Matthew chapter 14, and we have
here the story of the Lord Jesus Christ feeding this great multitude. And just reading it and looking
at it, how can you take two fish, five loaves, and feed 10,000
people? Well, with men, impossible, right? With God, all things are possible. are possible. All things are
possible. I'm taking a title for the message
from what is said in verse 14, the Lord Jesus went forth and
he saw this great multitude, some running, some walking, coming
to the Lord and he was moved. He was moved. He was moved with
compassion. He was moved with pity, moved
with love toward them and He healed their sick. He healed
them and then He fed them. What a Savior we have. So that
will be the title of the message, Christ was moved with compassion.
Now you just think about that statement for a minute. Almighty
God, Almighty God being moved with compassion. Remember the
scriptures about our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ,
that he's touched with the feeling of our infirmities and was in
all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. He's touched
with the feeling of our infirmity. He knew these people, they had
a need. They had a need of healing. He knew that these people were
going to be hungry. And on purpose, he goes to this
desert place to show how he provides for his people by his purpose. The Lord is touched with the
feeling of our infirmities. He knows our frame. He knows
that we are but dust. As David said many times in the
Psalms, I am poor and I am needy yet. The Lord thinks upon us. Our great Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, is full of love. He is a God of love. He is God
is love. He is full of love. He is full
of pity. And He is full of great power.
He has all power in heaven and earth to save His people from
their sin. He came for that purpose. He
didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners. Sinners to repentance. Those who are whole don't need
a physician, but the sick. He came to save sin, sick, sinners,
He came to put away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Thank
God for His compassion. Thank God for His love toward
His people. Now in this story, the Lord feeding
this great, great multitude, I think well over 10,000 people. We read down there in verse 21
about 5,000 men besides women, besides their children. This
is a large, large gathering. And what's interesting about
this particular miracle of the Lord is recorded, and I think
someone said it's the only miracle that's recorded in each of the
four gospel records, Matthew 14. Mark 6, Luke 9, and John
chapter 6. It's certainly something the
Lord recorded for us that we would not just overlook it. He
recorded it so we would not overlook it, would not overlook this great
miracle of God's mercy to hungry, sick sinners. Hungry, sick sinners,
and He healed them. He healed them all. So the Lord intends for us to
give it special attention that we might see his glory and his
beauty. Now, verse 13 and 14, when Jesus
heard of the passing of that great prophet of God, John the
Baptist, who was beheaded by Herod, they took up the body
and they buried the body and they went and told the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when he heard it, He departed
by ship into a desert place apart. And when the people had heard
thereof, they followed him on foot out of the city. And Jesus
went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion
toward them. And he healed, he healed the
sick. He healed the sick. The Lord does everything he does
on purpose. We read there in Mark chapter
six, he said, come yourselves apart into a desert place and
rest for a while. There was much turmoil, much
commotion. And the Lord said, we just need
to step aside and rest for a while, rest for a while. Now the Lord
departed by ship to the other side from Capernaum and he went
into the ship there on the Sea of Galilee, and went over to
a town called Bethsaida, which is, if you look at your map,
it's not that far, but again, it is a distance. And he takes
ship with his apostles, and then the people, they find out and
they follow him around. Great multitudes followed him
because they saw his miracles, which he did on them that were
diseased, it says in John chapter six. In Mark 6, it said, the
people saw them departing, and many knew, and ran afoot out
of the cities, and out went them, and they came unto him. They
actually, some of them, got ahead of him, and when he got to the
other side, they were waiting on him. Now, those who truly
desire to seek him and be with him, and to learn of him and
to worship him, don't mind to travel a distance to be with
the Lord and his people and to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We have some people of this congregation
who travel a good distance to be with us each week. And we can say with David, I
was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of
the Lord. The Lord turned this desert place
and he goes there to this particular place on purpose. He sets this
all up by his sovereign providence to show that he is a God who
provides all things for us. The Lord turned this desert place
into an oasis. The Lord turned this desert place
into a pleasant paradise for these people, a desirable place
to be with him and to be with his people is a mercy of God's
blessing to us. We should never take it lightly
to come and to hear the word of the Lord, and the fellowship
with the Lord's people, and to worship the true and living God.
The Lord of glory in verse 14, when he saw this multitude, Upon
seeing this great crowd of sinners coming to Him, He was moved with
compassion toward them, and He healed them. It says there, He
healed their sick. The Lord Jesus Christ is full
of pity, great sympathy, love toward His elect, His chosen,
His bride. You remember the scripture in
2 Peter chapter 3, and this is a scripture that is often misquoted
and misapplied. But it says, The Lord is not
slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness,
but is longsuffering to us-worth, his people, his children, his
elect, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come
to repentance. The Lord is long-suffering and
merciful. He's a merciful and faithful
high priest unto his people. We read in Lamentations chapter
3, it is of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed, because
his compassions fail not, they're new every morning. Great is his
faithfulness unto us. And in that great chapter that
Paul writes, by inspiration of God, 1 Corinthians chapter 13,
where it says it's all about His love, His love, His love. And then it says His love never
fails. His love never fails. He never
stops loving His people. He's loved His people with an
everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness does He draw
us to Himself. His love does not fail because
He cannot fail. Now we've seen this healing before. Turn back over here and we're
going to see it again. But turn back over here to Matthew
chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12 and then we'll
look at another place here. Matthew chapter 12. Look at verse
14 there. Then the Pharisees went out and
held a council against him, how they might destroy him. But when
Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from them, and great multitudes
followed him, and he healed them all. Now that ought to encourage
us to seek mercy where it's found. And he charged them that they
should not make him known. that it might be fulfilled which
is spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, behold, my servant whom
I have chosen, my beloved, and whom my soul is well pleased,
I put my spirit upon him. He shall show judgment to the
Gentile. He shall not strive nor cry,
neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised
reed shall he not break. A smoking flack shall he not
quench till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name
shall the Gentiles trust. They'll trust him. He is a compassionate
Savior unto His people. And we're going to see this again.
Look at the last part of Matthew chapter 14. We're going to see
this again in this chapter. Matthew chapter 14, when they
were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret. And when
the men of that place had knowledge of Him, they sent out into all
the country round about and brought unto Him all that were diseased,
and besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment,
and as many as touched were made perfectly whole." Reach out and
touch the Lord. Just the hem of his garment.
Touch him. Because the Lord is merciful,
he delights to show mercy to sinners in need. He does not
turn away from this great crowd of needy sinners. He turns toward
them. We're going to study, Lord willing,
on Wednesday evening from Psalm 86. But thou, O Lord, art a God
full of compassion, gracious, long-suffering, plenteous in
mercy and in truth. The Lord is long-suffering to
His people. I want you to hold your place
there in Matthew 13, and this time turn over here to Luke chapter
9. Luke chapter 9, this story is given again in Luke chapter
9. Look at verse 10. Luke 9, verse 10. Luke 9, verse 10. And the apostles,
when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And
he took them and went aside privately into a desert place, belonged
to the city of Bethsaida. And the people, when they knew
it, now watch this, verse 11, they followed him, he received
them, He spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and He healed
them that had need of healing." You see that? What did He do? He received them. The Lord Jesus
Christ receives sinners. He didn't come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. And then it says, He spoke unto
them about the gospel, He spake unto them of the kingdom of God."
The kingdom of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. He spoke
unto them. Remember the scripture from Luke
chapter 4? Well, let's just turn back and read it. We're here
there in the neighborhood. Turn back to Luke chapter 4.
Luke chapter 4. The Lord in that hometown synagogue. Luke chapter 4 verse 18. The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me. because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor. He sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captive, recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. That's why he came. He came to
save his people from their sin. So he received them, look back
at Luke 9 verse 11, he received them, he spake unto them the
good news of the gospel, of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of
God's grace concerning Christ and him crucified, and then he
healed them that had need of healing. Everyone that had need,
he met their need. You remember Isaiah 53 where
it said he was wounded for our transgression, bruised for our
inequity, with his stripes we are healed. He is our healing. There's no healing apart from
Him. The Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners, didn't He? This
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. The Lord
Jesus Christ came to save sinners. He not only healed them, turn
back to Matthew chapter 14, He not only healed them, but He
also fed them. He fed them. He is the Lord. who provides all things for us. He is Jehovah Jireh, the Lord
will provide. Now look at verse 15. This is
Matthew 14, verse 15. And when evening was come, the
sun was setting, his disciples came to him saying, but we're
in this desert place, and it's well past supper time, And the
disciples say, send the people away. Just send them away. Send
them into town. Send the multitude away, that
they may go into villages and buy, buy some food, buy some
bittles. And the Lord said to them, they
need not depart. Give them to eat. So the disciples
said, you send them away and let them go buy some food. And
the Lord said, they don't need to depart. Give them. Now there's
two words that are contrasted there. In the last part of verse
15, by themselves, go buy some food. And then the Lord said,
you don't need to buy food, I'm gonna give you everything you
need. There's the difference between grace and works. Buy
something for the free gift of God. The free gift of God. Disciples
knew they could not feed this multitude, but instead of looking
to the Lord for leadership, direction, they come up with their own idea,
their own solution. Well, just send the people away.
Just send them away. Let them go into town and buy
their own food. We have only here five loaves
and two fishes. They only looked and reasoned
among themselves, and they saw the difficulty, instead of relying
upon the Lord of glory, who possesses all possibilities." Now you think
of everything they have seen, and everything they've been through,
and all the preaching they have heard, and yet instead of coming
to the Lord and saying, Lord, what should we do? They come
up with their own solution. Well, just send them away. Send
them away. Instead of relying upon the Lord,
they started looking to themselves for solution. Anything too hard
for the Lord, with the Lord all things are possible. And here's
a lesson for us. How often do we do the same thing? When we are faced with difficulties,
dilemmas, and troubles, instead of first seeking the Lord's direction,
wisdom and will, we strike out on our own to fix things. We're
going to fix things. We're going to make it right.
And what we usually do, we mess things up worse. We make it worse. Instead of waiting upon the Lord,
looking to the Lord, asking the Lord for direction, asking the
Lord for wisdom, David often in the Psalms, he says, wait
on the Lord. And again, I say, wait upon the
Lord. And the wise man Solomon wrote
in Proverbs 3, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, lean not
unto thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he'll direct your path. He'll direct your path. The Lord
Jesus Christ has a much better idea in verse 16. They don't
need to depart, give them to eat. The blessed words of grace,
mercy, and comfort to the weary sinners. Give them. They don't
need to depart from me. I'm going to give them everything
they need. And the Lord does that for us,
doesn't he? He said, don't part. He said, depart. He said, come.
Come, I'll give you all things necessary. Come, don't depart. The Lord's words to us are always,
come to Him, look to Him, believe on Him, follow Him, come boldly
to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in our time of need. Remember back in Matthew
chapter 11, turn there if you want to, Matthew chapter 11,
verse 28, remember he said, come unto me all ye that labor, and
are heavy laden, I will give you rest. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find
rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Would you rather go to town and buy, or sit at his feet and receive
all things freely by his grace? I think we see the difference
between salvation by works or salvation by the grace of God.
So come to Christ, follow him. We read in Isaiah 55, oh everyone
that's thirsty, come ye to the waters. He that hath no money,
listen to this, he that hath no money, come buy and eat, yea,
come buy wine and milk without money and without price. What's
he saying there? Salvation's free. Salvation's
a free gift of God. This is the economy of grace.
Everything's free. Everything is free. Notice he
says, give them to eat every spiritual blessing that we receive
at the hand of our blessed Savior is by the free and sovereign
grace of God, he fed them freely. They didn't contribute, did they
contribute anything other than the necessities, what he multiplied? They didn't have anything. Everything
was provided for them. And the point being this, we're
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? We're justified freely by His
grace. Give them to eat. Well, verse
17, the disciples take a quick inventory and find out they have
but five loaves and two fishes. And that didn't belong to them.
It belonged to a little boy that was there. Didn't belong to the
multitude. They didn't have anything. Five
loaves and two fishes. What is that among so many people?
But look what the Lord said. They don't need to depart. He
said, you bring what you have and you bring it to me. I'm going
to bless it. I'm going to use it. Bring them
to me. Little is much in the hand of
the Lord. Despise not the day of small
things, the old prophet said. It is always the right thing,
and the good thing to do is to cast your burden upon the Lord. What little they had, they took
it to the Lord. He said, bring it to me. And
the lesson for us is take our burdens to the Lord. Remember
what we studied last week on verse 12? They went and took
up the body of their beloved prophet John and they buried
the body. They didn't bury John, they buried
the body and they went and told the Lord Jesus Christ. A scripture
that has meant a lot to me over the years that I've been here.
In Psalm 55, 22, cast thy burden upon the Lord and He shall strengthen
thee. He shall never suffer the righteous
to be moved. When we were going through all
those floods, someone sent me a little note with a little piece
of paper in it with that scripture verse on it. And I had it stuck
on my computer here for more than 10 years. Cast thy burden
upon the Lord. He shall sustain thee. He shall
never suffer the righteous to be moved. Peter writes, casting
all your care upon him, for he careth for you. It's a right
to take our burden to the Lord. Now, what's going to happen? Well, we know what's going to
happen. Verse 19, 20, and 21. The banquet of mercy is served
up by one host, the Lord of glory. It's the banquet of mercy. A
lot of works. Mercy. The Lord commanded, notice
verse 19. I love that word commanded. The
Lord commanded them, commanded the multitude just to sit down,
sit still, sit still and see the salvation of the Lord. And
he took the five loaves and the two fishes and looking up to
heaven, the source of all mercy, source of all blessing, he blessed
the bread, he thanked God for the bread, he break the bread
and gave the loaves to the disciples. and disciples to the multitude,
and they did all eat and were filled, and they took up fragments
that remained twelve baskets full. The banquet of mercy is
served up by one host, the Lord of glory. The Lord commanded
the multitude to sit down and rest. Reminds me what Moses said
at the Red Sea. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. He speaks here with all authority
and power, doesn't He? He didn't ask the people, well,
if you will sit down, I will feed you. He said, sit down. At His command, everything is
done. He speaks with all authority,
with all power, as someone said, no man spake like that man. You remember, don't turn, let
me just read this to you. When the Lord finished that sermon
on the mount, you remember the last part Chapter 7, it came
to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings that people were
astonished at his doctrine for he taught them as one having
authority. and not as the scribes. He commanded
them to sit down. And that's the same way He saved
sinners by His command. The Father had given Him power
over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given to Him. I was thinking yesterday, I was
sitting out in the yard, and the sun was big and bright, and
I was sitting there on a bench, and I took my old work hat off,
and I just sat there and let the sun, I just felt that That sunshine. And this scripture
came to my mind. God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness has shined in our heart to give us the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God that shines in the face
of Jesus Christ. Who commands that sun to shine
each day? God controls all that. And the
same way He commands the light of the gospel in thy book revealed,
I see the beauty and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord
Jesus Christ as a God-man mediator looks to the God of all heaven
and earth, and gives thanks to the Father of mercies and God
of all grace, and He asks for blessing from the throne of God.
We've seen this before. Turn back to Matthew 11 and look
at this. We've seen this before. Matthew 11, you remember verse
25? Matthew 11, verse 25. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father. Neither
knoweth any man the Father save the Son. And he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal him. He blesses the bread, He blesses
the fish, He gives thanks unto the God of heaven and earth,
and then He gives what He blesses to His disciples, and they take
what He gives, and they receive that from the Lord. And these
12 apostles, with baskets full that were never diminished, went
throughout all that crowd and fed those 10,000 people. And they were all fed, they were
all filled, and there were 12 baskets left over. Now, what
does that teach us about the grace of God? You can't exhaust
the grace of God. You cannot exhaust the love of
God. God, who is rich in mercy for
his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in
sin, has quickened us together with Christ. Now there's a psalm,
Psalm 78, that talks about the wilderness journey of Israel.
And the question is asked in that psalm, can God provide
a table in the wilderness? You remember, they were out there,
and most people think there were millions of those Israelites
out there in the wilderness that came out of Egyptian bondage.
after 400 years, and the question was asked, can God provide a
table in the wilderness? Did he? Yes. He rained down manna
for 40 years and fed millions in that desert land. And here
the Lord just takes these five loaves and multiplies it over
and over. The Lord, in that wilderness
journey of 40 years, He brought water out of the rock, and we
know the bread from heaven, and that water out of the rock, striped
the rock, and out of that rock came water. That's a picture
of Christ who was smitten for us. Now, in closing, and I've
got a few minutes left, In closing, I want to use this story and
make application to our day right now where we live. All these
miracles teach us a gospel lesson, a spiritual lesson on how God
saves sinners by His grace. Now there was a hungry multitude,
right? There were a hungry multitude
who were sick, right? What would you think that would
represent? a hungry multitude, sick multitude in a desert land,
that's all humanity dead in sin, dead in Adam. We're all lost,
we're all guilty, and we need to meet the great position. We
need to meet the shepherd, the Lord is our shepherd. In Adam
all died, in Christ all we made alive. Secondly, the loaves of
bread and the fishes represent the gospel food that's found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
what? The Bread of Life. He said, I
am the Bread of Life. Your fathers ate that manna in
the wilderness and died. Those who eat of this bread shall
never die. I am the Bread of Life. He that
cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. Christ is the all-sufficient Savior. In Him dwells all the
fullness of a Godhead bodily, and in Christ we are complete.
The loaves and fishes of themselves seem very inadequate, but blessed
by the Lord, it becomes a great blessing of substance and the
power of God is revealed. And that's what we have in the
gospel. Thirdly, the passing out of the blessed food to the
needy sinner shows us that God uses means to accomplish his
righteous end and his glorious purpose in feeding these people. He uses means. He has predestinated
the end, no doubt about that. But he's also predestinated the
means to arrive at that righteous end. The disciples passing out
the blessed food to the needy shows that sinners that the Lord
uses me to accomplish his purpose. The Lord has chosen to give the
gospel to his servants and we have this treasure in the earthen
vessel that the glory of God might shine through the preaching
of the gospel. As the Lord gave that broken
bread and those fishes to his apostles and they distributed,
so the Lord teaches us And he gives us the gospel. And what
the Lord gives me, I try to tell you. I try to feed you with the
preaching of the gospel. God has ordained that. We preach
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your
servant for Christ's sake. So we preach the gospel as he's
commanded us to do so. And God, through the preaching
of the gospel, calls out his people. It pleased God, through
the preaching of the gospel, to call out his people. and to
accomplish salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ.
I sent out a TV message by Pastor Mahan on Saturday and the message
was from Romans chapter 10, faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of the Lord is the hearing of the truth that sets
sinners free. Aren't you glad God sent you
a gospel preacher to tell you the truth? Oh, I'm thankful he
sent me one. The last thing, the satisfaction
of the crowd. All that needed healing were
healed. All that were hungry were filled. The supply never diminished. The grace of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ meets our every need. As the Lord supplied it
abundantly in that day and freely in that day, so will he in this
day. And Christ was all the fullness
of the Godhead, right? In Him all fullness dwells. And
then it says in John chapter 1 verse 16, as a matter of fact,
these are the words of John the Baptist, it said, Of His fullness
have we all received grace for grace, because of His fullness
we are indeed complete in Christ. Now I like this scripture in
Philippians chapter 4 where it says, My God shall supply all
your need all your need according to his riches in glory through
the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a storehouse of mercy,
God's mercy to poor and needy sinners. The storehouse of God's
mercy to poor and needy sinners is never exhausted. You think
how many sinners God saved by his grace. And yet his grace
is just new and fresh and real and powerful as ever. Two psalms,
one psalm and one scripture. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. He shall redeem Israel from all
his iniquities. And then Isaiah 55, let the wicked
forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him
return to the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him. And to our
God, for he will abundantly pardon Thou art a God, you remember
Nehemiah 9, 17? Thou art a God, ready to pardon. Ready to pardon based upon our
sin being paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ.