Thank you, Joe. Let's go one
book further, the Gospel of John, John chapter 6. The book of John chapter 6. Those who are watching by way
of the internet, I hope that you can avail yourself of the
scriptures. We're always thankful that you
folks can join us And I hope that you'll turn in the scriptures
with us to John chapter six. My subject is this is that profit. This is that profit. Well, I had Joe read Luke's account
of the feeding of the 5,000 men, not counting the women and children
because it's one of the that's a parallel to this one in John. You know, of all the miracles
that our Lord performed, all of the healings and the miracles
to the public, this was the most publicized, that is, the most
public one. And this is the only one that's
recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. So there's something
significant to this. Like I said, it's one of the
most public of all of our Lord's miracles. Some estimate when
you factor in 5,000 men, other pastors said plus women and children,
that there must have been somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 people
that our Lord fed. Years ago, Like many of you, I learned of
this story in Sunday school about the little lad that had two fishes
and five little barley loaves, barley being the cheapest and
the coarsest of the grains, usually reserved for feed for cattle. And that would give you some
indication of the kind of family that this little boy came from. They didn't have very much of
this world's goods. He had the very cheapest of breads
that could be baked. And he brought his lunch with
him that day. But in John's account, and if
you read Matthew, Matthew 14, Mark chapter 6 and then Luke
chapter 9 that Joe just read to us. In John chapter 6 we're
told something that Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not tell us. John says this, after this miracle,
verse 14 of John 6, then those men when they had seen the miracle
that Jesus did, said, this is of a truth, that prophet that
should come into the world. Hold your place here and go to
Deuteronomy chapter 18. Let me show you who this, who
mentioned this prophet back in the Old Testament. The man Some of the men who partook
of this great miracle, who fed and they were filled with the
food that the Lord prepared for them, they were knowledgeable
of this portion of Scripture that I'm going to read to you
from Deuteronomy chapter 18. Look at chapter 18 of Deuteronomy,
verse 15. Moses is speaking to the children
of Israel. He says, the Lord thy God will
raise up unto thee a prophet, capital P. Right from the midst of thee,
of thy brethren, likened to me, unto him ye shall hearken, verse
16. According to all that thou desirest
of the Lord thy God in Horeb, in the day of the assembly, saying,
let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let
me see this great fire any more than I die not. And the Lord
said unto me, they have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise up, I will raise
them up a prophet. from among their brethren, like
unto thee. And I will put my words in his
mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command
him. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak
in my name, I will require it of him." So Moses, back here
in the Old Testament, speaks of this prophet. The Lord led
him, what to say, and now these men over here in John chapter
6, they, remembering that portion of Scripture, they draw this
conclusion, this is that prophet that Moses was speaking about.
They considered Jesus of Nazareth to be the great prophet. Now,
I would remind you of the responsibility of a prophet. He was anointed
of God to deliver the Word of God, to deliver the message of
God. But with our Lord Jesus, they
said He is the great prophet, but they didn't want to hear
what He had to say. But that's the reason for the office of
a was to give forth the word of
the Lord clearly and distinctly, which is what our Lord Jesus
did. Matthew, Mark, and Luke talk
about Him preaching and healing the people when they gathered
together and they're hungry. And then our Lord Jesus goes
on to preach to the people. They said, He is the prophet.
And then He began to preach. And you know what? They weren't
interested in what He had to say. He preached unto them electing
grace. He said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. He preached to them of man's
inability. He said, no man can come unto
me except the Father which hath sent me. Draw him, and I'll raise
him up at the last day. He identified himself as being
the true bread come down from heaven, and he said, I am the
bread of life. He that eateth of me shall never
die. Our Lord illustrated what believing
is. It is spiritually feasting on
him and drinking his blood, eating his flesh and drinking his blood. What is faith? It is feeding
on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is receiving him into your
heart. into your heart, into your very
being. It's believing Him as He's revealed
in the Word of God. You need a Savior? He's the Savior. You need a righteousness? He's
your righteousness. You need forgiveness? He's the
one who puts sins away by sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary. He
said, eat of me, drink my blood. They weren't interested in doing
that. And then he began to tell them that he is going to be exalted
into heaven. I'm going to ascend back where
I was before. And they put all of this message
together in their minds, these people who had said, this is
the prophet. But that which the prophet had
to preach, they didn't want to hear it. And so we read at the end of
John chapter 6 that many of them left and followed Him no more. No more. They liked Him as a miracle worker. They liked Him as a healer. They
liked Him in His compassion. They liked Him when He took care
of the sick folk. But when he started preaching
the grace of God and salvation in himself, when he started preaching
my words are spirit, my words are life, they weren't interested
at all in what he had to say. And yet they said he's the prophet.
He's the prophet. But they wouldn't hear his message. They'd receive physical food
from his hands, but they weren't interested in
spiritual food. He said, I'm the bread of life.
They didn't believe him. They didn't believe him. Well, our Lord Jesus is the prophet. He is that prophet that God sent. He occupies the three offices
for which there was an anointment of the Spirit of God in the Old
Testament. He's the prophet, he's the priest, and he's the
king. They wouldn't have him as their prophet. They didn't
want him as their priest. they would have nothing to do
with the sacrifice that he offered. Because you see, in offering
the sacrifice to God, he was both the priest and the offering
that was offered to God. But in their estimation, they
didn't need a sacrifice. They didn't need an offering
to God. They had their works. They were
establishing a righteousness of their own by which they felt
like God would accept them. They didn't need him as their
prophet. They didn't need him as their priest. And they only
wanted him as a king if he had run the Romans out of town. But he was still anointed of
God for these offices. Know what it says here in John
6, verse 5. When Jesus then lifted up his
eyes, he saw a great company come unto him. And now you know
that 5,000 men plus women and children, conservatively, the
commentators estimate somewhere between 15 and 20,000 people,
well, it looked probably to the disciples like revival has broke
out. I mean, that's what people are
looking for in religion, big crowds. And he's got a big following. But the reason the vast majority
followed him was because they were only interested in his miracles. They were curiosity seekers. They were three-fold seekers to see what our Lord would do
next. He broke the bread. But throughout
the gospel of John in chapter 6 especially, he broke open the
bread of life. You see, you eat of the physical
bread, you're going to still die, but eat of the spiritual
bread, the bread who came down from heaven? The bread that was baked in the
oven of God's wrath? The bread who endured the heat
of God's anger and God's indignation against sin, if you eat of that
bread, you'll live forever. And once you eat of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will say in your heart, this
is the best bread I've ever had. I don't want to have any other
kind of bread but this bread. Now Luke tells us, Joe read this
to us, Luke tells us he healed and he taught. He healed and
he taught. And in that portion he read for
us, he preached the kingdom of God. He preached the kingdom of God.
He preached the kingdom of salvation. He preached salvation by grace,
by divine purpose. God, before the world began,
ordained a spiritual kingdom filled with people to the praise
of the glory of God's grace. Our Lord preached that. The gospel
of the kingdom, the gospel of redemption, the gospel of the
shedding of the blood by the glorious substitute that God
sent He preached the gospel of the kingdom, that men and women
and young people enter into the kingdom by the new birth. Except
you're born again, you can't even see the kingdom of God,
he said. Our Lord preached the gospel
of the kingdom. And on this day, when he fed
all these people, he's preaching that. What do you reckon it would have
been like to have sat there on that grassy knoll? And some say that that place
still exists, and it's just a huge grassy field. I don't know about
that. But it was about Passover time,
so it wasn't springtime. I tell you, they sat down upon
his command. Our Lord said, have them all
sit down. And Mark tells us they sit down in ranks of hundreds
and fifties. So it's very orderly because
God demands things be done decently in order and nobody's going to
be overlooked in being served. But he's going to preach to them. Wouldn't it be wonderful to hear
the Lord Jesus break open the Old Testament? It'd be like when
Mary broke open an alabaster box of precious ointment and
it just, it filled the, the aroma filled the house. That's what's
going to be in glory. That's what I think. I believe
our Lord is going to break unto us, open unto us the scriptures
and we're going to sit there with our jaws wide open and say
this is just wonderful. Oh, this is wonderful. We thought
it was glorious on earth when we heard the under shepherds,
but now we're hearing the shepherd who gave his life for our sins. Our Lord broke open the scriptures
to them, and I remind you, they didn't have the New Testament. All they had was the Old Testament. And he preached to them of things
concerning himself. And then he preached and the people were
getting hungry. It's getting late in the day.
And the disciples said, send them away, tell them to go get
something to eat. Tell them to provide for themselves. That's kind of what false preachers
are saying today. Provide for yourself. You got
it within you. Everybody's got a little faith
within you. Our Lord said they need not go
home hungry. And he instructed, look down
here. He says, he lifted up his eyes, verse five, and he saw
this great company come unto him. He said to Philip, whence
shall we buy bread that these may eat? Now, our Lord never
asked a question because he needed an answer. He's bringing this, the impossibility
of this scenario to the minds and the hearts of his disciples. And he says in verse six, this
he said to prove him. It's a little test for you. Because he himself knew what
he would do. Well, he knew it from old eternity,
what was gonna happen here. And Philip answered him, 200 penny worth of bread is not sufficient
for them, that every one of them may take a little. Just a little. And one of his disciples, Andrew,
Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, there's a lad here. There's a little boy here which
hath five barley loaves, two small fishes. But what are they? What are they among so many? Tell you what our Lord's disciples
did. They calculated as if the provision
was dependent upon them. They calculated without factoring
Christ into the equation. I guess they had forgot about
how he changed the water into wine. I guess they forgot about how
he raised the dead. And right here on this very occasion,
He has healed everybody who was sick. Their hunger and the very meager
amount of food that the little boy has, this is no obstacle
to the King of glory. Nothing is impossible with Him. He feeds spiritually hungry people
every day. He gives us a hunger and then
He satisfies the hunger with the sweet gospel of His grace.
They calculated without Christ. You see, let's not think God
is unable to do something by judging Him and His ability by
us and our inabilities. God's not like us. Christ has all power in heaven
and in earth. There's nothing that's impossible
with Him. He does His will among the armies
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
His hand or say unto Him, What doest thou? What's 15,000 or 20,000 hungry
people to the Lord of glory? He didn't even need the two fishes
and the five barley loaves as far as that goes. Because you see, here's what
happened. There's a continual creative
act as our Lord broke the bread and pieced out the fish. It's
a continual creative act as fast as the apostles could come and
gather the food the Lord had created more. Don't think that our Lord is
weak like we are. Don't underestimate His power. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come unto God by Him. When He hung on the cross of
Calvary, physically beaten, whipped, bloodied, He had power to save
a sinner, to create life in the heart of
that thief, and put a cry within his soul, Lord, remember me. That thief didn't have that cry
before. He was railing on Jesus of Nazareth
just like his unbelieving friend. But something happened to him.
What happened to him? The great physician performed
another miracle. But it was one inside. It quickened
him by his power. Man's made alive. He said, Lord,
remember me. When you come into your kingdom,
I believe you're going to have a kingdom. Well, who in the world would
believe that? This naked, bloodied man that's dying? You believe
he's going to have a kingdom? The thief said, I sure enough
believe it. And the Lord said, today, today
thou shall be with me in paradise. I tell you what, if our Lord's
of a mind to do it, he can do anything. He can even save your lost loved
one that you're burdened about. Seems impossible to us. You say,
oh, my brother, my sister, my child, my husband, my wife, my
parents, whoever it is. Boy, they're just so hard-hearted.
There's no heart too hard, but what the Christ of Calvary can't
break it. Don't you sell him short. If it's his will, he can break
the hardest heart. He broke yours, didn't he? Broke mine. I was lost in religion,
carrying the Bible. Thought I was doing God's service. He brought me down to size. Oh yes, he does his will. In verse 10, the Lord said, make
the man to sit down. There's not going to be any human
effort in this. And I'm gonna tell you something,
if the Lord's gonna do a work of grace in your heart, he's
gonna make you sit down. You're not gonna lend any power
or any assistance in this great salvation. It's of God. It's
a creative act of God. For by grace you say through
faith and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship created,
created in Christ Jesus under good works. which God hath before
ordained. I know today it's make your decision
for Jesus, that's what they say. You don't hear anybody say, I
pray that God create life within you. Very few men say that. Well, he started, after he had
people sit down, He took the loaves and he began to multiply. And he distributed, and watch
this, to the disciples. He distributed to the disciples. They couldn't create the bread.
The bread didn't originate with them. They had nothing to do
with it. They received the bread of life
and then distributed. They couldn't force people to
eat. They couldn't give them an appetite. Their total responsibility was
distribute the food. You see, it's like preachers
of the gospel. Our Lord Jesus, who is the Bread
of Life, the Gospel originates with Him. He is the Gospel. He purposed salvation before
the world began. And He teaches us about this salvation,
about His substitutionary death upon the cross, about His blood-shedding
and the necessity of satisfying God's justice. He tells us, I
am the bread of life. He tells us of his successful
redemption and then of his death and his resurrection. I'm the
bread of life. And he distributes the food to
his preachers. Says, now you pass it out. That's what I'm doing now. I'm
passing out the bread and the fish. I can't make you eat. I can't
give you a hunger. I didn't create the bread. I didn't create the supper. You
see, the gospel, think of it this way, and Isaiah portrays
it this way. It's a great banquet feast. That's
what the gospel is. You're talking about a buffet. Really, every time you hear the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, you're being seated at a table
of unlimited spiritual food. All the duties that God has for
poor sinners. And it's my privilege and the
privilege of every preacher of the gospel. God put the food
on the table for you. But I can't make you eat. But the Lord can. So he distributed to his disciples,
verse 11, and the disciples to them that were set down. And
then likewise of the fishes as much as they wanted. And verse 12 says, and when they
were filled. I compared that, look back at
verse seven. Philip said, 200 penny worth of bread is not sufficient
for them that every one of them may have a little. A little? They're not gonna get a little. They're gonna be filled. Our Lord doesn't give out a little,
he gives out a lot. Why, this gospel of God's grace,
it'll fill you today, it'll fill you tomorrow, it'll fill you
till your life ends. Not a little, it's a lot. You think of how glorious this
gospel is. It's full of the love of God.
It's full of the wisdom of God. It's full of the justice of God. It's full of God Himself who
originated the gospel in Christ Jesus. And He gives it to His preachers
and we preach. And then you eat of it. And hopefully
you get full, got full this morning, then you come back tonight, said,
you know, I'm kind of hungry again. Well, I hope you're gonna
get full again tonight. Come back Wednesday night and
the Lord willing, I'll see if I can set another banquet before
you. And that's what preachers do,
because the Lord distributes the gospel to us and then we
distribute it to y'all. And you eat and are filled. He doesn't just give you enough
to kind of, well, this'll hold you over. It's not a snack. He
don't give snacks. This gospel's a full meal. Well, verse 13 says, and they
gathered them together. Anybody else want anything to
eat? And they said, whoo, can't eat anymore. I'm full as a tick
on a hound dog now. I can't eat anymore. They filled
12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which
remained over and above under them they were eating. See, there's
not going to be any waste. This gospel's not going to go
to waste. I can tell you that. It's not
going to go to waste. You may not want to eat of it,
but it's not going to be wasted. Our Lord will see to it, somebody's
gonna eat. And then verse 14, then those
men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, something clicked
in their minds. We remember what Moses said over
there in Deuteronomy. This is of a truth, that prophet
that should come into the world. And so verse 15 says, when Jesus
therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force
to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself
alone. He's gonna be made king, but
not by those fellows. Because you see the way to the
crown is by way of the cross. There's no throne to await the
son of man unless the son of man lays down his life to satisfy
God's justice and save his people from their sin. That's how he
arrived at the throne. He deserved it. Oh, here's the prophet. What
an amazing miracle this was. Our Lord Jesus feeding so many,
just like he continually feeds us. Lord, give me a hunger. Lord,
give me an appetite. A lot of people don't find this
gospel of God's sovereign grace to be tasteful at all. They don't
find it delicious. They find bitterness in it. They find a message that leaves
them uncomfortable. But I'll tell you, to those whom
God has quickened by His Spirit, we say we bless the name of God
for such mercy to unworthy sinners like us. and we honor him who
lived and died and rose again and whoever lives to make intersection
for us. Feed me, Lord. Feed me, Lord,
with that bread of life. Well, let's sing a closing song.