Labouring for natural and spiritual food (Quality: Very good)

[0:00] That hymn you've just sung, or the subject matter of that hymn, or the very things that are upon my mind.

[0:32] I would speak to you, you deacons in your office, you might feel that many times you labour in vain, many hymns which you give out, you feel that they don't do anything, nothing is vitally done.

[1:02] But I've known on a number of occasions, when the deacon has given out a hymn, right on the very subject, as it is this morning.

[1:23] And this is an encouragement. And I remember having a chat to a friend of mine, a deacon, about this very matter.

[1:40] And he said to me, he said, Well, Philip, he said, You go to the same God as I do.

[1:53] And we hope we come, desiring that the Lord would lead us to a hymn, and you to a text, so that there might be that harmony.

[2:09] And you know, it's wonderful when it is like that, because you feel the Lord is in it. What is the purpose of it?

[2:21] You see? But I would direct you to John 6, and verse 27, And verse 27, Which the Son of Man shall give unto you, for him hath the Father sealed.

[3:04] The words in particular upon my mind, are these, Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life.

[3:25] And linked with that were the very words in the hymn which we've just sung, where he said, Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed, which is in Matthew 6, as you know.

[3:52] And he goes on, For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father, your heavenly Father, knoweth that ye have need of all these things, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

[4:32] And then he goes on, saying this, Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself sufficient until the day is the evil thereof.

[5:03] And as you, I believe this is one of Hart's hymns. He said, Jesus has said, who surely knew much better what we ought to do, then we can e'er pretend to see no thought in for the morrow take, and he that will not for my sake relinquish all some worthy means.

[5:41] Labour not for the meat which perisheth. Now, this doesn't mean that you should sit down and do nothing.

[6:00] No, it doesn't. It doesn't mean that at all. It means in the sense of where Martha and Mary, and you will remember how she complained to the Lord regarding her sister who was sitting at Jesus' feet.

[6:35] And he said, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things or worse to that effect.

[6:47] But Mary has chosen that good path or better path. We shall not be taken from her.

[7:00] no, we are to pursue our calling in the place where the Lord has placed us.

[7:14] But in this case, you will find there's a separation. How can I explain it?

[7:25] I am dependent on the Lord to open it. Yes, I am. I'll speak of this if you will accept this.

[7:43] I won't tell you the circumstances. but I was overwhelmed in a trial once, completely overwhelmed.

[7:58] And I came to the Lord. Now, you know and I know there are many ways where we come to the Lord.

[8:15] sometimes we come in a demanding way. Sometimes we come with a prayer book within our heart and our heart does not go with the words we utter before him.

[8:35] Sometimes we come in a rebellious state. cry out to God that he's ill-treated us.

[8:55] There's no love. Oh no, no love in there. There's rebellion. Sometimes, you know, he lays a command in our heart to do a certain thing.

[9:17] And we will not. We're rebellious against it, just as Jonah. Jonah. I will not go this way.

[9:29] And I'm telling you these things out of those things that I've tasted, handed, and fell. I'm not throwing any stones at anyone.

[9:41] I'm speaking out of my own heart, and I hope as the Lord lays it within my heart to speak. But on this occasion, I went to him as a little child.

[10:04] There wasn't any envy. There wasn't any hatred. There wasn't any malice. There wasn't any, to my recollection, self-pity, although it might have been mingled in there.

[10:26] I came to him, I hope, as his child. Now, you might say that's presumption. Not when you're in the case.

[10:39] Not when you're in the case. I was in the path of the Lord's leading. I was obeying him in that which he laid within my heart.

[10:54] and I was walking round the garden.

[11:10] You know, when you speak to the Lord, when anything real is within your heart, you know, you remember the very spot and place.

[11:22] and I said, Lord, why is it, if I'm doing thy will and I hope I am, why is it, I'm in this terrible trial.

[11:41] God, and you know what he said to me? What is that to thee?

[11:56] What do we read in a text? Labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, take therefore no thought for the moral, take no thought for the trial, follow thou me.

[12:28] You know, the Lord has a way, if I use this in a homely fashion, not any false sentiment, the Lord has a way of speaking to you, right into the very heart of the case within your heart.

[12:54] Right into it. Right into the very case, you see, gives you the answer in that case which you're carrying in your heart before him.

[13:10] What is that to thee? Follow thou me. Labour not for the meat which perishes.

[13:25] There's a distinct separation between that which you carry regarding your everyday life and that for the benefit of your soul and for the benefit of others.

[13:49] You don't know. You don't know. But you've got to be in the path which the Lord has put you in.

[14:04] You see, we labour, we toil because we don't really trust the Lord. Don't really trust him.

[14:18] well, if you trust him, you haven't got a heart like I've got. And I don't boast of it.

[14:34] Cannot trust the Lord in this thing. We have to put our hand to it. You see, in this case, Jesus was speaking to these people and he said to them, you remember they came and took ship to find him.

[15:06] When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, whence comest thou hither. And Jesus looked right into their heart, right into the intention within their heart, or the motive for them seeking him.

[15:34] It comes very close, doesn't it? What is our motive for seeking the Lord? is it to escape hell?

[15:52] Is it here, ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat the loaves and were filled?

[16:04] in other words, a miracle meant nothing to them, but they had received that which they wanted food, in this case, and they were filled with it.

[16:28] And so they wanted more, they wanted more of this food, disregarded his teaching because he had been teaching them probably all day, we know not, I don't think it says how long it was, but they were hungry and because they were hungry he gave them natural food, now this is it, now this is it.

[17:05] We find again and again in the words of Jesus, he separated and he gave the same lesson in different forms.

[17:17] When he was speaking to the woman of Samaria, he said on her, if I can turn to it, she was only looking at the natural water.

[17:37] These disciples, these ones that followed him, what did they do? They wanted the food, the natural food and they were filled and they came to him for more.

[17:52] Now we find the woman of Samaria, you see he spoke of this living water and she looked at the natural water.

[18:04] Do you look at the natural food? Do you look at the natural water? But he said to her, but whoso drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

[18:37] The same lesson, labor not for the meat which perishes.

[18:49] labor not if I do you know, I have to come and speak to myself again.

[19:04] I hope you bear with me. But you see those I remember are doing this very thing, laboring in prayer before the Lord for the very things of this life, laboring and toiling, cross-handed blessings.

[19:34] Have you ever come into it? Cross-handed blessings. He crossed his hand. instead of getting those things which I was laboring for, he was taking them away from me.

[20:01] The very thing I wanted was denied me. couldn't understand it. Read in the Bible, praying, read in the Bible importunity and so on, laboring in prayer and yet there was no fruit.

[20:36] seeking for the very things of this life which were lawful were not lawful, praying.

[20:51] But the Lord said this to me, he said seek ye first. We've read haven't we?

[21:03] seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Now, I'll say something to you now because I was bound up in this for many years.

[21:20] He said this to me, seek ye first the kingdom of heaven. Now, he may not give you a word exactly as it's recorded in the Bible.

[21:43] I know it says here, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, but I receive, seek ye first the kingdom of heaven.

[22:03] Why do I say that? Because I had others, ministers of God, or one particular one, told me I was wrong.

[22:22] It says in the word of God, the kingdom of God, God, you see, under the ministry, after twenty years, I was forced, you see, couldn't have had it, wasn't real.

[22:45] I know the effect it had with me, and the effect was I didn't want it. to leave all of those things that I was concerned in and seek first the kingdom of God and go out, like Abraham, in a totally different direction, into an unknown way.

[23:22] And you approve this, the Lord leads you in an unknown way. I'll just say briefly, it was cleared up in a sermon preached by Raymond Williams.

[23:45] I won't go into any more details. I won't go into any more details. And that was after a long time.

[23:57] And you may have something which was not exactly word for word as is recorded in the scriptures, and you throw it away.

[24:10] Don't throw it away. Don't throw it away. You watch and wait at the throne of grace.

[24:26] Now we're all prone to this. None of us are different. Labor not for the meat which perishes.

[24:38] We're coming closer to the text, aren't we? those disciples, or those that, if we call them for disciples, they came, they came in other boats, they came to Jesus for the meat which perishes, to receive from him the meat which perishes, and disregarded that which he was giving them or leading them into the words of life.

[25:35] Now this is it, the life of your soul. you are totally concerned with the meats of this life or the fruits which perishes.

[25:54] In prayer, that's where I'm coming, in prayer. to the effect that you are disregarding the very things, eternal things, relating to your soul.

[26:20] Oh yes, I know, I know it, and I am the same myself. Concerned over everyday things, but Jesus is not.

[26:43] No, the promise is, you know, the promise is in the word of God. The promise is to those that go out and follow him, because this is what it means, follow him, follow him for the living bread from heaven.

[27:05] I hope I'm making myself clear. You see, Jesus says, he said this, wherefore, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothes you, O ye of little faith?

[27:47] You know, we're so wrapped up, we are, with our personal trials, concerns, that we can't see beyond that.

[28:14] I am reminded of that which Bunyan said when he spoke of how the interpreter took the pilgrim round to these various places in this house and he came upon one, I believe he said with a muckrake and he was raking over these things.

[28:56] I had a picture of myself in there when I read it many years ago and there was one above holding out the words of eternal life, the glory of heaven but his eyes were downward.

[29:23] Jesus saying to you and to I no this isn't the way this isn't the way he speaks of all ye little faith can you not trust me for these things can you not trust me for the meat for your body the natural meat can you not trust me to supply all your needs follow me all that following you know that declaration of faith by

[30:30] Peter when he said Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life as said now we labour and toil for these things and yet disregarding or ignoring his words to us come unto me all ye that labour labour over these things and I will give you rest do you know the

[31:38] Lord in these trials and you may be in heavy trials heavy providential trials heavy trials regarding your body everything I'm talking in personal affairs in your health and well being in your home warmth and everything not a thing can you come into that the Lord does not say that says to you he knows it he knows all about it you may say to me well if he knows all about it why doesn't he appear for me all the times

[32:46] I've said that God's purposes will ripen fast unfolding every hour the bud may have a bitter taste but sweet will be the flower you may say to me that trial which you brought to the Lord and spoke to him of did he appear for you yes he appeared for me yes he did he showed me that he not only was he able but he showed me that he could do these things independent of me but you've got to walk through it and you can't walk through it in presumption presumption and faith are very scarce breadth between true faith and presumption every every try everything every everything of the

[34:13] Lord Satan has a counterfeit yes he has and how easy it is to believe the promptings of Satan come unto him poor soul come unto him do you know I'm preaching to you out of the very things I'm walking now not something I've walked twenty years ago although I've touched it but I'm walking in these very things I'm preaching to you labour not for the meat which perishes all to be enabled by his grace to hear the prompting of the

[35:28] Holy Spirit come unto me and learn of me oh that's it to learn of Jesus that he would reveal himself to you do you know and I believe some of you have I hope all of you have in measure once you've touched the hem of his garment and virtue has flowed from him oh what a difference what a difference within your heart there is that peace peace within your heart willing as a little child to sit at his feet and learn of him and to trust him for all that you're in trust him you know the

[36:59] Lord when he says follow me he means it yes he does follow me and there are a variety of ways many ways which he says to you follow me he may lead you in a path which he hasn't let me let me in his purposes you see Christians the followers of Christ when he calls them out of the world he doesn't call them to time's nearly gone I haven't started yet a child of grace when he calls you out of nature's darkness he doesn't call you out to sit down no he doesn't he doesn't you say well now

[38:16] I'm a child of grace now I I can sit back heaven is my eternal home and I can go on in that way he doesn't he don't call you out like that he calls you out to fight a warfare all the time you're centered on those things on the natural meats or the natural things and I'll speak of this and I've got to close but do you know if you're like me there have been those things which I've considered that

[39:17] I've it's been absolutely necessary that I should have do you know for years I labored and toiled to have the right attributes or the right way to speak in the ministry and everything I am studied for but Lord turned around and said there's no need for you to have that studied the doctrines the Lord said Jesus said he that cometh to me he will learn of the doctrine I will teach him laboring you see to bring forth the fruits yourself

[40:23] Lord says no don't need any of that whatsoever you are in need of and he said that to the those he sent out to preach whatsoever you're in need of I will give you in that hour I hadn't seen it quite like that before this very moment you labour and told to prepare yourself for the will of God oh that doesn't mean I'm not saying this I'm not advocating you should sit down and do nothing I don't mean that there is a right labour there is a right toil there is a right preparation but labour not for the meat which perishes but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life

[41:38] I must leave the time's gone Amen Youth.