Me, yesterday afternoon, we had
that fire pit going, and Brother Mahan, years ago, used an illustration. He said, as long as coals are
together, they'll burn, they'll keep one another hot, keep one
another warm. But you took one of those embers
out and set it over here by itself, it would get cold, and it would
go out. And that's the way we are as
brethren. We keep one another warm. We keep one another fired
up. We keep one another encouraged. And if any of us sets off by
ourself, we'll go out. We'll go out. That's why I love
being with the brethren. I love being with them. Alright,
John 6. I'm going to talk about calculating
without Christ. Calculating without Christ. Now
our Lord Jesus, he performed a lot of miracles in his life,
in his short life on this earth. But this miracle of feeding the
5,000 is the only one that's recorded in all of the Gospels,
all four of the Gospels. It's the only one recorded in
all four of the Gospels. And this miracle that our Lord
performed, as it's described by the Holy Spirit here, It speaks
in matter-of-fact terms. I mean, it just says things as
they are. And yet it's so simple in its
language and it's how short it is. And oh, what a wonderful,
blessed, glorious example of our Lord's power and proof that
He is Almighty God on this earth. Of all the wonderful works he
did, none was as public as this. None was as public as this. Of
all the miracles he did, none was performed before so many
witnesses. There was 5,000 people here. That's what it says, about 5,000.
One place says 4,000 plus women and children. But it's a lot
of people. How would you like to feed that
many people? Well, our Lord fed them. He fed
them. And in supplying the physical
needs of such a great crowd, about 5,000 people, with five
loaves of bread and two small fishes. This is what happened. Our Lord brought food into existence
which did not exist before. It was a creation of food. It
was a creation. You know, in healing the sick,
raising the dead, something already existed. The person already existed. He healed the sickness. The person
already existed, but he raised him from the dead. But here was
an absolute creation. He created food. Just like that. People rest for somebody something
to eat and it was there. And he done that with five loaves
of bread. Two little bitty fishes. And the only one that even come
close to resembling it was when he turned the water into something
that it never was before and that was wine. And what a miracle
that is. Take water and turn it into wine. So our Lord Jesus Christ here,
we're going to watch this thing. Now watch what it says here.
We're going to go down through this a little at a time and see
what it says. And it says, after these things,
after these things, and when he talks about what to these
things, what took place in John chapter five. where the Jews,
he explained to them how that he was the light of the world,
that he was sent here by the Father, that he had plenty of
witnesses, and he raised that impotent man up. And then it
says after these things, after all this happened, he went over
the Sea of Tiberias, went over the Sea of Galilee, which is
the Sea of Tiberias. He went over the sea. And the
scriptures tells us here in verse 2 that a great multitude followed
him. Why did they follow him? What
was the reason? And it says a great multitude
followed him. Why? Why? And it tells us right
there because they saw his miracles. They saw his miracles. They saw
how our Lord Jesus Christ met the needs and the diseases and
the sicknesses and the frailties and the sin so prevalent in everyone
that he come in contact with. Followed him because they saw
his miracles which he did on them that were diseased and the
greatest disease That the human race has the greatest disease. I have and you have is SI in
and That's a disease. We cannot heal I Tell you we
can't heal that You can come to the services and I'm thankful
you're here. I am thankful you're here. But
I can't heal anybody of their disease of sin. I can't do that. You can't do that. No church
can do that. No doctrine can do that. The
only person that can heal you of sin, of disease, the disease
of sin is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And he has to perform
a miracle in order to do that. But I'll tell you what he's already
done. I'll tell you this. He's already put sin away by
the sacrifice of himself. And God said for his people he'd
never remember their sin against them again. So listen, if you
know something about sin, and you know you're a sinner, and
God makes you know that, I can tell you without a shadow of
a doubt, sin's already been put away. You can't put them away.
Coming up here ain't gonna put them away. Making a confession
ain't gonna put them away. The only person who can put them
away is the Lord Jesus Christ, and if He ever does that for
you, then you gonna tell somebody about it. Ain't that right? Oh, I tell you what, He healed
me. And when He heals you, you're healed. It ain't coming back.
It ain't gonna come back. It ain't gonna come back. My he didn't and I Lord Jesus
Christ met the needs of these peoples and he performed these
miracles not to entertain people the way these Miracle workers
do today. They know they do things to entertain
people and raise a bunch of money Our Lord didn't go around performing
miracles. So people gather around he could
entertain them and then look what it says in verse 3 and I
Lord went up into a mountain and listen to this now and And
there he sat with his disciples. He sat with his disciples. Sit
down with them. Oh, bless his name. He sits with us. He delights
in us. He enjoys our fellowship. And
they enjoy his fellowship. And our Lord, they're up on this
mountain. So they're up high. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
high. High and lifted up, sitting on
a throne. And beloved, you know what we
are? The scripture says we're sitting there with him. We're
seated together with him in those heavenly places. And then in
verse four it says this. And the Passover, a feast of
the Jews was nigh. Now the Passover was a feast,
but it was the Lord's Passover. His God's Passover. God said,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. But it became a Passover
feast of the Jews. And the Lord Jesus Christ has
said, Christ is our Passover sacrifice for us. And they went
to a feast. And you know what we feast on?
You know what we love to eat? We feast on our Lord Jesus Christ. We feed on His life. We feed on His person. We feed
on His work. We feed on His truth. We feed
on His word. We feast on our Lord Jesus Christ
with joy and rejoicing. He's our feast. And alright,
look what happens now here. In verse 5. When then Jesus then
lifted up his eyes. Lifted up his eyes. He's there
with his disciples. He's on that mountain. He lifted
up his eyes. And there's a great, great, great, great crowd coming
there. Great company. They came to him. Oh my. And our Lord Jesus' desire
was that these people be fed. When Jesus lifted up His eyes
and saw a great company come unto Him, oh, thank God that
the people still come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, He said
to Philip, where in the world can we buy so much bread that
these may eat? But look what it says in verse
6. This He said to prove it. This he said to prove him. He
willed to feed this multitude of people to satisfy their hunger,
to satisfy their need. And they didn't see his glory.
They came for an unworthy motive, but they didn't see our Lord's
glory. They came because they saw some miracles. But in asking
this of Philip, he's trying Philip. And two things he tried of Philip
here. Two things. First, he tried his
faith. Tried his faith. Oh listen, where
are we going to get bread, buy bread that these may eat? We
see 5,000 people in this great country, where are we going to
get enough bread? Out here, on this mountaintop, where we can
feed this 5,000 people. Where are we going to get it
at? Well, he tried his faith, and then tried his obedience.
And what does this teach us? Well, it teaches us this, that
God does not never change. Human nature is the same today.
The world is the same. The devil is the same. The trials
of faith are the same. Things don't change. God don't
change. And man don't change. And Philip is us. Philip is us. Where in the world are we going
to get enough to feed these people? We had to go buy food. When we
want to feed somebody, But our Lord, when He's going
to feed somebody, that's what He said to them. He said, we're
going to go buy enough bread to feed so many people. And He
did this to try Philip. And do you know what Philip said?
Well, we got 200 penny worth of bread. And that's what we
got. But that's not sufficient for
them. that every one of them may take just a little bit just
a little bit now they're talking to the king of glory they're
talking to him who's got all power in heaven and earth talking
about giving just a little bit Christ gives just a little bit
and all this is what happened Philip was occupied with the
circumstances on the things that he could see We're going to get
enough money to feed this crowd. He looked at the side of the
crowd. He didn't look by faith. So he did some quick calculating
of how much money it takes. At 200 penny worth, we bought
that much bread. Everybody get just a little bit. Everyone get
just a little bitty small meal. He calculated without Christ.
And all talking of a little, just a little bit in the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Has God ever gave just a little?
Has God ever gave, does He give you just a little? No, no, when
God gives something, He gives by handfuls. He gives by bushel
baskets. He gives by, in fact, when He
gave Christ, He gave everything He had. God talks about the earth
as the Lord's and the fullness thereof. And He don't give just,
these fellows talk about giving these people just a little bit.
Oh, they're just getting a little piece of bread. Everybody's having
just a little bit of tiny meal. Oh my! Talking like that in the
presence of the Lord Jesus Christ? In the presence of power and
grace? Oh my! To think about Christ
giving just a little bit? What if He gave us, what if He
gave us according to the way we are sometimes. We would hardly get nothing.
But that's not the way He gives. He don't give on the basis of
us. He gives on the basis of need. And you know what we all
have all the time? Need. We're here this morning
because we're hungry. Spiritually hungry. We're here
to be fed. We're here to Christ to feed
us. And I tell you what, if I got
up and said, I'm going to give you just a little, you know,
Christ said, I'm going to give you just a little bit. Oh my. The more hunger you have, the
more He's going to feed you. Then look what else happened
now. Here in verse 8 and 9. And one of his disciples, this
is Andrew's brother, this is the first one Christ called and
he went and called Simon Peter. And one of his disciples, Andrew,
Simon Peter's brother said, well there's a boy here, a lad here,
he's got five barley loaves and two small fishes. And listen
to how he says now. But what in the world's five
loaves of bread and two fishes among so many? We got five loaves
of bread. You got 5,000 people. How you
gonna feed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two
little bitty fishes? Here he is. He's calculating
without Christ. He don't understand. This is the way human nature
is. That's the way we are in human nature. And unbelief is
infectious. It really is. You get around
somebody that you know starts talking, you know, like, oh,
I'm going through this, I'm going through that, and I have this
trouble, that trouble, all that. Unbelief is infectious like discouragement. You know a discouraged person,
all they're fit to do is discourage somebody else. Ain't that right? That's why,
you know, when somebody's discouraged, Throwing coal on them. Throwing
something hot on them. Throw some faith on them. Throw
something Christian. Throw something and give them
some scripture. Get them up! And if you're discouraged,
if you do get discouraged, tell the Lord about it. Listen, He can do something
about it. He can do something about it. Oh my! And I tell you,
you know what the Jews said? They were out there in the wilderness,
and Moses says, you know, God will feed you. And he said, can
God, them Jews said, can God furnish a table here in the wilderness? Well, he did. He did every single
day that there's in that wilderness. He gave them bread. And he gave them water every
single day. And then when they got tired
of bread, he said, well, I'll give you, we're gonna need some
flack. So he gave them quails. And I tell you what, the helplessness
of unbelief is seen here. It's helpless. Unbelief is helpless. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Oh God, I believe. I know I believe. But oh Lord, help my unbelief. And that's what he says, that
what are they among so many that everyone may take a little. Now
here's what matters. is not how many when the Son
of God is here. What difference does it make
how many when the Son of God was there? Again, Andrew calculated
without Christ. He saw a hopeless situation.
They saw only the difficulty. They didn't see the glory of
their blessed Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. And look what it
says here in verse 6. You know, this he said to prove
Him. And our Lord Jesus Christ said here in verse 6, He says
this. And this He said to prove Him. And look what it says in
the last part of verse 6. For He Himself knew what He would
do. I'm going to see what these fellows
are going to say. Let's see what they're going to do about this
situation. Let's see if they really believe me. See if they
believe I've got the power, got the glory. And all they seen
was just five loaves of bread and two fishes. They said, how
are we going to buy so much? We got a lad here and he ain't.
How are we going to do all this? How are we going to do all this?
But our Lord Jesus Christ knew what he would do. Philip didn't
know what he was going to do. Andrew didn't know what he was
going to do. But our Lord Jesus Christ knew the bread would come
from to feed such a multitude. He's the wisdom of God. He didn't
need any help. He didn't need any advice. He
didn't need any encouragement. He knew what he'd do. Not what
he'd try to do. Not like he hoped he would do.
Not like he'd make an effort to do. But the scripture said
he knew what he would do. Now our Lord's purposes, they're
not experiments. They're not experiments. I'll
try this one, see if it works. I'll try this method and see
if it works. People do that. People do that. Preachers do
that. If this don't work, we'll try something else. If that don't
work, we'll try something else. Our Lord's purposes are not experiments. They're accomplished facts in
His mind and in His will. He declared the end before He
ever started the beginning. Huh? Look over here in John 18.4. Our Master. Look what our Master
said over here. John 18.4. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ,
this is what's so wonderful about Him, is that He came here to
do something and He never faltered. Never faltered. But look what,
talking about our Lord knew what He would do. He just tried Philip
and tried Andrew. And look what it said in John
6, 18-4. Jesus, therefore, knowing, knowing
that all things Knowing all things that should come upon him. Everything
that was going to happen to him. Everything that the Jews were
going to do, the Romans were going to do. Knew that they were
coming to get him. Knew that he was going to be
beaten. Knew they were going to put a crown of thorns on him.
Knew they were going to slap him in the face. Knew they were
going to spit in his face. Knew he was going to die. But
what does it say? He went forth. He went forth. He went forth. Oh, I'll tell
you what. In God's will, in God's purposes,
it's done. It's done. And then what He does,
look why He tries His disciples of obedience. Look what He said
here in verse 10. I love this right here. Jesus says,
make the men sit down. make the men sit down. Now thank God his blessings are
according to the riches of his grace not according to our faith. What would happen to this crowd
if he acted according to the faith of his disciples? What
would happen to them? They would go hungry, they would
starve. And there is nothing but failure in us Never a failure
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he didn't chide, he didn't
rebrook, he didn't get angry with Philip or Andrew. You know
what he said? Make them sit down. Why make them sit down? Why make
them sit? When there's nothing to feed
them with. Why make them sit down when there's nothing to
feed them with? But those fellows, they went
and started making them sit down. But Christ has spoken. God has
spoken. And that's enough. That's enough. He commands, we obey. Why mustn't Adam eat of the forbidden
fruit? Because God said not to. Because
God said not to. Why should Noah build an ark?
when it has no sign of rain or no flood or no rains ever happened
before because God told him to that's why he did it and their
faith had failed them but their obedience hadn't and bless God
for that he said make them sit down make them sit down and let
me tell you this we must sit down if we would be fed must sit down if we would be
fed the activities of the flesh they got to stop this flesh can't
do anything got to be quiet got to be still if you have the bread
of life I want to show you what our Lord said over here in Isaiah
30 Isaiah 30 verse 15 You know, if you're going to
be fed, you're going to have to be quiet, you're going to
have to be still. If you have the bread of life,
the flesh and the activities of your flesh has to stop. Has
to stop. Look what he said here in verse
15, Isaiah 30. For thus saith the Lord God,
the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest, shall you be saved. And quietness and confidence
shall be your strength. And he said, that's where it's
gonna be. And if you don't do that, you're not gonna have it.
He said, you would not. And you know why? He made him
sit down and I'll tell you something our Lord told us. David said in Psalm 23, two,
The Lord maketh, maketh me to lie down. We're not going to
go down until Christ makes us do. We ain't going to be still
until Christ makes us still. And he said, the Lord maketh
me. Thank God he makes us. Oh, bless
his name, he makes us. He makes us. And then look what
He says there again in verse 10. Now there was much grass
in this place. Isn't that something? Our Lord
takes notice of the most insignificant things. They didn't have to sit
in the sand. They didn't have to sit in the
dirt. They didn't have to sit in the mud. He said there was
much grass in that place. And so they were sitting in good,
tall, comfortable grass. Our Lord everything significant
to our master everything significant over in Mark it says and there
was much green green grass there Oh Our Lord uses the weak and
the little To accomplish his purpose. Look what he says now
in verse 11 Our Lord took the loaves He took those five loaves
of bread and when he had given thanks,
oh he took five little old loaves of bread and he gave thanks and
he distributed to the disciples and the disciples them that were
set out and likewise of the fishes also he took the loaves and he
thanked God he thanked God Lord we know that every good and perfect
gift cometh down from the Father of lights If we get any food,
you're blessing this food. And you know what gave that bread
value? What gave those fish value? And what made them useful? Was
the Lord Jesus Christ. The only thing that gave bread
any value is Christ. The only thing that gave the
fish any value was Christ. The only way that they were useful
to anybody was because of Christ. I've told you this before, I've
told you this I don't know how many times. If I write down three
zeros, what have I got? I write down three more zeros,
what have I got? Three more zeroes. That's nine
zeroes. I don't care how many zeroes
you put down. They're all zeroes. Until you put a digit in front
of them. And we're all these zeroes. And you put one in front
of them. And it has value. And we're all
a bunch of zeroes and Christ is the only one that gives us
any value. We have no value and Christ makes
us He gives value to our life. Bless His name. Oh, He took the
loaves. He didn't rain manna down from
heaven. He used what was there. And when He gave thanks, He acknowledged
God. He distributed to His disciples.
Now this tells us this, beloved. And the disciples carried about
and gave to them. God, our Lord, Jesus Christ is
pleased. Pleased to use people. Pleased
to use people. You know he's used angels. But
you know what he uses to preach his gospel with? Us. You know what he uses to talk
about Christ? Us. You know what he uses to
feed one another with? Us. God uses human instruments. That's an astounding thing to
me. He could have Gabriel up here preaching this morning.
He could have Gabriel, the archangel, up here preaching. But I tell
you, if Gabriel was up here preaching this morning, he would preach
nothing else than what I'm preaching to you. And you know, if you
saw Gabriel up here preaching, you'd have to have the same faith,
he'd still preach Christ, and you'd have the same faith that
Christ would give you. Ain't that right? But Christ
got that. He said, you know what God said
about us preachers? He said, we're not to preach
ourselves, but ourselves servants, your servants for Christ's sake.
And He says this, He said, one sows and the other waters. That's what we are. We sow seed
and somebody else waters it. But you know the only way you're
going to get anything out of the seed and the water? God got
to give the increase. God's only, He's only working
two. I'm sure seeing this morning,
I'll buy water a little tonight and seed and water at the same
time sometime. But if God don't give the increase,
it ain't nothing going to happen. And oh my, they received this
bread from His hands, from the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And they took that bread, those 12 disciples took that bread,
went among those 5,000 people, distributing that bread. Passing
out bread. Then he done the fish the same
way. Took that basket of fish, and they started, thank God for
them, they started going back and forth. Had those fellas sit
down in companies, they said. And they went in front of them,
give them that bread, and then they went behind them and gave
them the fish. And look what it says. And when
Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, verse 11,
distributed to the disciples, and the disciples of them that
were set down, set down, and likewise of the fishes, as much
as they would. Oh my. You know, whenever those
fellas got full, the supply ended. He didn't have
to give no more. Whenever you get full, you don't
want nothing else. And look what it says there in
verse 11. When they were filled, I mean they got full. When they
were filled, He said unto His disciples. You see, He alone,
He alone can satisfy. He alone can feed the believer.
He alone can satisfy the soul. He alone can do something for
anybody in this world. And I tell you what, you know,
all the fullness dwells in Him. They were filled and all fullness
dwells in Him. And when we're in Christ, when
we're in Christ, we're filled with the fullness of Christ.
We add nothing to Him, but He adds everything to us. And look
what it says. And He says this, gather up the
fragments that remain. Gather up what's left. And this
is the way our Lord is, that nothing be lost. I don't want
no food lost. I don't want nothing lost. I
want everybody to see what a miracle I've performed. And look what
it says here now. Verse 13. Therefore they gathered
them together. They started out with just two
little old baskets now. Started out with two baskets.
And look what happens. And filled twelve baskets. Started
out with two. One had some bread in it. Another
had some fish in it. And he started out through there
with them. When he got done, they had twelve left. Started
out two baskets and had twelve. How does that happen? Which remained over, and listen
to this, which remained over and above unto them that ate. After they ate, now that's never
happened where you and I've ever been. That's never, we've been
to a lot of meals together. We've been to a lot of places
and seen lots of things and ate lots of food. But we ain't never,
ever, when we got through eating, had it multiply. You have less
than you started out with. Here, they had 12 times more
than what they started out with. You know, let me tell you what,
let me give you a little something here. They were first divided.
They were divided. They took the bread first, then
the fishes. They were divided. Then, they
were multiplied. And twelve fish turned into twelve
baskets of fish. That five loaves of bread turned
into five twelve baskets of bread. And then every time they were
eating that basket, they subtracted when they ate. And it just kept
coming out of that basket. And then they ended up with twelve
baskets. How do you do that? And you know what those twelve
baskets represent? Every one of those disciples,
Christ gave them a full basket each. Ain't that the way the Lord does
us? He fills our little baskets full. When he gives us a basket,
it's full. Here it's full of grace, full
of mercy, full of forgiveness, full of righteousness, full of
justification, full of free grace! Full! Oh my, ain't you thankful? Aren't you thankful that Christ
feeds us not according to our faith, or even according to our
obedience, but according to His blessed grace and mercy. You
fellas take it up. I don't want nothing lost. And
I tell you what, when Christ feeds you, you don't lose nothing.
He ain't going to lose nothing that He feeds His people. Huh? They ain't going to lose nothing.
They ain't going to lose nothing. Oh, what a blessing. What a blessing. There's two men calculated without
Christ, but beloved, Christ is all. If Ed had just said, Lord,
you know, you know what it takes to feed this multitude. You know
what it takes. If Ed had said that, then we
wouldn't have seen what happened. Our Father, in the precious blessed
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Thank you for meeting with us
today. Thank you for your truth as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for our Lord Jesus
and all the work that he's did and all the work that he does.
What he did and what he's doing. And Lord, thank you for giving
us a full basket, a full basket. We get all of you. We don't get
just a little bit. We get all you are. We get everything
you are. And we thank you for that. We
bless you for that. Every believer gets a full basket. Gets you. And you fill it for
us. And you're the fullness of God
and dwells in you. Fill us. Fill us with your blessed
fullness. In your holy name I pray. Amen. Amen. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His face. Amen. I'll see you tonight, six o'clock, God
willing.