever done something wrong and felt bad about it, they've been given a conscious from God and they felt bad because they sinned against God. And we know it.

We all know it in our hearts. We all know that we had done wrong and we don't want to face Him, right? How many people have done wrong and know when their dad gets home from work that they're going to get a beating? Right? And they're afraid?

They tremble on their knees. They're watching the clock. And as they know, oh shoot, dad should be walking in the door about now. They begin to tremble and then that door opens and their heart rate increases. It's the same thing with God.

We know we've done wrong and we know that Dad's going to come home, right? We're going to go stand before God. And we are afraid of that judgment. But look at the message of Christ. He says it is I do not be afraid.

It's a comforting message. God does not want us to fear going before his presence.

God does not desire to condemn you. He does not want you to perish. The Bible says that it is the will of the Father that no one should perish. No, not one. That's the will of God.

It doesn't matter. Whatever you have done, in your life up to this point, it doesn't matter. God does not desire you to perish. And so when he shows up in the dead of the night in the middle of your storm, his message to you is not to be afraid, not to tremble, because judgment is nigh. But his message is it is I.

It's your creator.

Don't be afraid. He wants us to accept Him. He wants us to take Him in. Christ saves from fear, right? The life that we live in, the life we live pre salvation is a fearful life.

He wants us to be free from that.

He says, don't be afraid of Me, first and foremost. And we know that has to be said all the time. Think of every time an angel appeared, right, let alone God. Think of every time an angel appeared. They had to say, don't be afraid because we're afraid of the supernatural.

We really are as people. But he also says, don't be afraid of the darkness. Don't fear it anymore. Don't be afraid of the storm or the water or your addiction or what you're don't be afraid of the illness your kids are suffering, because it is I. What do we know about Jesus?

We know that he came not to bring death, but to bring life. He didn't come to judge, but he came to save.

So he says, don't be afraid. He says, Come to Me, all who are weary, and I will give you rest, Jesus'message. It's a comforting message. It's a message of peace. Think about it.

It's a peace offering.

He died so that we wouldn't so that we could no longer be enmity with God. I want to look at the verse 21. We're going to break it into two.

They were wanting to take Him into the boat immediately. They received Him into the boat. Now, if you have not picked up by now, I've been using, though this boat was a physical and literal boat in a literal sea, I have been relaying the boat to our lives, to our bodies, to our hearts. They brought Jesus into the boat. Notice.

That where he appeared. Did he appear in the boat? No, he appeared on the sea. And why did he appear in the darkness and on the sea? He appeared there because God will not force any one of us to accept Him into our hearts.

He will not force his way into your life, but he will appear where he can be discovered and found and known. He says to us, he says, behold, I stand at the door and knock.

So Jesus is willing and wanting to be in our lives. He is willing and wanting to save us and to comfort us and to pour out grace upon grace upon us. But we have to receive Him into the ship. We have to receive Him into our hearts and allow Him the opportunity to enter. The disciples, they gladly accepted his offer when he appeared, they gladly accepted Him into the boat and boy, at such a time that he appeared.

When did he appear? He appeared when they needed Him most.

They didn't need Him when they were on the shore. They didn't need Him when it was daylight, but they needed Him in the darkness. Or, I need a backup. We need Jesus all the time. But their need was most dire when it was dark and the winds were beating them to and fro and the water was coming into the boat and he appeared.

Why do you think God typically appears when we need Him the most? I'll tell you why, and this is why. I needed to backtrack and recant my statements. Not that they didn't need Him in the daylight or on the shore. They just needed Him more out there.

Because when you can pay your bills every month on your own, you don't typically rely upon God. When you can overcome whatever battle faces you today in your own strength, you don't typically rely upon God when you can go to the doctor and be given a ten day treatment and ten days later, whatever illness you had is gone, you don't typically rely upon God. But when the darkness is so heavy and so thick that it could be felt when your boat is taken on so much water that it's already halfway under the sea when you have already been jobless for three months, and you're facing that eviction when you can no longer say God, I don't need you anymore. But instead God, I don't know what to do. That is when you are most apt to open the door that he stands and knocks at, you will be most willing to open up and say please come on in.

In those moments. Let me tell you something, though. God doesn't want you to open the door in that moment and then close it when the situation is over.

And I think that's what humanity tends to do. We tend to open the door and pull Him in when we need Him and then push Him out and slam it shut when we feel like we don't. And that's not what God wants. He wants us to open that door, and he wants us to leave it open for Him for a continual relationship.

Because I'll tell you what, even when you're not in that deep of a darkness, you still need God. You need to rely on Him daily. You need his power every single day to get you through. He says that when we are at our weakest, he's at his strongest. And with that, I want to be weak all the time.

Let me always be weak so that God can always be strong.

Next, we can't accept Jesus and reject His Word, nor can we accept His Word and reject Him. It is not possible. But to receive Jesus is to receive his word.

And. Vice versa. That's the problem with the Pharisees. The last month we've read a lot about the Pharisees, and they constantly refer to the Scriptures. The Law says this and the Law says that.

But you can't receive the word of God and not receive Jesus.

Neither can you receive him and reject his word. Right? Christ and His Word will stand or fall together. If Christ is false, the Bible is false, and vice versa. But if Christ is true, the Bible is true.

And if the Bible is true, then Christ is true. They will stand or fall together. So the disciples took Him into their ship in their distress, and Christ was quite ready to go. He was ready in that moment to enter the ship. And the last half of the verse before we get ready to close says, immediately the boat came to the land to which they were going.

He teleported, Beam me up, Scotty, teleported to the shore of the land.

The language of this verse clearly indicates a miracle. It doesn't say that the winds calmed and the waves settled and they continued row into land, but immediately.

How does that relate to us? Salvation is instant. And there's a lot of churches and there's a lot of teachings and a lot of different religions that salvation is a process that you have to earn, and you earn it by going through all of these various steps. But until you complete all of them, you don't have salvation and you never actually know if you're saved.

But what we read about Jesus is not that we read about immediate salvation. For when you take Jesus into your heart, when you remove your crown and bow to his, you are saved. It's instantaneous.

No process, no hope. So gospel, we're reading the Gospel of John in the epistles of John, right before Revelation. John says, I write these things that you will know that you are saved.

Christ's gospel is not a I hope so gospel or I think so or wish so or I don't know so gospel. His gospel is a I know gospel. I know that I am saved. I know who God is. It's instantaneous, it's promised, it's guaranteed.

The receiving of Christ into your heart is always accompanied with deliverance and rest 100% of the time as we come to an end. We didn't quite make it to verse 29 like I wanted today, so we'll pick up in verse 22 next week. But as we come to an end, I want to remind everyone that after the prayer we have communion, so please stick around. But I want to talk to the person who is hearing this today and is in darkness, who is being tossed to and fro right now, pushed around by the winds and the waves, and you're helpless to do anything about it. And if you're there, I want to know why.

Why are you there right now? Why are you taking on water and sinking when there is help. Right now, Jesus says, Behold, I stand at the door or not. He says I'm. Here.

It is I. Do not be afraid. Just let me in.

And so if you have felt like there is no light at the end of the tunnel, I hope right now that you can see the light and that you are ready and willing to accept it. And that begins there's. A few things I needed to know about the salvation, how it's inquired. That begins with admitting that you're a sinner. You are in the position you're in because you and humanity are sinners.

And because of our lostness, because of our sin and our inability to live perfect and God pleasing lives, these things happen. But to believe that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, that he came down here, that he died for you, he lived perfectly and died for you, and he resurrected again. And to believe that he alone is sufficient, that he alone is enough, and to confess Him. What does confess him mean? It means to confess Him as your King, your Lord, as your God.

It means to say, god, I will no longer live the way I want to live under my own crown, but I will submit to yours. And he says that if you would confess Him with your mouth that he is Lord and believe in your heart that he was raised from the dead, that you would be saved. If you're ready to do that, we're going to enter our closing prayer right now, and I want to walk you through just verbalizing that to God and asking Him in whatever your situation is right now, after which I'm going to run upstairs and get my communion, and we'll be back to partake of the Lord's Supper together. Let's pray. Father, I admit that I'm a sinner.

Lord, I admit that I'm corrupt and that my ways are wrong and that I cannot save myself. Lord, I know I can't help myself, but I believe that you are God in the flesh. I believe that you came here, that you lived perfectly. I believe that you were crucified not because you had done anything wrong, but so that I could be saved. And I believe you rose again the third day.

And Lord Jesus, I confess you as my God, my king, my Lord, right now, and I will submit to Your rule over my life. I ask you into my heart right now. I ask you into this darkness, into the suffering or anxiety or depression or Lord, whatever it is that might be experienced in the world right now. I ask you and I ask you to shine brightly a light so that the darkness cannot overcome it. And I thank you.

And Father, we thank you today. We thank you for everyone who you have saved, for everyone who you are saving right now. Lord, we thank you for the light that you gave us, for the darkness you saved each of us from, for the hope and the security and the peace, the friendship and the love that you have given us. We praise you, Father. And we praise you, Lord Jesus, and we thank you by your Holy Spirit for everything that you have done.

And we look forward to being with you in your kingdom. In the beautiful name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.