The sermon titled 'Why Are You Here?' by Jason Dohm addresses the motives behind seeking Jesus, urging self-reflection on whether our pursuit is for true spiritual fulfillment or self-centered reasons. The sermon examines John 6, where Jesus challenges the crowd's intentions, highlighting that they sought Him not for His signs but for physical satisfaction. Jesus emphasizes the importance of seeking spiritual 'food' that endures to eternal life, rather than temporary physical needs. He connects His miracles, like walking on water, to His divine identity, reinforcing His authority to offer eternal life. The sermon stresses that salvation comes through believing in Jesus, the 'work' that God desires, contrasting this with a works-based approach to salvation. It also warns against the prosperity gospel and encourages believers to evaluate their lives for genuine spiritual pursuits over physical or self-serving goals.

The title of the sermon this morning is, Why Are You Here? Not about anyone in the text, about you. Why are you here? We're skipping right to application. We're putting the application right in the title of the sermon.

What are you doing here? And that is because Jesus confronts people who are seeking him for all the wrong reasons in the text. So, one thing we could do is have this just to be an intellectual exercise where we come and say, interesting text, and consider how it applied to them, and what Jesus was saying to them. That would be really to miss the point. This should be a heart-searching question for us.

Why are we seeking Jesus? Are any of the things that are present in these people that Jesus confronts, present in our own hearts. This is our third week in chapter 6. The first week was the text that had the feeding of the 5, 000, Jesus creating food essentially from nothing. Last week Jesus did something that only God can do.

As the inspired author of scripture Job said in Job 9 verse 8, God alone treads on the waves of the sea. So that when we see Jesus treading on the waves of the sea, we know by way of connection that Jesus is God. This is such a decisive statement that Jesus Christ is God. If you needed any proof that Jesus intended it to be that, in Matthew 14, the parallel passage of the account in Matthew, when Jesus, as soon as Jesus gets into the boat, his disciples worship him. And Jesus received that worship.

So Jesus was intending the disciples to understand by the fact that he was treading on the waves of the sea, that he was God, and it was completely appropriate. Nothing could be more appropriate than when he got into the boat that they worshiped him. This week it's the next day and the remainder of the crowd seeks Jesus out and they find Him at Capernaum. As we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. Lord, we are here, we have gathered here under the banner of Christ, under the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, professing to be your people.

I pray that you would use this mighty text of Scripture to help us understand what we're really doing here. That if there has been any measure of self-deceit in our hearts about why it is that we are seeking Jesus, if there are any of these things in our hearts that Jesus confronts the crowd over in our text that the spotlight, the light would come on, we would see it. And that we would repent of it, that we would be moved and changed by your word being brought to bear in our hearts. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

I'll be splitting the text into three parts. The first part being verses 22-25. So please follow along as I read John chapter 6, 22-25. On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except the one which his disciples had entered and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but his disciples had gone away alone. However, other boats came from Tiberias near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks.

When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus. And when they found him there on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here? Jesus answered them and said, Most assuredly I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal on him." In these verses, the people seek out Jesus. So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's seek out, the people seek out Jesus.

It's the next day, It's the day after Jesus had fed the multitude, and it's after the night in which he had walked out to the disciples on the water, and the remainder of the crowd seeks out Jesus. Our parallel text in Matthew 14 and Mark chapter 6 Both said that Jesus had sent the multitude away. So the people, quote, the people, has to be whoever remained. In other words, our parallel text told us that Jesus sent the multitude away. Most of them have gone away, but there are some who remain and are now called the people.

However many it is, the boats that are there are sufficient to take them across the Sea of Galilee, so it's clearly not the thousands that were fed by Jesus. Jesus and the disciples are now in Capernaum. If you treat the Sea of Galilee as a clock, just for the sake of locating where these places are, Capernaum would be at 11 o'clock on the clock. As you look at a map, it would be towards the northwest at about 11 o'clock. The people are on the east side, somewhere on the east side of the Sea of Galilee, so again, somewhere around 3 o'clock.

So they are across the lake from each other. Now, this crowd, the people, had seen the disciples get into a boat and leave, but they know that Jesus didn't. They know that the disciples went away alone. When they got into the boat and they headed off towards the northeast part of the Sea of Galilee, that Jesus wasn't in the boat. Now it's the next day and Jesus is nowhere to be found.

They don't know where he is and they want to find him. This crowd thinks to look for him in Capernaum. It's not surprising that they end up being right. Maybe just because they saw the disciples when they left, they left in this direction. Capernaum is the significant town on the Sea of Galilee in that direction.

But also in Matthew 4 verse 13 it says that Jesus dwelt in Capernaum. Jesus grew up in Nazareth, but at this point in his ministry, As much as he has a home base, that home base is Capernaum. Undoubtedly, this is known. Jesus, obviously, from what we're seeing in the Gospel of John, is a famous personality now. People know where he lives.

There are other boats nearby that had come from Tiberias. So again, using the Sea of Galilee as a clock, Tiberias is on the southwest shore, or maybe eight o'clock on the clock. And so they get into these boats that have come from Tiberias, and they cross over to Capernaum looking for Jesus. They actually locate Jesus, and when they find him, they ask him, Rabbi, when did you come here? In other words, They can't put together in their minds the sequence of events.

They saw the disciples go away in the boat. They know that Jesus remained, but somehow He's been united with His disciples and they can't get the facts that they know to fit. So they're trying to fill in the gaps. By the way, our parallel passages, Matthew 13 and Mark chapter 6, actually tells us what happened in the intervening hours. It's very interesting.

We won't spend time there, but I'll just tell you what it says. It says that when Jesus and his disciples arrived in the region of Capernaum, it says the region of Gennesaret, and Capernaum is there, the men immediately recognized Jesus. This just goes right to the point. He is a famous personality now because of his works and his teaching. The men immediately recognized him and they ran to the surrounding towns in order to bring him the sick.

In other words, Jesus now has a reputation. And it's a reputation as a man of compassion who is able to heal the sick. So as soon as Jesus lands at Capernaum, the men recognize him and They go find their friends who are sick, the people that they know. If people even touch his garments, they're healed. This is how Jesus has spent the intervening hours until the crowd has crossed over and located Jesus.

Now, to the next section. Follow along as I read verses 26 and 27. Jesus answered and said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on him." In this section, Jesus addresses something actually important, their motive for seeking Him. I say something actually important because they had asked him a question.

That's where the last section ended was with them asking, Rabbi, when did you come here? He just ignores their question and he addresses something that's actually much more important which is the reason that they're seeking him. He knows the reason that they are seeking Him. He knows the reason that they are seeking Him. He begins by saying, most assuredly I say to you, and we have encountered this phrase.

If we were to see it in the Greek it would be Amen, Amen, and then the statement. So it's the double Amen at the beginning. And so this has been rendered by our translators most assuredly I say to you that Jesus uses this phrase when he wants to shine a spotlight on what he's about to say. He's shining a spotlight on what he's about to teach and saying, this is very, very important. Notice they've asked a question, Jesus doesn't answer their question, but he redirects the discussion.

So here is another place in the Gospel of John where we see Jesus get asked a question and ignore the question that gets asked and totally redirecting the discussion into a much more profitable way than they had suggested. Jesus takes control and He addresses the crowd's motives for seeking Him out. He begins with what wasn't their motive. In other words, he starts with saying something that isn't the reason that they've sought him out. They saw the signs.

That wasn't the reason. It wasn't the signs that he was doing that had drawn them to himself. He says, not because you saw the signs. Again, a sign is a very significant word. He could have said, not because you saw the miracles.

And A sign is a miracle, but the point of a sign is that there is a truth that is identified by the doing of the thing. That's critical here. In John chapter 20 verse 31, the verse that we come back to every week, the signs are so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. That's why Jesus is doing the signs. Yes, they are merciful actions.

People really get healed. Suffering is really alleviated. And yet, the great value of the sign is the truth that they actually identify. They are so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that in embracing the reality of His identity we might be saved. So if it's not because they saw the signs, why have they sought Jesus out?

Because they ate and were filled. Because Jesus gave them full stomachs. Paul speaks in Philippians 3 verse 19 of those whose God is their bellies. And this is really saying the same thing. Of course, it's broader than just you eat and are happy that I've eaten.

This really has to do with the inclinations that we have towards our natural appetites. Anyone who fulfills something associated with our natural appetites we are drawn to. This is a sign that your God is your belly. Now, Jesus instructs the people and us in verse 27. Look again at verse 27.

He instructs the people, Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him." This is so much like the living water as Jesus was talking to the woman at the well in chapter 4. This is almost identical to that. Consider three striking similarities between what Jesus is teaching to the crowd here and what Jesus taught to the Samaritan woman at the well in chapter 4. First, he takes the physical thing at hand to teach spiritual truth. In chapter 4, it was the woman at the well, she came to draw water.

So he talks about water to teach a spiritual reality, that there is such a thing as living water. Here in our chapter, He had fed the people with loaves and fishes, physical food, and now he comes to speak of a food that endures to everlasting life, a food that won't perish. So he takes a physical reality that people understand and they relate to every day in order to teach spiritual truths. Second, we have the eternal nature of what Jesus is offering. In Chapter 4, living water becomes in you a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.

Here Jesus speaks of food which endures to everlasting life. He's offering something that doesn't pass away. He's offering something that is eternal. Third, we see in both places His utter willingness to give. Chapter 4, verse 10, Jesus says this to the Samaritan woman, if you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.

Here Jesus says, of this food which the Son of Man will give you. In chapter 4, the woman at the well, here in chapter 6, This crowd who has sought Him out, this spiritual water or this spiritual food is theirs for the asking. Not to be earned, but freely given for all who seek it, for all who come to Jesus for it, for all who are humbled enough to ask for it. It is freely theirs. By the way, we're just beginning an extended, really significant discourse.

So again, we're breaking it up because we need to look at it in small bits. There's so much truth here. We need to unpack it slowly. But this is part of a whole discourse, and as we work through the whole discourse, the whole point is Jesus Himself is the food that He's offering. This eternal, everlasting, life-giving food is Jesus Himself.

It's not something else. It is Jesus Himself and His life which He lays down. There is water which is consumed. You draw it out of the well and then you consume it. You come to the end of the bucket and you have to come back and draw more.

And again the next day, and again the next day, and next week, and next month, until you'll need to keep drawing water until the end of your life. There is food which perishes. Either you leave it alone for too long and it spoils and becomes useless or you consume it and then you need to go in search of more food for the next meal. We shouldn't labor for that. That's what Jesus is saying.

There's physical water that comes out of the well, you'll have to keep coming back to the well, you'll have to keep drawing. Don't labor for that water. There's food that if you leave it alone it spoils, it goes bad, it loses all of its value or you consume it and then at the next meal you need to go find more, don't labor for that food. By the way, that doesn't mean we should never put forth effort to secure food and drink. The Bible is so clear on this.

That we should live vigorous, diligent lives. Part of that is working to provide for yourself. And if you won't, you shouldn't eat. If you don't work, you don't eat. That is the Bible ethics.

So Jesus isn't contradicting that. It does mean that these things shouldn't be our predominant occupation. That's what Jesus is teaching here. Physical water, physical food shouldn't be our predominant occupation. They shouldn't dominate our thoughts and our efforts.

Have you ever heard the phrase, I know you have, you're putting the cart before the horse. Now, what does that mean? When somebody says, whoa, you're putting the cart before the horse, what do they mean? They mean the order's all wrong. In other words, does it matter which order cart and horse go in?

Well, have you ever seen a cart pulling a horse? That's the whole point. Have you ever seen a cart pulling a horse? No, you haven't, and you never will. Horses pull carts or nothing goes anywhere.

And so order is everything. And that's what Jesus is teaching. The physical is to serve the pursuit of the spiritual. That is the truth in this text. The physical is a servant of the pursuit of spiritual.

Think of how we often pray over our food. What things do we pray? Often we pray, God, take this food, Let it give us strength. Why? So we can play football?

No, so we can serve you. God, let this food do its work in my body to fill me with strength so that I can live a life that brings honor to you in this world. Is that a right prayer or a wrong prayer? It's a right prayer. That's exactly how we should pray.

God take these physical things in pursuit of spiritual good. Now, think about what the people who just are seeking Jesus because they ate the loaves and were filled are doing. They're asking the carts to pull the horse. They want the spiritual blessing in pursuit of earthly things, of physical things. No, no, no.

It's supposed to be exactly the opposite. God gives us physical blessings in order to sustain us in the pursuit of spiritual good, not the other way around. So this text brings us to, Am I asking the cart to pull the horse here? Am I using the physical blessings that God brings into my life, the physical provision that God provides in the pursuit of spiritual good, or am I seeking God for spiritual things for earthly blessing? No!

It's exactly the opposite of what it should be. That's why the... That's what makes the prosperity gospel so devastating, is it asks the cart to pull the horse. God, you who are spirit, pour down. It's the pursuit of spiritual blessing.

It's the pursuit of earthly blessing, physical blessing, not the other way around. But there are subtle forms which are a great danger to us. Meaning that it's easy enough to scoff at people who preach the prosperity gospel as being ridiculous, and it is ridiculous, but not to understand that there are subtle forms that actually capture us. And there are. You know, the Word of God works.

What do I mean by that? It means the Word of God is truth. And you can order your life by the truths and principles that come from the Word of God, and you can have a well-ordered, well-managed, happy life in many ways. You can use the Word of God for that. For the well-ordering of your life, because the Word of God is truth.

It works! If you do the things in this book, there will be inherent blessings. Meaning, you'll get the good of it. And if your unbelieving neighbor did the things in this book, they would be, in a way, a blessing to him too. It would work for him too because it's true.

And if you hold yourself back from the things that this book says don't do, in many ways that will work for you too. And it would work for your unbelieving neighbor. It's possible to do the things that this book promotes and to withhold yourselves from the things that this book forbids just because it works. And it gives you a nice life. And it would to your unbelieving neighbor too.

It's possible that you could use the truths from the Bible for all of that and not have any life. Or, to even have life, but still have a very similar mindset, and have a very self-centered Christian life. Can a Christian think this way? And still have a spiritually impoverished life, but have a well-ordered, happy life because he's doing the things that the Bible promotes and withholding himself from the things that the Bible prohibits. But it's all very self-centered.

Yes, Christians can live that way for a long time, but it doesn't honor the Lord. And Ultimately, it's not for their happiness. Friends, beware. Beware of asking the cart to pull your horse. Of engaging in the seeking of Jesus for earthly good, value, and pursuit.

And that was supposed to be the opposite of that for Christians of all people. Finally, Jesus explains why He is the one and the only one who is able to give this essential spiritual food. Jesus marks Himself out as the One who can give you the food that endures to eternal life. We go elsewhere in scriptures to affirm that He is the only One who can give it. Why is that so?

Why is Jesus the source of this? Because God the Father has set His seal on him. This is what Jesus says in our text. There's two views of what Jesus is teaching when he says, God the Father has set His seal on me, And as a result, I'm the one who gives the food that endures to eternal life. The first is that the signs, the works that were given to Jesus by His Father to do, are the seal.

So the signs are the seal. You know that it's God who has made him the life-giver because he's doing these things that only God can do, like treading on the waves of the sea or feeding the multitudes out of nothing. That's true. You can prove that from other places in Scripture, and it's possible that that's what Jesus means. I actually think it's the other possible meaning.

In what I read, the commentators are sort of evenly split on this. The other view is that the seal of the Father is the Father's appointment to this work. In other words, Jesus is the Messiah. What does that mean? Well, Messiah is a word that has a meaning.

It means the anointed one. Who do you anoint? You anoint prophets and priests and kings to commission them to the service that you're doing. The seal of the Father being upon Him is God anointing Jesus to be the prophet and the priest and the king of His people. He is the source of life.

He gives the food that endures to eternal life. I think that's what Jesus is teaching. The Father has sealed me to this work. It's only my work. He's given it to me.

He'll never pull it back. I'll always be the source of the food that endures to eternal life because God has made me that. I think that's what he's teaching here. Finally, verses 28 and 29. Verse 28 and 29.

Follow along as I read. Then they said to him, What shall we do that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent. In these last verses we have the work of God. So if you're filling in blanks on the handout it's work.

The work of God. Now there's something about the translation. In verse 27, When Jesus says, do not labor for the food which perishes. That same Greek word that is rendered labor in verse 27 is in verse 28, what shall we do that we may work the works of God? So, I understand why the translators have rendered it as labor in 27, but work in 28.

But if we were going to have, it's because if you make it labor in 28, you get what shall we do that we may labor the works of God. And That's not how we talk. But think of it that way, in the sense that the people here in 28 are actually picking up on what Jesus says. He says, don't labor for the food which perishes, But do labor for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you." So the people are actually responding in their question to what Jesus has said. In other words, it's Jesus who brought up labor first.

And so Jesus has said, labor for this spiritual food, and they're asking, okay, you brought up labor, they're seeking clarity. What do we do? In this sense, they're just like the rich young ruler in Matthew 19. Listen to what The rich young ruler asks Jesus in Matthew 19 verse 16, Good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? So there's a puzzle.

There's a puzzle. It's a puzzle of works to be done to get to eternal life. The rich young ruler felt like he was missing a piece to the puzzle. So he comes to Jesus, I think my puzzle is missing a piece. What shall I do?

So Jesus starts listing commandments and of course he claims to have done them. And Jesus responds to the rich young ruler in a very different way. But that's a sermon for a different day. The point is that the general understanding of the people, whether it be the rich young ruler in Matthew 19, or whether it be the crowd here, the people here in John chapter 6, the general understanding of the people was, we work to be saved. So, what work shall we do to do the works of God?

Then Jesus says something that makes those of us who treasure salvation by faith alone through grace alone very nervous. He says this in verse 29, This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He sent. So Calvinists, don't be nervous. We're going to be fine. First, notice that Jesus says this is the work singular.

Not works, plural. There is one work to be done in order to be saved. Believing, assenting to the truth, embracing what the Scriptures say about Jesus, and consenting to the person, entrusting yourself, throwing yourself upon the source of those truths, Source of those truths is the one singular, by itself lonely work Which brings us into the salvation that comes from God. There is one lonely work, it's a lonely work, that brings you into the salvation that comes from God. So you want to do the works of God?

Well he sent one who could actually do those works as the way of salvation. It's too late for you. It's too late for you. For people who want to know, what's the last puzzle piece? No, no, no.

Like you missed the first puzzle piece. Which is, if you're going the route of working for salvation, it requires perfect, heartfelt obedience from start to finish. That's how you earn it. Perfect heartfelt obedience from the first day of life to the last day of life. So not only are you not just missing a puzzle piece for working to salvation like you missed the first piece.

And so, God in His mercy has sent one who has the whole puzzle of works. Who did perfectly, cheerfully obey all of the law from the first day of his life to the last day of his life. Believe in him and you will be saved. I've heard Gary say this multiple times in his preaching of the gospel both at our outreach events and at the nursing home. You have all the religions of the world which are the religions of do, do, do, do, work harder, work smarter, reform, turn over a new leaf.

And then you have Christianity which is the religion of done which is the religion that concedes I've failed at doing. I've already missed my chance at doing. But God has sent His Son to do on the behalf of those who would throw themselves upon his mercy, who would assent to the truths about him, who would embrace the truths of this book about him, and would consent to his person, who would entrust themselves to Him. He has done what we should have done. Our work in that sense is just to believe in Him.

I believe there are two texts that will help us, that will help give us clarity. The first is Isaiah 55. Turn to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55 is perfect from this. In a sense, Jesus is preaching out of Isaiah chapter 55.

You're going to see God through the prophet Isaiah speak in almost identical terms to what Jesus is saying in John chapter 6. So hopefully you're there. Isaiah 55. I'll be reading verses 1 through I'll be reading verses 1-3. Oh, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.

You who have no money, come, buy, and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk without money, without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me here and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you the sure mercies of David." The sure mercies of David are secured in the Son of David.

Who is that? That is the Lord Jesus Christ. The mercies of God flow through the Son of David. They are the sure mercies of David. Isaiah wrote this long after King David was dead.

The mercies of David are secured in the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, just think about what God is saying through the prophet here. If you thirst, all that's asked of you is that you come to the waters. You don't earn the waters, you don't make the waters, you are just invited to come to the waters. In fact, you who he knows have no money, you are told to come and buy.

How do you buy without money? Well, God makes it possible. He says come and buy and eat. You can come and buy without money. Good things, wine and milk, without price.

And then we get this question, why do you spend money for what is not bread? In other words, why are you laboring for food that perishes? Jesus is preaching out of Isaiah 55. Why do you spend your wages on what does not satisfy? And then, look at verse 3.

It's believing. Incline your ear and come to me. Hear. Hear. Really hear.

Do you have ears to hear? Do you embrace and entrust? Do you believe in the sure mercies of David? It is of God, the water is of God, the wine and the milk that are offered are of God, but you must do something. You must come to the waters.

You must come to buy, even though you don't have money. You must hear and believe. Now to Romans 4. Romans 4 is the second text. Paul says this with such clarity in Romans chapter 4.

And on the surface you would say, Paul is contradicting Jesus, but that's not so. If you think about it for 30 seconds you can see Jesus and Paul are actually saying not contradictory things, but exactly the same thing. Romans chapter 4 verses 4 through 8. Paul writes, Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but debt. So if I come to your house and I work for you for a day, and you give me something, you're giving me something that's not grace.

I work for a day. I was expecting something. I earned something and I deserve something and you gave me my wages. It wasn't grace. That's exactly what Paul is saying.

Verse 5, but to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his Faith is accounted for righteousness. Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin." This is not contradicting what Jesus is saying at all. This is about the great exchange.

This is about the imputed righteousness. Your sins are not imputed to you. In other words, you do deserve wages for your sins. What are those wages? It's death.

The wages of sin is death. Why aren't you paid those wages? Because your wages are given to another. Your death is died by another. And What are Jesus' wages for His cheerful, perfectly obedient, thankful life from the first day of His life to the end?

The wages that He deserves from that are imputed to you. He gets what you deserve. And you get what he deserves for his perfectly righteous life. The truth is, If we contributed more, it would only make us proud. That's what Ephesians 2 says, we would boast.

This eliminates boasting. So in a sense, it's a work. In what sense? You have to do something. Yes, Jesus has shed His blood.

Jesus has made an atoning, THE atoning sacrifice. But if you won't believe, if you won't assent to the truths and consent to the person, you have no part in it, you have no interest in it. You must do something, you must come to the waters, you must come and buy even though you don't have money. If you do nothing, you will go to hell. You must believe.

In that sense it's a work. In the sense that you work to earn wages and then it gets paid to you, no, it's all of grace. So the people ask, What shall we do? And Jesus answers, believe in me. When you boil the text down, here's what you have.

The people ask, what must we do to be saved? And Jesus answers the question unequivocally, believe in me. Period. And when you add anything, you strip away salvation. When you say, believe in me and go to church, you strip away salvation.

Believe in me and be nice to people. You strip away. Now should we go to church? Yes, we should go to church. Should we be nice to people?

Yes, we should be nice to people. It is out of gratitude for the salvation though. It does not contribute to it. Anything that we add to the work that Jesus does defiles it. Applications.

There are three. We'll go back to the title of the sermon. Why are you here? Why are you really here? Some of you have gone to great lengths to be here.

Some came from over an hour away on their anniversary date. Others are living in somebody else's house, they didn't give one thought to whether they would come or not because they didn't have a choice. Here's the question we should be asking ourselves. What is my predominant occupation? What occupies my mind?

What occupies my calendar? What occupies my wallet? Sometimes the profession that we make with our mouth, what we say is dominant, is of ultimate value, is contradicted by what really occupies our thoughts. In other words, we say, Jesus is everything to me, only he's rarely in our thoughts. We almost never think of him.

Your mind dwells upon the things that you love. So, I can say anything, and you don't know what's in my mind. Fooling you is easy. Sometimes we say Jesus is everything to me, But if we look at our calendar, there are so many other things that have nothing to do with Jesus. They have nothing to do even with the diligent life to work and provide that Jesus calls us to.

The minutes, discretionary minutes. Meaning, there are things that I have to do to be ready to stand up and preach a text. I don't call those discretionary minutes. Those are not at my discretion. I have to spend those minutes in order to be ready to be here.

And you actually pay me for those minutes. So those aren't at my discretion. You bought them. But your discretionary minutes, where You can spend them any way you want. How are they spent?

Does it say that Jesus is everything to you? Or does it say that the affections of your heart really are pointed at something else? You have an idol. What about your wallet? You say Jesus is everything to me.

Only you spend your money on everything else other than kingdom work. What is my predominant occupation? What occupies my mind, my calendar, my wallet? Is it possible that you are here because the Word of God works for you? That there is a sense in which you seek Jesus, but really you're at the heart of it.

You like the well ordering, and the approval, and the happiness that you get from it? But there's no actual life. That's possible. Or even that there really is spiritual life, you have really repented and believed the gospel. You have really been born again, but that you have a self-centered Christian life.

If so, and really I'm talking about that as if it's pass, fail, all, nothing, but that's really not how it works. But really the question is, to what degree is my Christian life, if you're born again, to what degree is my Christian life a self-centered Christian life? This text comes to confront us. Augustine remarks how seldom Jesus is sought for the sake of Jesus. Think about that.

This is Augustine. How seldom Jesus is sought for the sake of Jesus. If you strip all the other stuff away, the blessings of conforming to the truth, of doing the things this book promotes and withholding yourself from the things that it forbids. If you strip away all the inherent blessings of that and how it orders your life well and brings a degree of happiness, you strip all that away and all you were left with was Jesus, Would you still be a Christian? This is really the fundamental question from our text.

Have you seen him in all of his greatness and goodness? So that you have a captivating vision, a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ which captures your heart and renders it impossible for you to live another life. You can only live a Christian life because you've seen His greatness and His goodness and His infinite value. And you just have to have it. Why are you really here?

Here's something we get from our text. Jesus knows the true answer to that question. He told them exactly what wasn't their motive and what was their motive. If he were here in the body, he could tell you exactly why you're here. Even if You're surprised by it.

Even if you've successfully not only deceived everyone else around you, but deceived yourself, he could tell you the real reason why you do the religious things that you do. Are you laboring for the food that endures? There are things that we can do to pursue food for our souls. In other words, we can get so focused on salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, that we think as a consequence, it doesn't matter what I do. So I think we should say hallelujah, amen, to salvation by grace alone through faith alone, but never let ourselves conclude that that therefore means it doesn't matter what I do and it doesn't matter if I do nothing.

Jesus tells us to labor for spiritual food. Go get spiritual food. Well, where do you get spiritual food? You know all the answers to that question. You know all the answers to that question.

Go get it! Number three. Have you done that great work of God? One work, one lonely work, to believe on Him. If you have, you're saved, And no one can ever make you unsaved.

No one can ever snatch you from His hand. All your sins past have been dealt with. All your sins of the present have been dealt with. All your sins of the future have been dealt with, you have entered into the religion of done. Who did it?

You? No! It was the whole point. You couldn't do it. So Jesus came and did it for you, and it's done.

But if you haven't, If you have a seeking of Jesus that really has you at the center of it, believe on Him. Repent today. Don't wait another day. If all of your religious motivations have been unworthy, There's a simple solution. Believe.

What must I do to be saved? Believe in Jesus. God, thank you for this text, Which brings us right back to salvation by grace alone through faith alone. And yet, there is something for us to do to throw ourselves upon your Son. I pray that there would be people here today now throwing themselves upon you, being done with working for salvation and all the self-deception that comes with that.

They would own their desperate condition before you and throw themselves upon the sure mercies of David. Pray in Jesus' name, Amen.