Seeing Christ In Five Loaves and Two Fishes

Q: What does the Bible say about the miracle of the five loaves and two fish?

The miracle of the five loaves and two fish, recorded in all four Gospels, showcases the glory and compassion of Jesus as He provides for the needs of the people. The miracle of the five loaves and two fish is significant as it is recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, emphasizing its importance. It illustrates the overwhelming compassion of Jesus when He sees the multitude and recognizes their physical needs. Indeed, John 6:1-13 not only documents the miracle itself but serves as a profound lesson on God’s sovereignty in providing for His people. In this event, Jesus does not merely function as a provider; He is depicted as the compassionate Savior, actively engaged in meeting the needs of those around Him, which reflects His greater spiritual provision for His people.

Q: How do we know God's sovereignty is true?

God's sovereignty is affirmed throughout Scripture, including Romans 9:18, which states that God has mercy on whom He wills. The concept of God’s sovereignty is a cornerstone of Reformed theology, emphasizing that God is in complete control of all that occurs in creation. Romans 9:18 illustrates this by affirming that God has mercy on whom He chooses, indicating that His grace does not come from human effort or decision. This spreads throughout the entirety of Scripture, where we see God orchestrating events for His purposes, ultimately centered around the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ. Moreover, in each miracle that Jesus performed, including the feeding of the 5,000, we see His divine authority displaying His sovereign will over nature and the needs of humanity. Through the eyes of faith, believers recognize that every occurrence is under His sovereign hand, leading to salvation and grace according to His perfect plan.

Q: Why is the compassion of Christ important for Christians?

The compassion of Christ is essential as it reveals His character and how He interacts with His people, demonstrating that He cares for our needs. The compassion of Christ illustrates a key aspect of His nature that is vital for Christians to understand. In the miracle of the five loaves and two fish, Mary Matthew 9:36 describes how Jesus was moved with compassion for the multitudes because they were like sheep without a shepherd. This compassion not only confirms Jesus' sensitivity toward human suffering but also assures us of His presence during our own trials. His willingness to provide in seemingly impossible situations teaches us to rest in His care. As believers, we can be confident that Christ, who cares deeply for His creation, is always aware of our circumstances and will respond with love and grace, just as He did during His earthly ministry. This message of compassion reassures us that we are not alone, and it encourages us to reflect the same kindness and mercy toward others.

Q: What does it mean that Jesus fed 5,000 men?

Jesus feeding 5,000 men illustrates His ability to provide abundantly and symbolizes the spiritual nourishment found in Him. The feeding of the 5,000 serves not only as a miraculous event but also as a profound symbol of spiritual sustenance. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, blessed them, and distributed them so that all were fed, with leftovers collected in twelve baskets. This act revealed His power to provide beyond human comprehension and represented the spiritual nourishment He offers to all who believe. In John 6:35, Jesus states, 'I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.' This miracle foreshadows the ultimate feeding of the soul through His sacrificial death and resurrection, making it clear that true satisfaction and provision come only from Christ. It signifies that spiritual life and sustaining grace are found in Him alone, where even those who feel most inadequate can find abundance.

in such a disrespectful way.
Have mercy this morning, we pray for Christ's sake. Amen. The miracle of the five loaves,
two fish feeding all of those people is recorded in every one
of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Obviously, the
Spirit of God was pleased to use this miracle to set forth
the glory of our blessed Savior. The scripture sets forth that
everything that the Lord did on this earth was not recorded.
John said if all the things that He did and said would have been
recorded, the world would not have contained the books. But
when we stop and realize that the Spirit of God had this miracle
recorded four times, we would do well to look at what the Spirit
of God has set forth in this place. Verse 1 says in chapter 6, After
these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is
the Sea of Tiberias. The Lord healed that impotent
man after he had the discussion with those Jews when they disputed
with him and wanted to kill him. The scripture sets forth, he
went across. Now to one, that impotent man,
he was pleased to open that man's heart and reveal to him who he
was. to some Jews that he talked with,
he was not pleased to do so. Romans 9.18 says, Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth
after these things. He went across. Verse 2 says,
And a great multitude followed him. because they saw his miracles
which he did on them that were diseased." Many of them followed him for
this reason, because they saw the miracles. Now, time is going
to tell about these, this whole group. Time is going to tell. In this book, right here, in
this chapter, what most of them really thought concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ, God's Anointed One, God's Messiah, the Redeemer,
many of them followed Him because they saw His miracles. There's a scripture or two that
brings out what they were thinking, but I'll tell you where the sum
of it is set forth. It's in verse 66 of this book. John 6, 66. Now you think about
this. There was a lot of them there.
They saw the miracles. But look at John 66. From that
time, after the Lord in verse 65 had said, No man can come
unto me except it were given unto him of my father. From that
time, many of his disciples, not his apostles, but his disciples,
those that were following him, went back and walked no more
with him. I'll tell you where you're going
to find that men stand up and bow up in rebellion against what
you're preaching. It's when they understand that
God's sovereign. That's the point right there. Nobody has a problem, they say. that Christ died on the cross. Nobody, they say, has a problem
with Christ being raised from the dead. But when the Scripture
sets forth how He died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
how He was raised according to the Scriptures, and when you
set forth God's distinguishing grace, particular redemption,
that He died for the elect, that He did not die for the sins of
the whole world. When someone asks you, say, where
do you get that? Just tell them, say, read John
6, and the Lord Himself sets forth who He died for. Verse 3 says, And Jesus went
up into a mountain. And there he sat with his disciples,
led by the Spirit of God concerning his father's will. He walked
among scoffers, unbelievers, and even showed compassion to
them. He gives the rain on the just
and the unjust, but when it comes to fellowship, Scripture sets
forth that that's among his people. He went up into a mountain, and
there he sat with his disciples. Two or three are gathered together.
In my name, I'm in the midst of you. Precious thought. Verse 4 says, In the Passover
feast of the Jews was nigh How blind is a man by nature
until the Lord is pleased to give him sight. He goes to the
Passover. That was a feast. It was required
of every Jewish male, all of the Jews. They were to go to
those feasts. And the Lord, in obedience to
God's law, went to that feast. Passover was nigh. He was going
to that feast in obedience to God's command. And here was going
to be the Passover Himself, the Passover Lamb Himself. He was
going to be standing in the very midst of those people that were
celebrating that Passover feast. And they didn't know Him. I was reading over those verses
this morning and I thought to myself, the gospel of God's free
grace is set forth. The glory of God's power in the
setting forth of His precious Son, the gospel of free grace
is preached. The power of God unto salvation.
And men, Mitch, here's Men sat around. Women sat around. They
hear the gospel being preached, and they don't hear. Here was
the Lord, the Passover Lamb Himself. And many of them didn't hear
Him, didn't see Him. Verse 5 and 6, it says, When
Jesus then lifted up His eyes, He saw a great company coming
to Him. He saith unto Philip, Whence
shall we buy bread that these may eat? And this he said to
prove him, for he himself knew what he would do. Here's the
point of hope for any sinner. The Lord lifted up his eyes.
If God Almighty looks and looks in compassion, if there's any
hope whatsoever, it's going to be right here. The Lord himself
lifted up his eyes. Matthew's Mark's account of this
says concerning this passage of Scripture or concerning this
miracle right there, the Lord had compassion toward him. You know, when it comes to the
preaching of the truth, we know, we know that until the Spirit
of God opens a man's heart to believe the glory of God in Christ
in the gospel, they're not going to see. I know that. But isn't
it a tender thing to you that believe, for those that oppose
themselves, that don't know Him? Doesn't it grieve you that they
don't know Him? I'm talking about God's sovereignty.
I'm talking about God Almighty who does as He will in the army
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. and to have some
be there, some come, some sit, and apparently walk away. And
don't... Did that break your heart? People talk about preachers,
believers of the gospel, and they say, you people are just
so narrow, so cold-hearted. I say, no, no. No, no, no. That's
not so. God's people are tender people. I can't enter into the fullness,
but I can tell you this. Our Lord set forth that He had
compassion on them. Someone says, well, how do you
justify that with the gospel of God's sovereign grace? I said,
I'm not trying to justify anything. I'm telling you that God is sovereign
and He does as He will. And He said He had compassion. Oh, I tell you, Matthew 9, verse
36, when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion
on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as
sheep, having no shepherd. He asked Philip about feeding
these people, about feeding the multitudes, for two reasons.
The Lord said He did it to prove to Philip. The Lord knew what
He was going to do. But he was going to prove to
Philip concerning Philip's own frailty and unbelief. What are
we going to do? And I'm telling you, it doesn't
take long for us to expose what we are, how frail we are. But he was going to prove to
Philip and to others his power, his omniscience, his glory. Verse 7 says, Philip answered
him 200 penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them that
every one of them may take a little. I read, I didn't really know
what 200 penny worth was. I just read an account of it
and it said that 200 penny worth of bread about that time would
have fed about 2,000 people. It was 5,000 plus the women and
children. 200 penny worth. Maybe that was what they had.
Maybe that's how much money they had. I don't know. He came up
with that number, 200 penny worth. We might be able to feed a couple
of thousand of them. How often is our weakness and
doubt exposed? Philip calculated the need according
to his own reasoning. I would say, now we could feed
a couple of thousand of them and give everybody enough to
eat, and if everybody is not going to be selfish, we could give everybody about 25-30% of
what they need. Maybe they would just get them
a snack, just enough to tide them over. These men had walked with our
Lord. They had seen Him speak to an impotent man. One had been
there for years and years and years. He told that man, he said,
I want you to take your bed, rise up and walk. He made the blind to see, the
dumb to hear, the deaf to hear. How are we going to feed them? Is this not the way that we are
by nature? I'm telling you something will
come up and we will calculate it according to our understanding. Elijah, here was a man that Almighty
God had used to demonstrate the Lord's power. Elijah saw God
rain down fire from heaven and consume A sacrifice that had
been watered with barrels and barrels and barrels of water.
He killed 450 false prophets. It came to a point he was destitute
and God fed him with ravens. He had ravens bring him some
food every day. He drank out of a brook God had
provided and Jezebel sent I sent a note to her and told her, she
said, I'll tell you this, by tomorrow, at this time, you're
going to be just like those 450 prophets. And it scared him and
he ran. I'm telling you, we are frail
creatures. We are so plagued with the presence of
our sin I put a little article in that bulletin this morning. I was reading the other day a
few weeks ago. I plan to preach on this, but
I was thinking about when Moses had asked the Lord, Show me your
glory. And the Lord's answer to him was this. He said, I will
be gracious to whom I'll be gracious, and I will be merciful. I'll
show mercy to whom I'll show mercy. And I read that at first
and I thought, well, it seems like to me that basically those
are the same thing. You know, in my mind I'm thinking
I'll be gracious to whom I'll be merciful to. But obviously
there was something different about them because the Lord said
them differently. And as I began to look at those
words and study, here's the difference. It was by the grace of God. It's
by the grace of God that God brought the nation of Israel
out of Egypt. It was by the grace of God that
He opened up the Red Sea. It was by the grace of God that
He sent a manna every day. It was by the grace of God that
He had Moses strike that rock and then told him to speak to
the rock. Moses struck it again and God said, You're not going.
It was by the grace of God that God kept them 40 years. And their shoes never wore out
and their clothes never wore. It was by the grace of God that
God did that. And they murmured against God.
And they murmured against God's preacher. It was by the mercy
of God that God didn't kill them. My friend, it's by the grace
of God that God chose us in Christ. It was by the grace of God that
the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed His own. By the grace of God
that He called us out of darkness is by the mercy of God that He
hasn't killed us. By the mercy of God for Christ's
sake that He has not destroyed us for murmuring against His
graciousness. See the difference? God graciously
provided, mercifully for Christ's sake we are not consumed. That's
what Scripture says for it. Well, back to our passage here. Verse 8 and 9. One of His disciples,
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, But there is
a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes,
but what are they among so many? No one is exempt from the frailty
of this old flesh. We're all prone to forget. How
quickly does our mind, just prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it, prone
to leave the God I love. There's two men in me. Every
believer's got two natures. And they're both me. That old
man whose guilt just absolutely of what Christ was made to be,
sin. And here the presence of that
sin is still with me. And that new man sees it and
owns it, owns up to it. That's me. I'm telling you, that's
me. Old wretched man Paul said that
I am. Who shall deliver me? There's the new man talking by
himself, seeing both natures. Well, we've got five barley loaves
and two small fish, but how's that going to do anything?
Standing right in the presence of our Lord. Verse 10 says, And
Jesus said, Make the men sit down. And there was much grass
in that place. So the men sat down and numbered
about 5,000. He's going to prove His faithfulness. And He's going to prove what
He's done for us is sustained by Him. He's going to prove our
faith. Have the men, have them sit down. About 5,000. There was no apparent
sufficiency. There was no supply yet revealed. But thanks be to Him, His grace
and mercy is not based upon our faith. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad that He does
not deal with us after the frailty of ourselves? How longsuffering He is with
us. He knows our frame. The Scripture says He remembers
that we are dust. Boy, that's a precious passage
of Scripture when you see the frailty of yourself. He remembers
that we're dust. By His mercies, we're not consumed. Oh, we don't question. We just
obey. The Lord asked His disciples,
remember that one morning, He says, have you caught any fish?
And He said, I would... He said, cast your net on the
other side. Peter said, Lord, we fished all night. We fished
these waters. We're pretty familiar with these waters. And we're
pretty confident right now. There's just no fish here. But that's Your Word. That's
Your Word. You know what happened. They
cast the net in. It was just lacking to be breaking. Just
so many fish that they brought in. I think about the Scripture
that sets forth. The preaching of the gospel is
the power of God and salvation. And I'll start preparing. And I'll get my Bible. And I'll get everything ready. And I've got my notes. As far as I can tell, as I've
said before, they're doctrinally sound. I believe that this is
the gospel. of God's grace. And it's right. I've got everything. I've been
prepared. Lord, I've been here over eight
and a half years. And it appears so that the same
group that's here has been the group that's been here all the
time. And all of a sudden, I get to
looking at, well, maybe I'm not saying it right. Maybe I'm not
that. And all of a sudden, I'm thinking,
wait a minute. He didn't call me to sit here
and second-guess this, that and the other. You preach the Gospel. You follow Me. You preach. You comfort the people of God.
You don't question. This is God's calling. We're
not going to change our methods, Jeff. We ain't changing nothing.
We're going to preach the gospel and we're going to believe God.
God's people are edified. God's people are blessed. He
remembers. Have the men sit down. There
was much grass in that place. You know, I looked at that part
of that scripture and I thought about this. How tender that our
Lord would providentially provide for a place. It wasn't rocky. I'm not saying that this is the
fullness of that there was much grass in that place. But I can
tell you this, there was a place for them to be able to not be
distracted. Distracted. I sat down. It was a quiet place. He lead
me beside still waters. He's provided a place, a pasture,
for us to feast. That's what we're doing here.
We have a pasture of His making. The Lord has raised up a place
where we can come and sit and hear. Now, all of them are sitting
there. Now, here we are, verses 11 to
13. And Jesus took the loaves, and
when He had given thanks, He distributed to the disciples.
and the disciples to them that were set down, and likewise of
the fishes as much as they would. And then when they were filled,
he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain,
that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them
together and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five
barley loaves which remained over and above unto them that
had eaten." Here we behold according to the
Spirit of God's good purpose. Here's the consummation of this
miracle. Here's the declaration of the
gospel. The Holy Spirit brought these
people here. Now, in this miracle right here,
you're going to see the absolute miracle of God's grace to call
out His own. How God saves a sinner. How the Lord. I realize that
there were many, according to this scripture right here, verse
66, many of these didn't follow Him anymore. But what we're going
to look at is the gospel preached in this. How God truly saves
His people. The Lord Himself brought this
group of people to this place. How did you get here? How did
you get to come to sit under the sound of the gospel? You say, well, Mitch, you're
just, you know, born here. Stan? You guys, God sent a pastor. That was your daddy. How'd you
get here? Well, my mom and dad. No, you
got here by the grace of God. It was by the miracle of God's
grace, every one of us, to be brought unto the sound of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, a miracle predestinated. I mean, I could just go right
down the line. How did you get here? How did
any of us get here? The probability of being able
to be under the sound of the gospel Little old girl raised up in
South Louisiana and a Roman Catholic. How merciful God is to bring
us to a place. Here they were. They were hungry. They were hungry in a desert
place. Oh, the lost sheep. of the Lord, perishing, helpless,
spiritually starving on the brink of eternal ruin without God,
without hope, without light. And they were in the best place
that they could possibly be. The whole world was going on
around them. I don't know how many people
there were in this world at that time, and here they were sitting
on some grass, and God Almighty was pleased to meet with them.
God was there. In their ignorance, the Lord
saw their need, and their need He was going to supply. Oh, I
know it was physical food, what they were talking about, but
I'm talking about this blessed picture, type, of what was really
going on. That which would seem to be foolish
to the natural mind was the very thing that God was pleased to
use in the salvation of His people. Well, we just got five barley
loaves. That was some of the lowest grade
of bread that you could get. It was just barley. And two,
I read this, it was probably just dried fish. He didn't talk
anything about refrigeration or something. Just two little
old pokey fish. Just two little old fish. Dried. Five loaves and two fish. They
could feed 5,000 men plus the women and children. That's impossible. That's impossible. Not with God. five loaves and two fish, setting
forth and representing the preaching of the gospel. I know this is
foolishness to this world, but the Lord God Himself has set
forth that this is the power of God unto salvation. This is the truth. Men say that. Are you kidding me? You mean
to tell me that you think They're preaching the same message, that
message that men despise and hate because it gives no glory,
Gene, to man's free will and his ability. You mean to tell
me that that is what you think is going to
be the power of God unto men's eternal soul? That's all you've
got? That's all we got. And according
to God's Word, that's all we need. He took that which seemed impossible
and he blessed it. I don't know when it started
multiplying. It doesn't say when it started
multiplying. I don't know if it's when He
gave it to His disciples. I don't know when His disciples
started handing it out. I don't know when it was. When did God call you out of
darkness? What moment did His power reach
into your very being and reveal Christ in you? All you knew is
that He did. When did it happen? I don't know. He took that which even His disciples
evidenced their doubt concerning that physical bread, and He gave
it to them after He had set the people down, and they gave it
to the people. This is what I'm doing this morning.
I'm just a voice. I'm just a voice. I'm a preacher,
a servant of God called to be a preacher. I didn't make the gospel. They
didn't make the bread. They didn't make the fish. They had no way of producing
the miracle. But they could hand it out. That's
what they did. I have no way in the world of
taking this. I can try as hard as I can, Gary,
and make it as simple as I can. And I have no way in the world
of opening a heart and putting it in. But I can preach. I can preach. They couldn't produce
the life, but they could wait on the Lord. The Scripture says forth, And
when they were filled, they ate, and they ate, and they ate until
they were full. And he said to his disciples,
Gather up the fragments that remain, let nothing be lost. They gathered them together and
filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley
loaves which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. by the grace of God to feed upon
the glorious person of our blessed Savior in the hearing of His
gospel to the satisfaction of our souls. Feast on Him. He said, You take that which
was left and You put it in twelve baskets
A picture of the twelve tribes of spiritual Israel. Twelve baskets. I looked at that and I thought,
twelve baskets. That's what he said. What does
he set forth? A whole church? Always food for
the spiritual Israel? That food was a type of himself. It was a type of Christ. five
loaves and two fish, a picture of our Savior that the world
looks at and despises. You say, that's not sufficient.
That's not enough. It will never do the job. But there are that five loaves
and two fish, a picture of the glory of our blessed Lord who
is the bread of heaven. He said, you take everything
that's left over. Nothing was going to be left
on the ground. It's not going to be trodden on. underfoot of
this world. Nobody's going to come through
here after we're done and walk on this. I know men despise his
gospel now and reject the glorious message of God's free grace.
But I'm telling you, there's coming a time when every knee
is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that the
Lord Jesus Christ is God. as a type of our Lord, set forth
this glorious picture of the gospel. There's enough to eat. There's always enough to eat.
Our God shall supply all your need. You mean they didn't consume
at all that day? No. We're eating right now of that
spiritual bread. that Almighty God has always
saved His people and set Him forth. Base food to this world? Yeah. But to you that believe,
you see the glory of our blessed Savior in five loaves and two
fish. He took what everybody doubted
would be sufficient And He fed 5,000 men plus the women and
children. And thanks be unto Him that He
feeds us even now. Lord, bless Your Word to our
hearts. Feed me, Holy Spirit. Bring back to my memory those
words that He said for His honor and for my good. Amen.

Seeing Christ In Five Loaves and Two Fishes

What does the Bible say about the miracle of the five loaves and two fish?

How do we know God's sovereignty is true?

Why is the compassion of Christ important for Christians?

What does it mean that Jesus fed 5,000 men?

Sermon Transcript

About Marvin Stalnaker

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Seeing Christ In Five Loaves and Two Fishes

What does the Bible say about the miracle of the five loaves and two fish?

How do we know God's sovereignty is true?

Why is the compassion of Christ important for Christians?

What does it mean that Jesus fed 5,000 men?

Sermon Transcript

About Marvin Stalnaker

Comments

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