[0:00] proof that he could back it up. Because the only one you could turn to, or the only one who you were supposed to turn to, was God himself. Otherwise, anyone else would be considered blasphemy.
[0:12] But Jesus made it very clear. But he was preaching the kingdom. He was tired. And these people, according to the other Gospels, had come about 10 miles to come see him.
[0:27] I don't know about you, but to walk a mile for me is a bit of a stretch. And there's a 10 mile. You run the 10 mile. It's not a marathon. What do they call it?
[0:40] A who? Half marathon, quarter marathon, something. A drive. A drive. Exactly right, a 10 minute drive. But at a good pace, 20 minutes a mile.
[0:54] That's a long time they spent. But they heard about where he is. And so they were coming from all over the place to gather together in order to meet with him and to seek him out.
[1:06] Why? Well, because it says, because they kept on seeing his signs, which he kept on performing on those who were diseased. The other Gospels remind us is because they kept on hearing his teachings.
[1:19] They wanted to know more. Now, I suppose if that's the way to gather a crowd, that's the way you do it. You know, if you want to build a church that way, you build a church that way.
[1:32] But Jesus wasn't interested in how many thousands of people were coming after him. He was interested in those few who would come to believe in him.
[1:46] Now, verse 3, it says, Jesus went up to the mountain and there he sat down with his disciples. And 5 is that, then Jesus lifted up his eyes and seeing a great multitude coming toward him.
[2:00] It was a great multitude of 5,000 men. Again, in other places, it says there were some women too. Now, that's more than 5,000. That was very common that you counted the men and not the women or the children or the slaves or anyone else.
[2:17] It was representative of how many. So we know that there are a lot more than merely the 5,000. That's quite a group. They were on their way to the feast of the Passover, but they stopped in order to see and hear Jesus, but they had no food.
[2:34] They didn't bring their picnic baskets. There were no McDonald's or Burger Kings to stop at on the way. No Denny's. No restaurants whatsoever.
[2:47] They had no food. So Jesus said to Philip, where should we buy bread that these may eat? I can hear a little humor in that.
[2:57] As if Jesus didn't know how much money was in their pot, so to speak. As if Jesus knew.
[3:09] And I didn't know that there was no way that they could feed that many. Even if they had the money, there was no way that they could come up with 5,000 tuna fish subway sandwiches.
[3:21] Right? Couldn't do it. It would take forever to feed these people. And yet he had compassion. They went without. Maybe they were careless.
[3:32] Maybe they had an oversight. Perhaps, you know, for whatever reason, they did not, they were not ready. They had not prepared themselves on the way to the Passover in order to go see him.
[3:47] They were without food. And so here it is. He says to Philip, where are we going to find the bread so that these may eat? I don't know. If I were you, if I were Philip, I'd be kind of, what?
[3:59] Are you serious, Jesus? There's no way. You'd like Philip. Much of what we know about it, he was kind of, had this engineer mind.
[4:10] He was very, very practical. We see this in John chapter 14. He was always thinking in terms of practicality. He might have been an engineer, so to speak. In verse six, it says, but he said this to test Philip, for Jesus himself knew what he would do.
[4:28] He's testing him. He's testing the others as well. It has them thinking, what are we going to do to supply the need? In fact, why should we even bother?
[4:38] It's their problem. Why should we even give anything to them? They should have thought about it before they left. And they're hungry? We don't need to support them.
[4:50] Jesus, what are you thinking of? And yet he had compassion. Now, we know Jesus does not tempt us to sin, but oftentimes he tests us about our faith.
[5:06] This is clearly out of the box. How in the world are they going to supply the needs of 5,000 or more people who are coming right for Jesus?
[5:18] And why should they even care? Well, Jesus cares. That's obvious. But how is this going to happen? Have they not already seen what he could do at the wedding?
[5:31] Have they not seen him cure diseases? Have they not done all these things? Observed all these things that Jesus had done?
[5:41] Sure. But they couldn't think outside the box. How is God going to deal with this problem here? Yeah, God is providential.
[5:52] He's all-knowing and at times even puts things into our lives to test our faith. Their faith is being tested. It's not a bad thing. Jesus knows their hearts.
[6:03] He's not coming down hard on them. He wants them to think. He wants them to consider. He wants them to observe. Oftentimes these tests test our response.
[6:19] But it should be of comfort to us to know that these men, these 12 men, these disciples who became apostles were not super spiritual giants.
[6:29] giants. We often think of them as, you know, because of all the old paintings, you know, with the halos, you know, the glowing frisbees that hovered above their heads, you know, that they were super special.
[6:41] They weren't. They were like us. They had needs. They had desires. They had doubts. And yet Jesus knew that.
[6:52] And he knew them. So Philip does what perhaps I would do or you would do. In verse 7, he says, Wow, Jesus' 200 denarii worth of bread isn't enough for this many people to even give them a tiny bit.
[7:06] in the other gospels tell us that they checked their treasury. There was about six to eight months of wages. And Philip was from the local town nearby so he knows that there wasn't even sufficient amount of money to send them.
[7:25] If they went into town, there was not enough money or food in town to be able to get what they needed. Subway couldn't supply what they needed.
[7:37] And he knew that. Here you have this first church finance committee meeting. And it was a hopeless situation. And it was based on limited resources.
[7:52] But then in verse 8, it says, Now here comes Andrew who's always bringing people to Christ. Almost everywhere you see Andrew, he's bringing someone to Jesus. But this time, he brings a little boy.
[8:03] Andrew's also a pragmatist. He looks around and he finds a boy who has a sack lunch. Rather than, Boy, let's see what Jesus can do with this.
[8:14] His focus was on the resources. Hey, I got a little bit of bread and some fish. He thought, Send the people away.
[8:27] Avoid the problem. Send them away. They can handle it. We don't need to. We can't. He says, There is this lad who has five barley loaves and two small fish.
[8:43] But what is that among so many? You see, you get the picture. He says, Some little guy who has some food thinking perhaps others might also have some food that they could share with their neighbors.
[8:55] But he says, With big disappointment, you know, what good will this do? Even barley loaves weren't that great. That was the worst of the worst. And if you wanted the cheapest snack, you bought barley.
[9:08] Barley bread and barley loaves. It wasn't good bread. Usually dried. Kind of like crackers. Barley was the cheapest and not even good enough for the horses and donkeys according to Jewish law.
[9:26] Don't feed that, you know. Don't eat that. Five crackers and a half a can of sardines for 5,000 people. Are you serious, Jesus?
[9:36] But Jesus knew what he was going to do and they didn't. Just like Jesus. He always knows what he's going to do when we are in a helpless situation.
[9:50] He always knows how he's going to resolve the problems that are before us. He always knows how he will resolve and answer our prayers and how he will provide our needs when we think that there's no answer to it.
[10:06] I don't know about you but time and again in our married life, it's going on 45 years and a few months, how we had a super need.
[10:26] Probably we could spend an hour sharing with each other the different stories of how God interceded and came up with answers to our particular needs.
[10:36] He does that. We've been in several situations where we didn't know where we were going to live because of the way things came out and we didn't have time to prepare to move to a different place and we couldn't find any place.
[10:56] There was one time when we had to get out of where we were that day but we hadn't found a place yet. But a little old lady and someone had called them and said, you know, you can stay with me until you can find.
[11:10] So that was kind of an answer. We thought, oh good. Prepared everything, loaded all our things up and put it in storage, went over to the lady's house and on the way we saw a sign about a townhouse for rent.
[11:24] I said, all right. So we pulled in, went in the open house, talked to this young guy, the son of the owner of the townhouse and asked him about the place and how much and everything and it was all right.
[11:38] But by then, Lois and I were, you know, we were empty nesters of just the two of us. That lasted all of three months. But we said, well, we'll come back, we'll consider it and as we're driving away we thought, why do we need to consider it?
[11:55] This suits our needs. So we turned around and went back and we said, all right, where can we sign up the papers? We filled out the paperwork, the guy talks to his dad, he says, I trust you, I think you're reasonable people and we had a place that day.
[12:12] The day that we needed to leave was the day that God provided, not before, not after. And he's done that many, many different times. Jesus knew what he's going to do even though we don't.
[12:29] And at the right moment when their means were exhausted and everything seems hopeless, that's when Jesus acts, not before. Their test of faith was complete.
[12:41] They failed to really trust that Jesus was God. They didn't quite get it. And we can't fault them because they're so much like us. Oftentimes, we just can't get it.
[12:53] We don't see it. It's hard for us to imagine that. Even if he has responded and answered in the past many, many different times. how could they have forgotten all that he had done?
[13:11] Well, I know, you know, we can say, I know that God can do something. Sometimes, you know, people have said, well, God will help those who help themselves.
[13:26] that's the book of hesitations. Nowhere in the Bible says that. God helps those in spite of us, right?
[13:41] Sometimes it's trusting myself with all my heart and don't lean on anyone else's understanding. It's all my ways. Acknowledge my, my life and I'll direct my own path.
[13:53] No, that's not what it says. It's hard to learn these things. And yet, this is what Jesus proves again and again. Jesus is going to use the tiniest and most menial thing is barley loaf.
[14:11] You know, what they considered enough to gag on. It's like, they could gag a maggot and fish, two fish. What kind of fish? You know, little, little goldfish? Small fish?
[14:22] Six inches? Foot long? We don't know. Two fish. They were in great need. They were helpless. They were out the means to resolve the situation and yet Jesus is the supplier of needs and that's the point.
[14:37] You see, he's the great prophet but he is fulfilling exactly what Moses predicted in Deuteronomy 18 that one greater than me will come, a greater prophet and they waited all those hundreds and hundreds of years for a greater prophet to come and Jesus finally arrives, the greater prophet.
[14:56] One of the points of John is to demonstrate that Jesus not only is the true Israel but he is also the true Moses who leads true people in the way of the kingdom out of the world and into God's kingdom.
[15:14] He is the greater Moses and like Moses who pleads with God to do something because the people are now running out of food after they escaped Egypt, God supplies them with manna and all the picture that we have in John is not only is he the great Moses who has come the greater prophet but he himself is the manna who has come from heaven to supply people with their hungers far better than barley or even the best of bread could ever do.
[15:53] So verse 10 he takes control he intercedes like the shepherd is that he is and he says make the people sit down. Now this flashes back to Psalm 23 the Lord is my shepherd I'm not going to have any need I shall not want of anything I won't lack anything.
[16:11] I will sit down I will lie down in pastures and here they are over 5,000 people he's telling them to sit down in this huge green area pasture so to speak.
[16:28] Maybe it wasn't green maybe you know it hadn't rained. He is the he is the great shepherd of the sheep he makes them to recline in these pastures he's the fulfillment of Isaiah 40 he says he will feed his flock like a shepherd he will gather the lambs in his arms he will carry them in his bosom and gently lead them and this is what he's doing here.
[16:58] We know from other accounts that they sat in groups of 50 and 100 kind of going back to what it looked like in Exodus where Moses put people in groups of 50 and 100 and set judges over them in order to deal with conflict and so forth Jesus does that too and it was a test of true faith when God commands his people to do something even though they didn't understand Jesus says have them sit down why?
[17:27] okay we'll sit down sit groups of 50 why? alright we'll do it and yet he never disappoints even his own people then in verse 11 Jesus took the loaves and when he had given thanks he distributed them to the disciples than the disciples to those sitting down and likewise other fish it was Jewish custom as it is in many families Christian families for the father to pray for the meal and pray for his their families so it would have been a custom for the fathers to pray if they had families there but it was also custom that if there was a prophet in the presence of the people that the prophet would pray and that's what Jesus does now he hasn't you know he hasn't branded himself as the prophet yet he doesn't have a little business card that he's passed out you know
[18:33] Jesus the prophet and yet he's doing everything like the greater the greater prophet would that Moses talked about he is even better than Moses and like the great shepherd of the sheep that he is and the perfect prophet he tells the people to sit down and he prays over these little loaves of yucky bread and these two fish and that would have been something it's like what are you doing so what Jesus you're going to eat how silly and yet Jesus is thanking God for this barley bread and you know this fish he supplies their needs in a wondrous way in fact in 1st chronicles 33 it says among others the
[19:34] Levites you know the priest the Levites their duty was to give thanks to God on behalf of the people in the morning and the evening why in order to show the people and to demonstrate their utmost dependence on God for everything morning and evening all day and all night God's grace provides without our efforts and notice what they received just like the manna they received as much as they wanted they must have been hungry and yet they went ahead and ate the barley and the fish and they could have as much as they wanted this was not the new Moses sure it is he is the food who's come from heaven who's brought food from heaven to supply his people just like
[20:35] Moses did and as much as they wanted and the point is with God with the Lord there's always enough and more then in verses 12 and 13 the point here is that here's the miracle that over 5,000 or more people were filled and they had enough loaves and fishes to eat and that was even though it was a basic provision there was abundance there was a lot of it so much that they were able to collect 12 baskets now some trying to figure out what the significance of that was because one thing they didn't do if you know the story of Moses and the manna you couldn't collect it and save it but they collected 12 baskets full doesn't say what they did with it but they collected 12 baskets full and it kind of reflects about in the past what God had done through
[21:38] Moses and others to give to the people exactly what they needed at the right time at the right moment in the right amount and then some and he did that with all 12 tribes of God's people now look at the two and we'll close up with this look at the two responses by the people the first response is in verse 14 then those men when they had seen the sign that Jesus did said this truly is the prophet who is to come into the world they got it they understood they knew their bibles they heard the stories they knew about Moses they they had read and probably even memorized Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy especially Exodus they understood the sign and recognized that he was that greater prophet in a way he shows himself to be the great priest when he brought the water and turned it into wine and here he shows himself to be the great prophet that's the point of his teaching the second response is found in verse 15 is they were about to come and they wanted to take him by force and make him king but he departed he's the priest he's the prophet and they recognize they're going to make him a king they don't like
[23:10] Herod certainly didn't like Pilate they didn't like Rome there's too much corruption going on but he left and he went by himself to the mountain most men with any kind of ego would have said yeah take me you know vote for me I'm the greatest yeah I'll be your king I'll save you Jesus knew better he knew their hearts I'm pretty sure if I were there among them you know I would be thinking talking with other people there this Jesus man imagine the kind of king imagine the army we could have if we get sick he makes us well if we die he brings us back to life if we're hungry he gives us what we need we could conquer the world let's make him king and while they're plotting this and coming up with this grand idea that
[24:18] Jesus is going to be the king they see him off in the distance walking away up into the mountain by himself he's not yet come to be the king of an earthly kingdom with earthly power he's the powerful provider king to rule the world through Israel that's not his intent that's not his goal there yeah let's just follow Jesus because he's a material boy right no we follow him on his terms not on ours that is friends of mine have worked over an African different places primarily Kenya and Uganda and in some of the smaller tribal areas there are many people coming to faith in Christ they wanted to believe in Jesus because they noticed everyone who became a
[25:20] Christian started making money and started prospering financially and doing well getting all the things that they wanted to get and one of the most difficult things to communicate to these people these tribal people is that you don't become a Christian to get rich you don't become a Christian in order for God to give you all these things they were often asking for you and they that was their culture they would come up my friend who was there for a summer they would come up to him and point to his shoes and they said we like those shoes meaning we want those shoes and it was custom to say okay here are my shoes he says well he was rude he said no way but they thought you're a Christian you're rich you give us your shoes and that's very difficult when you see Jesus as one who's going to supply your material needs your physical needs and wants that's not the point that Jesus is trying to bring out they hadn't quite understood what his kingdom is about yet and what his people are really like with him at the lead well here's the truth of it
[26:44] Jesus rejected them because in heart they still didn't believe they saw a miracle worker who could give them what they wanted or needed they didn't believe on Jesus terms they believed on their terms and often times that's that's how many are who come supposedly come to faith in Christ they come because they have a need and Jesus supposedly maybe he did probably did supply that need answered their prayers came to the rescue and and yet they love Jesus they know Jesus for that and not for the much more that he is the God who became man to save them from their sins to bring them into the presence of the father to make them disciples who would lead them ultimately to the greater heavens and earth he was already the powerful providential
[27:53] God king but he would come and when he came he would bring his kingdom on his terms and that's exactly what's happening we wait until he brings his kingdom completely and fully in the future in the meantime Jesus supplies us he brings to us our daily bread it's a perfect answer for that you know give us this day our daily bread I wonder if the disciples were thinking that as Jesus gave them that day their daily bread to 5,000 people but I wonder how many because of their unbelief miss the point that he's the greater Moses who brings to them the bread of eternal life that's what Jesus calls us to is to eat of him to share in the bread of eternal life as we have the
[28:59] Lord's supper! the juice grape juice that shows Jesus outpouring of his life his blood that was shed also the life that he gave for us and this is a symbol for us in the ancient church they took this story to mean it was the essence of the Lord's supper and whether or not that was the whole point or not we can look!
[29:34] even now as we participate we can reflect on the fact that Jesus supplies us with life he is the bread of life and he gives to us the greater drink of blessing because he himself has paid it all for us our father thank you that you gave us Jesus the God who became man the king and the prophet the priest the one who shed his blood for us the one who died for us he has done that once for all we are thankful for that give us the faith that we need to trust and to believe that and not only that in eternal purposes but also to trust and believe that he is going to supply us so we shall not lack anything thank you father for this message amen to!
[30:31] because love the love Amen.
[31:01] Well, amen. Thank you, Dr. Don. And I know that we know that Jesus truly is the bread of life. In 1906, C.C. Weidmire was preparing to preach a sermon in the book of John, probably a lot like what we just heard.
[31:20] And he wrote these words to this song, Come and Dine. So I know we feast at Jesus' table all the time. Jesus has a table spread where the saints of God are fed.
[31:48] He invites His chosen people come and die. With His man He doth feed And supplies for every need.
[32:01] Oh, dear sweet to sup with Jesus all the time. Come and dine, the Master calleth, come and dine.
[32:14] You may feast at Jesus' table all the time. Who fed the multitude, turned the water into wine.
[32:27] To the hungry calleth, now come and dine. The disciples came to land, thus obeyed Christ's command.
[32:41] For the Master called unto them, come and dine. There they found their heart's desire, bread and fish upon the fire.
[32:55] Thus He satisfies the hungry every time. Come and dine, the Master calleth, come and dine.
[33:08] You may feast at Jesus' table all the time. He who fed the multitude, turned the water into wine.
[33:22] To the hungry calleth, now come and dine. Soon the Lamb will take His bride and to be ever at His side.
[33:36] All the hosts of heaven will assemble thee. Lord's will be a glorious night, all the saints in spotless wine, and with Jesus they will feast eternally.
[33:55] Come and dine, the Master calleth, come and dine. You may feast at Jesus' table all the time.
[34:07] He who fed the multitude, turned the water into wine. To the hungry calleth, now come and dine.
[34:21] dine. Well, we have the opportunity to come and dine this morning together.
[34:39] But in doing so, we need to recognize, as Don pointed out, we worship a God of relationship who called us to Himself. If we're looking for a God who's a cosmic vending machine that we put prayers in and we expect to get goodies for it, stuff, that's not why we're here.
[35:03] And that's why I thought those two items that were in the prayer that I shared this morning were so important. We want to be a people that loves what He commands, and we want to be a people that desires what He promises.
[35:17] That begins and ends with a relationship. But today, we have the opportunity to celebrate that relationship with communion and testify to each other and to ourselves, our relationship in Christ.
[35:35] We remember the blood that He shed to cover our sins. we remember the flesh of a God who took the form of a real person just like us and sacrificed Himself on our behalf.
[35:50] So with this in mind, I'll ask the men to come forward, please. And just to talk for a minute before we share communion together, just to be reminded that this is a solemn reminder of the relationship that we have with Christ.
[36:11] And this is a time for us to check our hearts and make sure that we're right with the Lord. We welcome in this church anybody who has confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior to join in this celebration with us.
[36:24] no special sacraments or ceremonies applied by men's hand are required. It's really what God has done to your heart is the issue.
[36:38] But we do ask that you join in a relationship in a worthy manner. So if you don't feel right about that this morning, please just stand down. But if you do feel right about it, please join us in this celebration.
[36:52] 1 Corinthians 11, 26-20, verse 29 says, For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death or the Lord's death until he comes.
[37:04] Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
[37:19] For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That's definitely not a place that we want to be this morning.
[37:30] 1 Corinthians 11, 23-24 also says, For I receive from the Lord what I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you.
[37:48] Do this in remembrance of me. Let's pray together. Lord God, we thank you that you have delivered us from the bondage of sin. We thank you for the price that you paid that was a price that we could never pay for ourselves.
[38:03] That you, our sovereign God, would come to earth and show us how to live and love us so much that you would sacrifice yourself for sinners on a cross at the very hands of the people that you came to save so that we might have a relationship with you.
[38:18] Lord, as we eat this bread together this morning, please remind us about how you sacrificed your body, a real body, on our behalf. And be reminded that our own moral bodies will someday be put aside so that we might be properly clothed in new flesh to worship you for eternity.
[38:39] Amen. Amen. .
[38:50] . Thank you.