The sixth chapter of John is
where we left off in our study a couple of weeks ago. John chapter
6. And the subject that I'd like
to deal with this evening is a kingdom refused. A kingdom refused. Our Lord Jesus He has established
a great kingdom. But it isn't a kingdom of flesh
and blood. It's a kingdom that's spiritual.
It is a kingdom that is of God. And you must be born into the
kingdom of God. You must be born again of the
Spirit of God. before you can understand or
perceive or see the Kingdom of God. It's what our Lord Jesus
said to Nicodemus back in John chapter 3. And what we have in
John 6 is the Jews, they perceive all the greatness of Jesus of
Nazareth, His ability to perform these unusual, these wonderful,
these powerful miracles And they see the opportunity to, once
again, that Israel would be elevated to the glory days like it was
in the days of King David and King Solomon. And so they want
the Lord to be the King. They're ready to anoint Him as
the King. But he wouldn't have anything
of that because his kingdom, as our brother read to us just
a bit ago, as our Savior said to Pontius Pilate, he said, my
kingdom is not of this world. So as we get to John chapter
6, let me read the first couple of verses to you again of this
chapter just to refresh your memory. John chapter 6 verse
1, after these things, Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee,
which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude, literally
thousands of people, a great multitude followed Him, But the reason they followed
Him was not that they might hear the gospel from Him. The reason
they followed Him was not because they believed Him. They rested
their souls in Him. The reason they followed Him
was not because they needed a Savior from sin. But they needed redemption
by the blood that He would shed. The reason that they followed
Him was not that they might have the forgiveness of all of their
transgressions. The reason they followed Him
was not that they might have acceptance with a holy God. The
reason that they followed Him was because they saw His miracles,
which He did on them that were diseased. And they wanted to just see more
miracles. More miracles. Our Lord is in
Galilee once again. He's actually, and I'm sure you've
studied the ministry of our Lord, He's gone through Galilee. This
is actually His third visit to Galilee. His first couple of
visits, he went through the 200 or so towns and cities of Galilee,
and now he's going through it a third time, and is at the end
of his second year of his public ministry. In other words, in
about a year, he would arrive at that passage that Bill read
to us there in John chapter 18, at his crucifixion. So he's once
again going through Galilee. And it is interesting to note
that his great popularity is at an all-time high. He's never
had a following like this before. This is the most people that
have ever gone after him. This is definitely what most
people would say would be the very high point in his ministry
as far as the number of followers is concerned. This is the zenith. And it is after this that his
great popularity begins to erode. We get to the end of John 6,
and you can go over there and you know this verse of Scripture
very well. In verse 66, it says, from that
time, many of His disciples, many of them, went back. They
went back. They went back to their old religion. They went back away from Him. And they walked no more with
Him. So, as we get to the very beginning of John chapter 6,
this is kind of the heyday of His popularity. It doesn't get
any bigger or better than this as far as numbers are concerned. And we know that's what men are
interested in, is numbers. And it would seem to say, at
least on the surface, that while He is a very popular Savior,
He's got such a great following. Here are all these literally
thousands of people who are going after Him. And as he walks away
and as he continues to teach, here are these 5,000 men and
the women and the children, they go along with him. And to the
eye of the natural man, they would say, wow, this man has
such popularity. He's a great leader. He's a great
originator of the new religion. That's what the natural man would
say. And here are all these people
following after Him. Now we know this, this miracle
of the feeding of the 5,000 men in addition to the women and
the children. This particular miracle and the miracle of His
resurrection is recorded by all four gospel narratives, Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John. And those are the only two miracles
that are recorded in all four gospel narratives. But after he finished this miracle,
after he had performed this miracle, after he had fed so many thousands
of people, and we don't know exactly how many thousands were
fed. We know it's 5,000 men. But there
were also women and children, so it could have been 15, 20,
25,000 people. We don't know the Spirit of God
hadn't been pleased to give us that number. But we do know this. After he fed these people, only
John is led to record this in verse 14. Then those men, when
they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, this is what they
said. This is of a truth, that prophet
that should come into the world. Now neither Matthew nor Mark
nor Luke mentions that. This is that prophet that was
mentioned back in John chapter 1. Go back to John chapter 1.
This is the same prophet. And they've been looking for
this prophet. In fact, I had Brother Joe open the service
this evening by reading there in Deuteronomy chapter 18, where
Moses spoke of that prophet who would enter into the world. And
throughout the years for centuries, the nation of Israel, they've
been looking for this great prophet. This one who would speak the
very mind of God, the will of God. This is the one they've
been looking for. And we know when John the Baptist
came on the scene, there were many of the people who said,
this is the prophet. Look at John chapter 1 and verse
19. This is the record of John. This
is the witness of John. When the Jews, these are the
leaders of Judaism who were always very hostile to Jesus Christ,
This is the record of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites
from Jerusalem to ask him, who art thou? And he confessed and
denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. I am not the
anointed. You remember in the second Psalm? The Lord talks about His anointed.
I've set my anointed on the holy hill of Zion. John says, I'm
not that one. I am not the anointed. I am not
the Christ. And they ask him, well, what
then? Art thou Elias? And he said,
I'm not. And then they ask this question,
Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. No, I'm
not that prophet. But as we know, John the Baptist,
he came forth to announce the arrival of the prophet. His message
was, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
He said, I'm not the prophet. And so back over here in John
chapter 6, when the men who ate of the loaves and the fishes,
they had witnessed this great miracle as our Lord created bread,
as He created fish, and everyone was well fed, so much so that
there were 12 baskets of food left over, the men got together
and they said, this is the prophet? This is the prophet that should
come into the world. They were ready to receive Him
as the prophet. But not to receive Him as the
real prophet that He was. You see, they didn't realize
two things. Number one, they didn't realize who the prophet
is. And number two, they didn't realize what the prophet came
to do. Who is this prophet? They didn't
know who he was. This is Emmanuel. This is God
with us. This is God manifest in the flesh. They didn't know his identity.
They didn't know who he was. They didn't believe who he was.
Why, they said something like this, we know who you are. We
know your mother and your daddy. We know Mary and Joseph. And
when He said, God is my Father, they were ready to pick up stones
and stone Him. Who is this prophet? They didn't
know. They were ignorant of His identity. As all men are by nature, men
are ignorant of who Jesus of Nazareth is. Oh yes, He's a man,
but He's more than a man. More than a man. He's the God-man. God over all, blessed forever. Indeed, He is Emmanuel. By His incarnation, He is God
with us. God with us to redeem us. And
this is what these people didn't realize. That one who stood before
them. That one who broke the bread
and gave it to them and just kept multiplying it. That one
who multiplied the fish. This one who fed them. They had
no idea that this is God in the flesh. This is God over all. This is the Lord who made the
heavens and the earth. They never got over the fact
that He identified Himself as being the Son of God. And they
never believed His deity. Oh, they said, we receive Him
as the Prophet. But that is, they received Him
as their definition of who the Prophet was. They had their own
ideas of who the Prophet would be. But we know this One who
is the Prophet. He's the Word sent from God. What did a prophet do in the
Old Testament? What did a prophet do? He revealed
the mind of God and the will of God. He spoke the Word of
God. Well, our Lord Jesus, He is indeed
that prophet, but He is more than a prophet because He not
only delivered the Word of God, He is the Word of God. That's
what he said. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. John said, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. Who is this prophet? He's more than a man. He is the God-man. He is God with us. God with us
in our worship services to edify us, to rebuke us, to encourage
us, to strengthen us. Who is this? He is God in the
flesh who puts the enemy to flight. No other name speaks fear. to the hearts of the enemies,
like the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Emmanuel, He's our life. He's our life. He's our all. But He wasn't all to these people. He wasn't their life to them.
He was just somebody they wanted to use for their end. And their end, their desire was
to have a great kingdom established on this earth. But the Lord said,
My kingdom is not of this world. It doesn't originate in this
world. It's not of this world. It's
not about the things of this world. His is a spiritual kingdom. It's the Kingdom of God. They
didn't know who this prophet is. They looked for a prophet,
but they didn't look for him as being the messenger from God. That's who he is. He's the messenger
from God. He's the angel of the covenant.
He's the one who reveals to us God's will, God's way, God's
Word, God's truth. He's the one who reveals God
to us. You can't know God unless He reveals God to you. He is
the prophet. But they had wrong ideas of what
the prophet was, of who the prophet was. And secondly, they didn't
know what the prophet came to do. Why did the prophet come
into the world? Well, he came into the world
to rescue people. But not to rescue people from
Roman oppression. He came to rescue people who
were alienated from God because of their sinfulness. That's what
He came to do, was to rescue and deliver. He came to save. He came to redeem. He came to
justify. He came to reconcile us. Why, He said Himself. He said,
the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Well, that's not why these people
thought that He came. These people thought that He
came in this world to do miracles for them, to make life easy for
them. Why, they thought they were just
going to have a social state now. Just everybody, you get
all kinds of free stuff. He's going to provide everything
for you. If we get sick, He can heal us.
If we die, He can raise us from the dead. And if we get hungry,
He can fix us some meat. Their idea of a kingdom was altogether
physical and temporal. They saw no necessity of a spiritual
kingdom and a spiritual salvation from sin. They had no idea of
that. Our Lord was indeed that prophet. He was a preacher. He was a preacher. And He came to preach the gospel.
And He said, I came not to be ministered unto, but to minister
and to give my life a ransom for many. The Apostle Paul said,
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I'm
chief." But these people, they weren't looking for Emmanuel. They weren't looking for somebody
who would reveal to them the will of God, the mind of God,
the truth of God. They had no interest in someone
who would deliver them from the devices of Satan. They didn't
see themselves as being in bondage to Satan. They had no interest
in a savior from their sins. They said, we'd be not sinners. What did they want? They wanted
an earthly king. They wanted a mighty leader who
would spearhead a revolt against Rome. They wanted deliverance, yes. They did want salvation, but
not from their sins, not from their transgressions, not from
the curse of a broken law, but deliverance and salvation from
the oppression of a heathen king by the name of Caesar. They wanted
salvation and deliverance from his armies and from his powers. And when they saw the miracles
that Jesus of Nazareth did, they said, this is just the prophet
we've been waiting for. And concluded, this is of a truth,
that prophet. They were ready to anoint him
as the king. And under his leadership, under
His authority, under His direction, under His guidance, there would
be a successful revolt, a revolution, and a rebellion. Jesus of Nazareth,
He would be crowned King of Israel, and then this favored nation
would once again be looked up to by all the other nations of
the world. In other words, they saw in Jesus
of Nazareth, not a Savior from their sins, but they saw in Jesus
of Nazareth a ticket to fortune and fame. Boy, that kind of sounds
like a lot of religion today, doesn't it? They had witnessed His amazing,
miraculous power. After all, they had been the
recipients of this wonderful buffet of bread and fishes. And you got to believe this,
that there had never been any bread as good as that which He
provided for them. Can you imagine how He prepared
fish for them? I bet that was good fish, good
bread. And they said, oh, we've got
it made now. We have got it made now. Now they know that He can not
only keep them healthy by curing their physical illnesses, but
He could provide a lasting source of food as well. So they were
ready to make Him king. And they were certainly ready
to have Him overthrow Pilate, and overthrow Herod, and then
march all the way to Rome and overthrow Caesar himself. This was their response to this
miracle which showed the power of Jesus of Nazareth to meet
their needs. But the master, he had no intention
of being the leader of a rebellion against Rome. He had no agenda
of organizing an army to defeat the Romans. He didn't come to take the lives
of rulers. He had come to lay down His life
for the sheep. He didn't come to kill. He came
to be killed. He didn't come to overthrow a
dictatorship. He came to lay down His life
and then take it again that God might be just and justify the
ungodly. I was re-reading this today,
verses 14 and 15. Let me read them to you. 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. 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. Our Lord knew that they were
ready to anoint Him a king. They said, this is the prophet.
And He read their hearts. They said, we'll crown Him king. But they had no interest in His
third office. He's the great high priest. He's
the priest who ministered to God for the people. He's the
priest whose duty it was to offer sacrifices unto God for the transgressions
of sinners. You see, they had no true concept
of his office as prophet. They had no true understanding
of his office as king. And they weren't at all interested
in his office as priest. But it was as the great high
priest of his people that he ministered to God on our behalf. He offered to God the very sacrifice
that would and did, once and for all, put away the sins of
those in whose stead he died. Over the book of Hebrews, if
you would. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. Look at verse 11. Hebrews 10 verse 11. standeth daily ministering and
offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take
away sins. But this man, this man, oh what
a man, this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins
forever, sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth,
expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For by one
offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." Our
Lord Jesus He came the first time for the purpose of dealing
with the sin problem. He came the first time to deal
with the issue of offended justice. And therefore, He laid down His
life for His sheep because that's what the law demanded for sin,
death. And He died. But they are not
interested. These people are not interested
in one like that. They are not interested in somebody
dying for them to redeem them and to save them. What they are
interested in is the welfare of their bodies. That is temporal
success and prosperity. You see, when our Lord Jesus
came the first time, He didn't have any political agenda. He
had no governmental agenda. He had no social agenda. No, He didn't. He didn't have
any moral agenda. He had spiritual agenda. He came
to establish a spiritual kingdom. He came to give His life for
His people. But these Jews back here in John
chapter 6, they weren't interested in the spiritual kingdom. Like
all men by nature, they're only interested in and concerned about
physical things. The things which they desire
pertain to that which is temporal, that which is of the flesh. That
which lasts but a moment. Oh, you see, as you go back,
you've got history teacher here, some of you others have studied
history. Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall. No kingdom, no earthly kingdom
lasts forever. But this kingdom, this kingdom
and this king, it does last forever. It lasts forever. But they're not interested in
that. These folks were delighted to
witness His authority over disease and demons and even death. And this created miracle of producing
food. Why, this really stirred them
to like Him even more. And so they desired to make Him
a king. But He saw them for what they
were. Scripture says, all things are
naked and open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
He saw the relentless and eager multitudes, but He saw something
else too. He saw an absence of faith. He saw that there was no willingness
to abandon their apostate religion. They had no willingness to give
up their self-righteousness. They had no interest in a high
priest to make reconciliation to God for them. They didn't
need the blood of this man. They didn't need His righteousness.
They didn't need Him. They didn't want Him as the Savior
from sin. They didn't need or want Him
as the only mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. They just wanted the physical
things, the carnal things, the things that appealed to the flesh.
That's all they were interested in. Just like folks today. Just like folks of every generation. People today, they love this
prosperity gospel, which is no gospel at all. These poor, crooked, religious
hucksters called preachers, they know what people want. They know
what appeals to the natural man. I'll tell you two things that
appeal to the natural man. Oh, and if you tell them that
they'll get these two things, they'll follow you unless God
the Spirit interrupts their fatal plunge toward hell. Because people
are interested in wealth and health. Those are the two things. Give me wealth and give me health.
And that's the message of this so-called prosperity gospel of
today. That's the reason there are multitudes
of people following these religious hucksters. The charlatans, they pander to
the people. The people are assured that if
they send a certain amount of money to reverend so-and-so,
he has guaranteed them that God will give it back to them 100-fold. And God will heal them of their
diseases if they just have enough faith These people here in John chapter
6, that's the kind of folks that was following our Lord. All the
numbers were there, but there was an absence of heart worship. And our Lord knew their intentions. He knew they were only interested
in using Him to achieve their heart's desire, which was freedom
from Rome's oppression. They saw Him as a meal ticket. In fact, the very next day, look
deeper into chapter 6 here, verse 26. This is the next day. Jesus answered them and said,
John 6.26, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek Me not because
you saw the miracles, that is, and believed Me, but because
you did eat of the loaves and were filled, and now you're hungry
and you want to be filled again. That's the only reason you're
following Me. He knew their intentions. They
think that a welfare state is about to be inaugurated and they
want to get in on it. They have a sense of entitlement. This man is going to provide
for us endless food supply. Their stomachs were hungry, but
their souls weren't hungry for him. Psalm 107 verse 9 says, For he
satisfied the longing soul, and filled up the hungry soul with
goodness. But their souls were hungry for
him. Are your souls hungry for him? Are you hungry for him? Luke 1.53 says, He's fed the
hungry with good things, and the rich He sent away empty.
Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness,
they shall be filled. But their hunger is for physical
food. But as we'll see, maybe next
week, our Lord in verse 27 of this,
and following, He doesn't pander to them. Instead, He preaches to them. And He says in this lengthy sermon
that goes from verse 22 through 59, He essentially says to them,
I didn't come to feed your bodies. I came to be the bread for your
souls. I am the bread of life. And if you eat of this bread,
meaning himself, you'll never hunger. He preached this great sermon
recorded in John chapter 6, right after the feeding of the multitude.
And it's a lengthy sermon. And he says to them, in effect,
I'm not going to lead your rebellion, and I'm not here to feed your
bodies. I'm here to feed souls. and feed
souls. I've come to seek and to save
that which was lost." No, they weren't interested in spiritual
matters at all. But He knew what they were all
about. And let me just give you this.
Go back to verse 15 of chapter 6. When Jesus therefore perceived
that they would come and take Him by force to make Him a king,
He just refused that kingdom. I am not interested in your kingdom.
I know there are some people, they think that Jesus is going
to come back and He is going to establish His throne over
there in Jerusalem somewhere and set up His kingdom there. His kingdom is not of this world.
He sets His kingdom over heaven and earth in glory. Why would
He abandon that throne to sit on a literal throne over there
in a little nation in this world. His kingdom's not of this world.
He is our great prophet, priest, and king. He's the prophet who
teaches us. He's the priest who ministered
to God for us. He's the king who rules all things
for the good of his people and to fulfill the purpose of God.
And He meets the needs of our souls. Oh, that we would hunger
for Him. That we would desire Him. Not
what we can get out of Him. Let's don't get so wrapped up
in the gifts that we forget the Giver. You listen to religion
today, it's all about the gifts. It's all about what Jesus can
do this. He'll heal your family. He'll
heal your bank account. He'll do this. He'll do that.
What about just worshiping Him for who He is? And believe in
Him? And laying hold of Him as a poor,
needy sinner who needs this Almighty Savior? Folks just not interested
in that. Unless, unless the Spirit of
God gives them an interest. Then they'll say in their souls,
I must have this Christ. I want Him. I want Him more than
life itself. Well, let's sing the closing
song. We'll go home.