Good morning. Let's all stand
together. Turn your hymn books to number 70. Hymn number 70.
Holy, holy, holy God Almighty Early in the morning
Our song shall rise to Thee Holy, holy, holy Merciful and mighty Holy, holy, holy, all the saints
adore thee. Casting down their golden crowns
around the glassy sea Cherubim and seraphim falling down before
thee which wert and art and evermore shall be. Holy, holy, holy Though the darkness
hide thee Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see Only
Thou art holy There is none beside Thee perfect in power, in love and
purity. Holy, holy, holy Lord, thy work, shall praise thy name
in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and in three persons, blessed Trinity. I'd like you to be seated. Let's sing hymn number 118, number
118. When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died My richest gain I count
but loss and pour contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should
boast, save in the death of Christ my God. All the vain things that charge. I sacrifice them to His blood. Sing from His head, His hands,
His feet. Sorrow and love flow mingled
down. Did e'er such love and sorrow
meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown? Were the whole realm of nature
mine, and were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands
my soul, my life, my all. All right, let's look in Mark
Chapter 8. Mark Chapter 8. And I'll read the first nine
verses. That's where I'm going to hopefully
preach from, if the Lord enables me to preach. Mark Chapter 8. In those days,
the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus
called his disciples and saith unto them, I have compassion
on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days,
and have nothing to eat. If I send them away, fasting
to their own houses, they will faint by the way, for divers
of them came from far. And His disciples answered Him,
From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in
the wilderness? And He asked them, How many loaves
have ye? And they said, Seven. And He
commanded the people to sit down on the ground. And He took the
seven loaves and gave thanks and break, and gave to His disciples
to sit before them. And they did sit them before
the people. And they had a few small fishes,
and He blessed and commanded them also to sit before them. So they did eat, and were filled. And they took up of the broken
meat that was left seven baskets. And they that had eaten were
about four thousand, and He sent them away." Our Father and our God, Lord, you dwell in heaven and we sit here
on your footstool. And Lord, you sit on a great
and glorious throne. And here we are, count ourselves as nothing in
our own sight but before you. We're so thankful that we have
your righteousness, that we're complete in our Lord Jesus Christ,
that our sins have all been put away once and for all by the
sacrifice of yourself. And Lord, we thank you that you
got us up this morning. Oh Lord, I'm so grateful that
you got me up in my right mind. There's so many people that today,
their minds won't be right. Their bodies will be weak, and
you gave us strong bodies to be here. Their hearts and souls
are somewhere else, but you guessed us to have our heart and soul
to be here. You gave us a desire, and you
put a will in us to come, sit at the table of the Lord Jesus
Christ, sit at the table like Mephibosheth did at David's table. We sit with our infirmities hid
Lord, as we said at the king's table, and so we trust you to
set the table, feed us with the king's fare today, bring glory
to yourself in this service today, save your people here, save your
sheep, save sinners for Christ's sake. And Lord Jesus, I pray
for my brothers and sisters who are going through a great fight
of afflictions, that have great burdens, who are not able to
be with us through your providence. And Lord, we thank you for those
that are here. Please enable me to be a blessing
to them. And may the gospel run well here
today in power and liberty for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's stand together again. We'll sing the hymn and the bulletin. O Lamb of God, still keep me
near to Thy wounded side. Tis only there in safety and
peace I can abide. What foes and snares surround
me, What lust and fears within The grace that sought and found
me Alone can keep me clean Is only in Thee hiding, I know
my life secure. Only in Thee abiding, I steadfast
shall endure. Thine arm the victory gained,
O'er every hurtful foe, The love my heart sustained, In all its
care and woe. Soon shall my eyes behold thee,
with rapture face to face. The half hath not been told me
of all thy power and grace. Thy beauty, Lord, and glory,
the wonders of Thy love, shall be the endless story of all Thy
saints above. Play something, Marlene. ? I know a great deal about you
? ? I know a great deal about you ? ? Christ hath given me life ? ?
And I am free ? ? Christ hath given me life ? Back here in Mark chapter 8. Our Lord Jesus, Mark's Gospel
presents our Lord as a servant. As a servant. And you see Him
all the way through this always working and doing something for
other people. He always did that, having compassion. He said He had compassion on
the multitude. Our Lord said, I came not to
be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give my life a ransom
for many. He said, I come here to do the
ministry. I come here to do the work. I come here not to be ministered
unto, but to minister. And I meant, you know, just to
show you what our Lord was like serving others. You remember
when He wore the disciples' feet? Here's the Lord of Glory, the
King of Kings, the Master, getting down on His knees with a pan
of water and taking a bunch of old sorry, sorry fishermen, publicans,
and getting down on his hands and knees with a dry towel and
a basin of water and washing a bunch of sorry old men's feet. That just goes to show you how
he serves. He came down, and I tell you, when he came down,
it says he emptied himself, he emptied himself, he humiliated
himself. And I think the greatest humiliation
that our Lord endured when He was on this earth was identifying
Himself with people like us. Going to the cross, that was
to surely, surely identify with us in such a way that we just
cannot imagine that He Himself became sin. God MADE Him to be
sin, that He could turn around and make us become the righteousness
of God. Oh, our Lord came to serve. Oh,
He came to serve, and here He is reserving. And here is this
one who's meek and lowly, who is despised and rejected of men
and all people that have any power or influence. But here's
a multitude that says, in those days, the multitude being very
great. You know, everywhere our Lord
went, when they found out where He was, a great multitude came
to Him. And in those days he was going
out, he was traveling, moving about. And the multitude being
very, very great, and here's a hungry, hungry multitude, and
they followed him. They followed him into the wilderness.
And in spite of their physical weakness, and they were physically,
physically weak, they follow him and they get hungry, get
very, very hungry. And I tell you what made them
follow Him for three days. It said here they followed Him
for three days. Three days they followed our
Lord Jesus Christ. And He just kept going farther
and farther and farther out into the wilderness. And He got out
there three days. And they followed Him for three
days. And you know, you go without food for three days, you'd be
pretty hungry too. But they went and followed our
Lord for three days. What is it about Him that makes
a multitude follow Him for three days and have nothing to eat
while they're doing that? What is it about Him that makes
people follow Him to that extreme? What is it about Him? I know
what's about Him that I want to follow. And I'm following
Him in the wilderness right now. We're in the wilderness and we're
following Him in the wilderness. But what is it about Him? These
folks are like Abraham, they went out not knowing where they
were going, but they followed Him, they followed Him. And then
look what it says, In those days the multitude, very great, and
having nothing to eat, our Lord called His disciples, and saith
unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, because they
have been out with me now three days, three days, and have nothing
to eat. Oh, they know there's something
besides nature's gonna be working here, because if I send them
away, our Lord said, if I send them away fasting to their own
houses, they won't make it home. They won't make it home. They'll
get so WEAK from hunger, they'll get so WEAK from doing without
that they'll fall by the wayside. They'll get so hungry and so
weak that they can't walk, that they'll have to sit down, that
they won't have no strength even to get home. But oh, my, the
first thing I want you to look at here as we look at these things,
a great picture of need. Our Lord said to having nothing
to eat, and He said it twice. In verse 1 He says, And the multitude
being very great, and having nothing to eat, nothing to eat. He called his disciples unto
him, saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude,
because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing
to eat." Nothing to eat, nothing to eat. They re in the wilderness,
they re in a place in the wilderness. They re the opposite of the Laodiceans. These folks are out in the wilderness,
and they have nothing to eat. They're not like the Laodiceans
who are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing.
These folks are in need. They have nothing to eat, been
three days and had nothing to eat. And oh, nothing to eat. You remember when David said,
is there any yet of the house of Saul that I may show kindness
to? And he said, Oh, yeah, there
s a young lad named Mephibosheth, he lives down in Lodibar. You
know what Lodibar means? Place of no bread, and that s
where these folks was. They was in a place where there
was no bread. There was no bread. You know,
this is an astounding thing to me, that here these folks followed
the Lord Jesus Christ for three days with nothing to eat. What
is it about Him that makes folks want to follow Him to that extreme? Do they get so weak that they
can't even get back to the house? Oh, my Lord. And let me tell
you something. Our Lord brought them to this
place to make them hungry. He s the only one that can make
you hungry, and He ll take you into the wilderness. He ll take
you in a place where there ain t nothing to look at, nothing
to see, nobody but you and Him, and He took them all the way
into the wilderness for one reason, to make them hungry. make them
so weak, to make them so helpless, to make them such a state that
they don t know what to do. They don t know what to do. Our
Lord brings them to this place to show them His mercy, and He
brings them to being so hungry that only He s the one that can
do something to satisfy their hunger. Oh, my! And I tell you what, that's what
our Lord said, and them disciples said this in verse 4, and His
disciples answered Him, Where in the world we going to get
a man to satisfy? Where can a man get anything
to satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? Where
are we going to get something to feed these? How in the world
are we going to get enough food? Oh, my! But there's a lot of
folks. Let me ask you this, you still
have something to eat? You still eatin' on pride, still
feedin' on pride? Still feedin' on self-righteousness? Still feedin' on I'm doin' the
best I can? Oh, listen, if you're doin' the
best you can, that's not good enough. Oh, no, no, no. And are you still feedin' on
your tradition? Well, that's the way my mama
done it, that's the way my daddy done it, that's the way my granny
done it. Oh my, are you still feeding on an old profession?
That's one of the awfulest things that people have in this world
today. They have a profession, and that profession stays old.
They made a profession way back there somewhere. They made a
profession when they was 10, made a profession when they was,
I've heard of people getting people saved when they was two,
three years old. And they convinced somebody,
they tell somebody that Lord, I was there when you got saved. And they go back, and they keep
going back. The only hope they have, the only assurance they
get is going back to that old profession? My profession's today. Yesterday's
gone. It's gone. Another 24 hours,
it's gone. I profess Christ today. I need Christ today. I profess my faith in Christ
today. I DON'T HAVE TO GO BACK! I DON'T
HAVE TO GO BACK! I DON'T KNOW WHEN GOD SAVED ME,
BUT I DO KNOW HE PURPOSED TO SAVE ME! I DO KNOW HE GAVE ME
GRACE IN CHRIST BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN! I DO KNOW THAT HE BROUGHT
ME TO THE PLACE WHERE HE'S THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN SHOW ME MERCY
AND SATISFY MY SOUL! I DO KNOW THAT! Oh, my! And I'll tell you what, people
working, you know, still eating on their morality, My and then
feeding on this I I'm good as anybody else That's the sorriest
excuse anybody could ever possibly have when the scripture says
there's none good. No, not one When you say I'm as good as anybody
else that means you just like the rest of us you ain't worth
There's old Scott Richard said I ain't gonna say it. I just
I I ain't gonna say what he said one time. It's pretty gross. Oh my. But oh, here's a picture
of need. Been with him three days and
they're hungry. And if I send them away, they
can't make it back to the house. What would happen if Christ said,
I'm not gonna feed you. I'm not gonna feed you. You just
make it back to the house the best way you know how. You just
go on back there, and if you can't make it home, I don't know
what to tell you. I don't know what to tell you.
But oh my, look what he said here in verse two. He said, I have compassion
on the multitude. I have compassion on the multitude. What did he say here? How many
do you reckon he said? He didn't. He said, there's a
multitude. I have compassion on the multitude. I enter into their need. I enter
into their condition that they're in. And oh, what a revelation
of the love of our Master. I have compassion on the multitude. Our Lord Jesus Christ just says
that there's a multitude that no man can number out of every
kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation, and people that's gonna be in
glory. 10,000 times 10,000 thousands. And He said, I have compassion. He saw all these people, a multitude
of people, a great multitude of people, and He looked over
that whole multitude. How would you like to have thousands
and thousands of people to preach to and look at? And our Lord
looked at him and He, heart was moved. He saw hungry people. He saw needy people. He saw people
that was just about ready to faint, not have enough strength
to get around. Oh my! And look what he says,
They've been now with me three days, three days. Let me tell you something, our
Lord counts the days. If He counts the hours, on our
head, he said, he counted how many days somebody's been with
him. How many days have I been, you know, I'm not so interested
in how many days he's been with me, but oh my, how many days
has he been with me? How many days has he been with
you? And oh my, he said, they've been with me now three days.
I want to be with him all my life. I want to be with him,
I want to be with him when I certainly leave this world. Oh, dear brother Joe McSherry,
bless his heart, he wants to go home so bad. He said, I just
have to wait. He said, when the Lord gets ready,
I'll go home. I said, ain't you glad you got
a home to go to? And I'm going to go to my house. And Shirley's made it a home,
but I've got an eternal home in heaven. And that's why we
want to go there. And I tell you what, for Him
to be with me. He said, they've been with me. That's the key to it, being with
Him. He said, I'll go to prepare a place for you. And I'll come
again. And I'll take you. unto me, to be with me where
I am, where I am. And that s what these folks wanted.
They wanted to be where He was, even if they had to follow Him
for three days in the wilderness with nothing to eat. That s how
people are moved by the Lord Jesus. Oh, my. And oh, I tell
you what, when the Holy Ghost causes you to see Christ, you'll
follow Him for the rest of your life. You'll follow Him and you'll
understand that He's the only one that can feed you. Oh my. You know what moves our Lord
Jesus to do something for somebody? It's their need. Their need. And then He's the
one that has to create the need. He took them into the wilderness
and caused them to be hungry. And oh my, their helplessness,
their poverty is what moved his heart to move. I want you to
keep Mark chapter eight and look in Luke chapter nine. Look in
Luke chapter nine, verse 11 with me. Luke chapter nine and verse
11. Won't you see this? You know, it's the need that they had that
moved our Lord. moved our Lord, and He's the
one that brought the need, took them out there to cause them
to be hungry. Look what it said here in Luke
9, 11. And the people, when they knew
it, followed Him, and He received them and spake unto them of the
kingdom of God, and listen to this now, and healed them that
had need of healing. Who did He heal? Those who had
need of healing. Oh, that's what he does it for.
Oh, he could, you know, it's like the prodigal son. It's like
the prodigal son. He left his daddy's house and
he went off in the wilderness and the scripture says that no
man, no man gave unto him. David said, I looked on my right
hand, I looked on my left and no man cared for my soul. Oh
my. But when the father saw him,
He said, I'm going back to my daddy's house. There's bread
to eat over there. I'm starving over here, but I've got some
bread over there. They got bread to spare, and I'm sitting here
hungry. I'm gonna go home. And the first
thing he said when he saw his daddy, he said, Father, I'm not
fit to be called your son. I'm unfit. I've sinned against
you and I've sinned against heaven, but oh, Father, I'll be your
servant. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, that's
not gonna happen. He's naked, bring the best robe. He's hungry, kill the fatted
calf. He's barefooted, put shoes on
his feet. That's the way our Lord takes
care of His people. He clothes the naked, put shoes
on their feet. Oh my, and that father saw him
and the scripture said he had compassion on him. Compassion
on him. Oh my, that's what our Lord did.
He had compassion. And oh, what an astounding revelation
of who it is that has compassion, the Lord of glory, the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. And then think this, of who it
is He has compassion on. It's one thing for him to have
compassion, but who it is that has compassion on? It's the Lord
Himself who has compassion. Who's He have it on? Folks that's
hungry, folks that's starving, folks that's weak, people in
the wilderness, huh? And oh my, look what grace, look
what grace our Lord Jesus shows here. He said in verse three,
if I send them away, If I send them away fasting to their own
houses, they'll faint by the way. Oh my. If I send them away in the condition
they're in, they'll never make it. Oh, a lot of them come from
way far away. That's what he said, way far
away. If he says, and I'll tell you
something, Oh my, that's the awfulest thing I could think
of, the Lord Jesus sending me away, sending me away. If he sends us away, we'll faint
and we'll perish by the way. We'll faint and perish by the
way. Oh my. If he can't satisfy these people
that are hungry, who can? If he can't feed them, who can?
IF HE SENDS THEM AWAY HUNGRY, TO WHERE ARE THEY GOING TO GO?
THEY CAN'T MAKE IT HOME TO GET SOMETHING TO EAT. OH NO, NO. AND AREN'T YOU GRATEFUL, AREN'T
YOU GRATEFUL HE DOESN'T SEND THE HUNGRY AWAY? HE DOESN'T SEND
THE WEAK AWAY? HE DOESN'T SEND THE WEARY AWAY?
HE DOESN'T SEND THE WEEPING AWAY? HE DOESN'T SEND ANYBODY AWAY
THAT HAS A NEED, HAS A NEED. Oh, my. If He brings you to the
wilderness, if He brings you to hunger, if He brings you to
the place that you need Him, He's not fixing, and I'll just
use my vernacular, He's not fixing to send you away hungry. He's
not fixing to send you away. Oh, Lord, I'm hungry. Stay right
here. Lord, I'm weary. Lord, I'm weeping. Stay right here. Lord, I'm so
weak that I can't make it. Stay right here. Stay right here. Stay right here. Don't go no
place. Oh, he was tempted in all points like us without sin.
So let us come boldly, boldly to the throne of grace and obtain
mercy and help in when? A time of need, a time of need. And look what else happens here
now. Oh, look what our Lord's teaching us here. And you're talking about helplessness,
you know, man's inability to do anything for Him. And His
disciples asked this question in verse 4, and His disciples
answered Him. Well, how in the world can we,
where can a man find enough bread here in this wilderness to satisfy
all these men? We're out here in the wilderness,
where in the world are we going to get enough food? Where are
we going to get enough bread? And bread just represents food. Where are we going to get it?
Where are we going to get it? And that goes to show you, MAN
CANNOT DO A THING! That's the first thing they thought
of, what in the world are we going to do? The disciples said,
we can't feed them. We ain't got no ability, what
in the world are we gonna do now? If you can't send them away,
and they can't go on with you, what in the world, what are we
gonna do? What are we gonna do? And that's exactly the way man
is. I'm as helpless to do anything
for your soul as if God doesn't speak to you, then just hearing
my voice won't do any good. But oh my, our Lord Jesus Christ,
that man has no ability not to save himself, he's got no ability to even SEE
Christ, COME to Christ, KNOW Christ, unless God Himself does
something for him. And these disciples said, What
in the world are we going to do? That's man's helplessness! Man's helpless. And I tell you,
that's why we preach the gospel. Christ has the power. Christ
has the wilderness. Christ has the love. Christ has
the ability to meet the need. Christ can save sinners, can
save people in need. Feed the hungry, close the naked.
put shoes on their feet, give them a new heart, give them a
new will, give them power. Oh, He's got the ability. He's
the only one who's got the ability. If it was left up to me, there'd
be nobody ever, if it was left up to me, nobody ever heard me
preach, would ever die without Christ. But it's not left up to me. It's left up to Him. It's left
up to Him. Oh my, and oh, can a man, how
are we going to get, where are we going to satisfy these men?
Well, I tell you what, a mere man can t, he don t have the
ability. His disciples are willing, but
they are acutely aware of their inability. I want to show you
something, keep marketing, look in Psalm 146 with me. I want
you to see this, this is what we re talking about. This is
what we're talking about right here. Psalm 146. Look in verse
3. Psalm 146. This is what we're talking about here.
This is their helplessness. Oh my. Put not your trust in
princes, That means people that's in power, got some wealth, got
some ability. Nor in the Son of Man, any other
man in whom there is no help. There's no help from us. But here's the reason why, his
breath goes forth. One of these days his breath's
going to stop. It's going to beat, his heart's going to beat
the last time. and he returns back to the earth. In the day
that he perishes, his thoughts go with him, everything he ever
thought, everything he ever believed in, everything that ever happened
went through his brain, it's done with, it's never coming,
that's it. And look what else he goes on
to say. But O happy, blessed is that people who have the God
of Jacob for his help. Who's the God of Jacob? The God
of covenant, the God of love, Jacob have a love, The God of
electing grace, Jacob have I loved. The God that got Jacob along
by himself and wrestled with him and throwed his hip out of
joint and gave him a new name, Israel. And oh my, and I tell
you what, this is why we trust Him, which made heaven and earth The sea and all that is therein. And listen to this. He keeps
truth for as long as time exists and as long as eternity goes.
Oh, and look what he does. The Lord loosed the prisoners. Executeth judgment to the oppressed
and giveth food to the hungry. The Lord opens the prisoners.
The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises them that
are bowed down. The Lord preserves the strangers.
And oh my, the Lord does it. The Lord does it all. That's
what He's telling us right there and then. Oh my. Let's go back
over here in Mark chapter 8. Oh my, vain is the help of man. Vain is the help of man. And
I tell you what, man, instead of understanding their inability
to satisfy the hungry, you know what they end up doing? Entertaining
people. Amusing people. Trying to get
people to forget their hunger. That's what they're trying their
best to do. Convince people that they're not hungry. That they're
not hungry. Entertain them. Put a coffee
shop in the building. Put some good couches around
where everybody can sit and visit and talk. Have the best music
that money can pay for. Let folks get them up, get them
moving. Get them up, get them moving. Let's get that music
right. Jump up, give Jesus a big hand
clap. Oh my. It's not man. Man doesn't have the ability
to satisfy hunger. We're helpless, but look what
our Lord did. Look what he told them now. In
verse six. I love this right here. He commanded
the people to sit down on the ground. Now wait a minute, wait
a minute, he can't command me to do nothing. Oh yes he can. And when he commands somebody
to do something, you know what they're gonna do? They're gonna
do what he says. He commanded them to sit down. He didn't say, would you all
like to sit down now? I'd appreciate it if you'd sit
down. I would really like for you to sit down. There was no invite, no begging.
Oh my, people that are hungry, they'll do exactly what the Master
says. He commanded them to sit down.
And everything you find out about Christ, He leadeth me. The Lord
loses. Everything the Lord does it and
all no pleading no invite no begging hungry people sat down
at the mention of food Surely, I'll fix dinner. She'll holler
at me. She said that better come and get it Supper's ready. It's time to eat And all I tell
you what and you may you may send it a little you may send
it to children's table I don't care We'll sit at the kids' table.
You know, that's for the kids over there. I'll sit at the kids'
table, as long as there's some food in front of me. Good food,
good food. And that's the way these folks
were. They was hungry. Sit down. Sit down. They sit down. Oh my. Oh, Christ's people obey Him.
They trust Him to meet their needs. Be still and know that
I am God. There's no reasoning in these
people's parts. They didn't say, wonder why He's
telling us to sit down? What in the world is He doing
telling us to all sit down here? Why are we sitting down? I tell
you, because He told you to. That's all it needs to say. For
Christ to say, do it, and it's done. Oh, my. And now look what
our Lord Jesus says next in verse five. He commanded them to sit
down and he asked them, verse five, how many lows have you?
And they said, seven, seven, got seven lows. Well, he took
that seven lows in verse six. He took that seven lows and he
gave thanks. He gave thanks. And then he, look what it says.
He broke it. He broke it. There's a couple
of places where our Lord broke bread. When He was with the Emmaus,
He got to the house where the people on the Emmaus road, He
was going to go further, and they said, Lord, you know, the
day's far spent, just spend the night with us. And they sat down
to eat, and the Lord broke bread. They knew immediately that it
was the Lord. And the Lord broke the bread. And oh, He broke bread. He broke all seven of those loaves
of bread. And he said, now start, look what it says here. Command
the people to sit down. And he took the seven loaves
and gave thanks and break it and gave it to his disciples.
That's what he does to me. He gives me bread, he breaks
it, and I set it before him. I set bread before him. And they
did set them before the people. Oh, set the bread before the
people. Oh, here's you some bread, here's you some food. And look
what else it says now. And they did set them before
the people, and they had a few small fishes. And he blessed,
and listen to this, and he told his disciples and commanded them
to set them before them also. He said, we've done gave out
to take the fish, do it too. He had seven loaves of bread,
few small fishes, And he thanked God for them, he blessed the
Lord for them. And oh my, how many loaves? Seven. Oh my, they weren't looking
to the bread. Let me tell you something. These
folks, these disciples wasn't looking to the bread and the
seven loaves and a few small fishes. Because that's not enough
to feed enough to all them people. They're not looking to that bread
and fish. They're looking to the Lord.
Their faith was in HIM. Who else can feed 4,000 people
with seven loaves of bread? Huh? Seven loaves of bread and
a handful of fish. Our Lord can take NOTHING. Well,
you know, that's what He did with the creation. There was
NOTHING! NOTHING! And He said, Let there be. He created the HEAVENS! LOOK UP! HE CREATED THE HEAVENS! HE CREATED THE EARTH! And then
he got done, he said, Everything was good, very good. And all listened to a great need
to go back Oh, I said, hey, they needed me to go for it. He said,
sit down there, rest. Oh, I tell you, you'll see, you'll
see the salvation of the Lord. And look what he done. And he
set them before. Also them set them before them
also. And I love this right here. He
took the seven lows and gave thanks, said his disciples before
them. They set them before. And our Lord takes the impossible
and the improbable, and brings glory to Himself and good to
His people. How can four thousand people
be fed with seven loaves and a few small fishes? With men,
it's impossible. And His disciples trusted Him
as all have to do. It's not the amount of faith,
but it's the object of faith. It wasn't in the bread and the
fish, it was in Christ. It's in Christ. No one understood
how it happened. I don't know how he takes seven
loaves of bread and feed 4,000 people and a handful of fish.
I don't have a, I just know that he does that. I just know he does it. Oh my. All I know is that they know
this, is that they was hungry and now they're, what does it
say there? And they did eat and verse eight,
they did eat and were filled. They did eat and they were filled.
Oh, we don't know, you know, they had their needs met. They
was hungry and I tell you what, they got fed. And I tell you,
we don't know the mystery of the new birth or God's working
out our needs. But I'll tell you what, they're
always met, always met. Oh, we not know whether, we know
whether we're born of God, our souls are satisfied. Are you
satisfied with Christ? Are you satisfied with His blood?
Satisfied with His atonement? Satisfied with His righteousness?
Satisfied with Him meeting the need? Satisfied with His will?
Are you satisfied with Christ? I'll tell you if somebody is
satisfied with Him, God's satisfied with Him. I saw the travail of
his soul was satisfied. Christ saw the travail of his
soul and he was satisfied. And I, bless his holy name, I'm
satisfied with it. I ain't looking for nothing else.
I ain't going no place else to eat. If I want spiritual food,
he's got to be the one to feed it. Oh my. And then look what
happens now in verse eight. And so they did eat. So they did eat. Now up there
in first it says they had nothing to eat, said it twice. Followed
me for three days and they did eat. Did you eat? And oh my, and I love you, and
we're filled. You know, you go to England or
somewhere like that and they get through eating, they'll say,
you want some more? No, I've had sufficiency. These
folks had sufficiency. They had sufficiency. Oh, they
were filled. I can't eat another bite. I can't
eat no more. I'm full. Oh, listen. Just take just a little bit more.
No, I'm full. I'm full, I'm full. And listen to what else now.
They started out with seven loaves of bread and a few false fishes. And they took up of the broken
meat, the broken bread, and that few fishes left, seven baskets.
Start out with seven, end up with seven. How does that happen? Oh my, you reckon anybody went
away from there hungry? If anybody goes away hungry,
where Christ feeds his people, it's their fault. It's their
fault. If anybody went away hungry here,
it was their fault, their fault. And in Christ, there's no danger.
In Christ, there is no danger of there never being enough.
Never, no danger of there not being enough. His atonement's
enough. His blood's enough. His righteousness
is enough. His salvation's enough. His grace
is enough. In fact, grace abounds where
sin did. And they did eat. And I'll tell
you something else. It was suitable for the people
that was hungry. And when you're hungry, what
He feeds you with is suitable. You'll get just exactly what
you need. Not get no more, not get no less. That's another mystery
about the gospel. Everybody don't get the same
thing out of a message. Everybody gets what they need
out of one. If you just need bread, you'll
get bread. If you need fish, you'll get fish. If you need
both, you'll get both. But I know one thing. I hope you don't live
here hungry. Oh my. Leave something for somebody
else. No, no, no, no. Don't have to
leave anything. Everybody's full. Everybody's
full. Oh, my. Seven baskets. Don't go away hungry. And I'll
tell you something. Take all you want from him. Take all you want from him. And you know what? When you've
took everything you want and everything you need, He still
has as much as He ever started with. All of us can take everything
we want from Christ today, and He still, still got plenty. Huh? Still got plenty. Our blessed Master, our glorious
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Son of Man, miracle worker, powerful, gracious,
kind, loving, merciful. Lord, thank you for being with
us today. Lord, you fed my soul, and I'm
thankful. Oh, you fed me again. And Lord,
I'm satisfied. I am so satisfied with you. I look for nothing else. I look
for no one else to feed me. And Lord, Enable us by your grace
to follow you, follow you wherever you go, wherever you go. Please, Lord Jesus, enable us
to follow you into the wilderness wherever we go. Lord, you'll
feed us and you'll meet the needs of our soul. And Lord, our dear
brothers and sisters that's meeting in our families that don't know
Christ, I pray, Lord Jesus, you take them into the wilderness.
Take them into the wilderness. Take them a place where they
can't come back without you. They can't make it without you. They'll perish by the way without
you. Bring our children, grandchildren. Bring people to the place where
they're so hungry and you're the only one that can satisfy
that hunger. Feed that hungry soul. Bring glory to yourself
through us here for Christ's sake, I pray. In Christ our Lord's name, amen. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me. Well, y'all done that good, and I didn't.
See, don't need a song later. They just took off by, well,
I say tonight, God willing, six o'clock.