beginning at verse 29. Matthew 15, verse 29. Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee, and went up into a mountain, and sat down there. And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet, and he healed them. Insomuch that the multitude wondered when they saw the dumb to speak, and the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see. And they glorified the God of Israel.

Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat, and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. And his disciples saying to him, whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill all, to fill so great a multitude? And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes.

And he commanded the multitude to set down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and broke them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. And they that did eat were four thousand men beside women and children. And he sent away the multitude and took a ship and came into the coast of Magdala. Now here was a great throng of people gathered about the Lord Jesus. They had been thronging around him, just cursing around him now for three days, continually. Folks just kept coming. They just kept coming.

Word got out that the Lord Jesus was over in this area of Decapolis. We find from Mark's rendering of this event, he tells us it was in an area of Decapolis, and folks heard about him out in the mountainous area, and they just kept thronging to him until the crowds reached somewhere 20,000 or upwards. We read here that he fed 4,000 men besides women and children. So the crowd was somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000 people just thronging along the Savior.

They brought to him men and women, and I presume children as well, who were diseased and lame and half blind, sick. And he performed miracle after miracle after miracle. Just one on top of the other. They brought the sick folk and cast them at his feet. Now that doesn't mean they threw them down at his feet, obviously. It means they brought them and laid them before him in hope that he would be merciful to them. They cast them down before him.

And the Lord Jesus performed such miracles that the people were altogether taken up by him. Astonished by what he had done. Astonished by his work. and they glorified the God of Israel. Now remember, he's in the coast of Decapolis, he's among the Gentiles, folks who were pagans, folks who had been raised in pagan idolatry, but when they heard him preach and they saw the power of God in him, the result was they glorified the God of Israel as the one true and living God, the only God there is. Now this great crowd of people was so taken up with our Lord's miraculous power his infinite goodness and his gracious words, that they simply lost all track of time.

And before anyone realized it, three days had passed. And apparently, during this three days, they hadn't eaten anything. They'd been fasting for three days. I think, if I have any understanding at all of what fasting is, as it was indicated in the New Testament, and I certainly don't believe that somehow something to be promoted or something to be worked up, but simply it is folks being overwhelmed with a sense of burden or a sense of gratitude, overwhelmed in the work of God so that they simply do not pay attention to other things, that they simply lose track of things.

But suddenly folks begin to get weary and faint and tired. And the Lord Jesus makes a tremendous statement. Now remember, These folks had been healed, their friends and family, their loved ones had been healed of every kind of disease imaginable, every kind of sickness and infirmity imaginable, and yet they stand in need. Here they stand before the Son of God, hungry and faint.

And our Lord makes a statement at the end of verse 32 that I find simply delightful. He says, I will not send them away. I will not send them away. Oh, what grace! How I love the sound of those words falling from the lips of the Son of God. He says in John 6, Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. That simply means that there is nothing in any Nothing in any center in all the world that will keep Christ from receiving him as he comes to Christ in faith. You and I come to him, sinners, guilty, helpless, defamed, with nothing in us, but sin, no ability, but sin, nothing that we can bring but sin and corruption, but this will not keep him from receiving us.

He says, him that comes to me, any way you come, come to me. I will let no wise cast him off. I urge you, if you have yet to come to Christ, come to him now, just as you are. Don't wait to learn, experience, feel, or do anything. Just come to Christ, and he says, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, O Lamb of God, I come to thee.

And then, with regard to those who have come to him, with regard to you and I who've been coming for so long, with regard to you and I who have come with so many needs, with so many burdens, with so many cares, the Lord Jesus says, I will not send them away. I will not send them away. That means that having come to Christ, There is nothing in us that will cause him to send us away, and there is no need that might possibly arise that can necessitate us going to anyone except our Savior. He says, I will not send them away, thank Him.

Christ is all I need. He is all I need. He was crucified, for me He died. I want this evening, by the help of God's Spirit, to show you and remind you of this blessed fact, Christ is all you need. He's all. He's all you need. Come to Christ and he will never send you away, for his promise is, I will not send them away.

Now hold your Bibles open here at Matthew 15, and let me show you seven things set before us and illustrated in this passage of Scripture. First, in verses 29 and 30, we see a display of the behavior of needy souls. Our Lord Jesus was come to this mountain, and he sat down there, and somewhere in Decapolis, and in verse 30, great multitude apparently heard he was there.

Fame got out. He didn't advertise anything. He didn't promote himself, this whole church, he was there, and they came, great multitude came to him having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and passed them down at Jesus' feet, and he healed them.

I was looking at this passage today preparing this message, and I thought to myself, particularly in this day in which these men lived, and this event took place. Probably there could have been nothing more troublesome, nothing more difficult for someone to do than to move sick folks. Especially to move them a long ways. Especially to move sick folks who were not just sick, but invalid and impotent. And our Lord Jesus, as he was gathering, as he was seated at this mountain, folks began to carry sick people to him.

They began to carry them. I mean, that's the only way they had to move them. Pick them up and carry them to the Savior. The reason was simple. These folks had loved ones and many themselves were sick and diseased and their limbs were withered and they had been maimed by war or by accident of whatever kind and they came to the Savior because they heard that He was there and he alone had power to use it. They had heard and learned that this man is capable with his word of healing himself. This man with his word can cause the withered arm to grow and be made whole just like this man with just a word can cause the blind to see. And so with the hope of being healed being inspired with the word they had concerning him, they came to the Savior, considering no obstacle too great, considering no cost to be calculated, they simply came to him. Strong, the folks came. 20,000 strong they came to him. You see, when people are in desperate need, I mean really in need, nothing will prevent them from seeking relief if there's any hope to do it. For bodily health, you and I have all done it.

People will sit in a crowded doctor's office with other sick people for hours, just waiting for some relief. You wouldn't be caught dead there otherwise, but you know you're going to die if you don't get there. So you just go sit down in a crowded doctor's office, and you wait, and you wait, and you wait, and you get mad, but you still sit there and wait. Because you know the doctor can help.

Folks will move from one state to another and clear across the country just to get a little fresh air, simply to give them a little relief. They'll give up jobs, they'll give up their pay, they'll give up anything so that they can get the help that they feel they must have. But few are even slightly concerned about their soul's health. What a pity. What a pity. I know multitudes of men and women who show great, great concern for physical well-being for themselves and for their children, for themselves and for others around them, who have absolutely no regard for the well-being of their souls, who demonstrate no care for the souls of those around them.

But I know this, any sinner who knows his soul's need will allow nothing to keep him from Christ. He will allow nothing to keep him from that one who alone can meet his soul's needs. He won't be put off because of personalities, and he won't be put off because of inconveniences, and he won't be put off because of cost. Whatever it takes to get to the Savior, he'll get to him. Whatever's required. Whatever's required.

I recall A year or so ago, most of you know I had glaucoma. Dr. Ramsey has been treating me for it for years. And I came very close to losing vision in this eye about a year or so ago. I had to have some surgery. Then some other continual tests being run. I go back every three months and they run tests. And they get a little expensive. And I get a little aggravated with it. And so I asked him one day, I said, is it necessary for you to come back and take this test?

He said, it don't matter to me. I was a little bit put off by it, but he's a good doctor. He said, it don't matter to me, they're your eyes. And you're the one that got glaucoma. It's just altogether up to you. I said, I'll be back. Just go ahead and make the appointment. Whatever it costs, I'll be there.

And the reason is, I'm not interested in leaving this at all. And I know without continual constant care, I'm going to lose this eye. So every few months I go shell out a little more money, shell out a little more money, and I go simply with the hope of keeping that eye. Now I'm telling you, any sinner who knows his soul's need will let nothing keep him from Christ.

And I'll tell you something else. Anyone who knows the power of Christ who really knows the power of Christ, and cares for the souls of others under his influence, will do whatever he can to get sin-sick souls to the Savior. He'll do it. He'll do it.

I cannot imagine, I cannot imagine mothers and fathers willfully directing their sons and daughters away from the worship of God and the hearing of God's word. I cannot imagine folks who know the power of God and know that the Lord Jesus meets with sinners around his word willfully neglecting or willfully causing others to miss the blessed privilege of being in the presence of the Son of God in the worship of God. We read in Mark chapter 4 when our Lord Jesus was on one occasion preaching and as always sick were brought to him and he was healing them. Some folks heard that Lord Jesus was there and they had a buddy, they had a friend and these four fellas picked him up, one on each corner of the stretcher that he was on and they carried him to the Savior.

And when they got there, they couldn't get in. The place was crowded. It was packed. It was just out in a little, it wasn't a little, but a large gathering area outside. But it was just packed and they couldn't get in because of all the great crowds that was there. And most of us would have said, well, I've done all I can do. But no, they looked up and saw nobody standing on the ceiling. And they figured out a way to get that fella up on the ceiling and tore the roof apart. They tore the roof apart. let him down before the Savior.

And the scripture says, when the Lord Jesus saw their faith, he said that that man will sin with a given name. What an example. Secondly, in verse 31, we see a display of the omnipotence of God's mercy. In verse 30, we read, he healed them. And then he tells us who he healed. He healed them in so much that the multitude wondered. They were astonished. They were all together, over all, amazed when they saw the dumb speak, the maimed to behold, the lame to walk, and the blind to see. And they glorified the God of Israel. Now, our Lord Jesus was not one of your modern-day fakes. healers. Understand I didn't say faith healers. I said faith healers. He was not one of them. He healed people with real infirmities.

This word maimed, if you want to look it up when you get home, if you want to jot it down, the word maimed here has the idea of something cut off. You remember when our Lord said if you ride a hen and it offends you, cut it off? That's the word that she was talking about.

It's not just something that has become impotent. It's not just something that somehow has drawn up. It's not something that somehow has just become useless. But rather it is a lamb that has been cut off either by accident or by war. Or maybe by some punishment of one kind or another. But something that's just been cut off.

And our Lord Jesus healed that which was cut off. Now nobody in history, nobody in history before him or since him ever did this. Nobody. Our Lord Jesus healed that which was lame, that which had been loved up. Now the apostles came and they healed in the name of Christ, even raised the dead in the name of Christ. But they did so pointing to him as his messengers to authenticate him as the Messiah as the scripture said they must. But they did not heal anyone in their own name or by their own power. Our Lord Jesus on the other hand when he healed folks did not say in the name of God the Father I healed him.

He didn't say that. He just said your faith made you whole. You want your sight? You got it. He said rise up and walk. And in his own name, with his own word, by his own authority, the lame, the maimed, the blind, the dumb, the half, they were all healed by his power, by divine power. Now I've got to say this, all healing comes from God. We've experienced some of it. Each of us has in one measure or another. All healing is God's work. I've had cancer, and I've been healed. I've had pneumonia, I've been healed. I've had various sicknesses and been raised up again. I'm not dead yet.

And the healing comes from God. It's God's work. Altogether, God's work. He uses physicians and he uses medicine and so on. But the gifts of healing, the apostolic gifts of causing the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, and so on, those gifts of healing cease when the apostles died, and no one today, no one since the apostles, has possessed the gifts of healing, as did the apostles. And those who pretend to do so are messengers of Satan, they are not the servants of God, and I'm telling you, they are men and women who add to the Word of God, and thus detract from the authority of the Word of God altogether.

What we have before us here is a tremendous picture of our Lord's power to heal sin sick souls. That's the message of the healing. Our Lord Jesus healed men's bodies to teach us that he has power to heal their souls. Do you understand that? And the healing of the soul is immeasurably more important than the healing of the body. Immeasurably more important.

I just got a call today from Wichita Falls, Texas. A dear lady out there who was converted two or three years ago. She's been coming to listen to me preach almost ever since I've been going out there. God gave her faith in Christ. And she got cancer. She's been lingering for a long time. And now she's with the Savior. infinitely better she should be with him than that he should have healed her body. Infinitely better. And that was her attitude concerning him.

There is no plague of the heart that he cannot cure. No deformity of the soul that he cannot overcome. No fever of lust that he can't stop. No palsy of worldly love that he cannot heal. No tension of indolence that he cannot remove. When God the Son sends his spirit in saving power, he sends him in omnipotent grace, and his omnipotent grace is healing grace for our souls.

He opened these blind eyes that could not see the kingdom of God. He opened these deaf ears that could not hear the things of God. He opened this dead heart and poured in the wine and oil of his grace by the power of his spirit, giving me life and faith in him. He has taken these hands that once were used for nothing but enmity and rebellion against God and makes them useful in the interest of his kingdom and his glory. These feet that once ran away from him he has now called to walk in paths of righteousness for his own sake.

That's his grace. Oh, the omnipotence of grace. J.C. Riles said in commenting on this passage, the time of miracles has not yet passed. Every conversion is a miracle. And indeed it is. If you will be saved, go to Christ. Cast your soul down before him. Call upon him for relief. He's still the same today as he was 2,000 years ago. He's still the Great Physician. He still receiveth sinners. He is still mighty to heal. He's still mighty to save. His blood and his righteousness is sufficient to make you and me accepted as God in our time of death. Thirdly, I want you to notice verse 32 and see the character of our God and Savior.

Then Jesus called his disciples unto him and said, I have compassion on the multitude. I looked this word up, got one of those programs on my computer that does it in a hurry. It's used nine times in the four, I'm sorry, ten times in the four Gospels with reference to our Savior, this word compassion. and being used as it is. This is the word that is used more often than any other in the four Gospels to describe the character of our Savior. Now Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John talk about our Savior's happiness and His anger. They talk about His holiness and they talk about His fury. They talk about his gratitude and thanksgiving. They talk about many things concerning him. But above all other things, this word compassion is the word that is used to describe the incarnate God, Jesus Christ our Savior. Now that's intriguing to me. Compassion.

The word means to be moved from within. As a matter of fact, in the ancient times, in the times of the writing of New Testament, it talks about the moving of your bowels, that is, the moving of your innermost being, which the ancients thought were the seat of the emotions. And so the word compassion means to be moved from within. Our English word of compassion is really a compound word. It means compassion. It means to suffer with. It is a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow accompanied with a strong desire to alleviate the pain and to remove its cause. Our Lord's compassion for us is such that it extends to every facet of our lives. Every facet. I don't know how to explain that other than to illustrate it the best I can.

I guess Marcus got the youngest children of any of us here tonight. And you will, you are just now beginning to learn at the age of your son, that there's nothing that affects them that affects you. And you watch them grow up, and right now the little toddlers, you know, they're not a whole lot that affects them except you. But they go off to school, and they get involved with this, and get involved with that, and get into this jam, and they get into that scrape, and they face this trouble, and they face that trouble, and everything that touches them touches Him.

Understand that? Every parent knows what I'm talking about. And I'm telling you that our Savior's compassion is such that everything that touches us touches Him. Our eternal spiritual needs, He looks upon as his eternal spiritual. Is that alright? He will not be separated from us. Our physical afflictions, our physical troubles, he looks upon as being physical afflictions and troubles upon him. He said to Saul, why persecutest thou me? He was in heaven, Saul couldn't reach him, but he was persecuting his people. the food that we eat, he looks upon as being something that confirms it.

Let no sinner question the tenderness and compassion of Christ. I wish I could convey it as I want to. He will graciously receive all that comes to him. He will freely, fully, and forever forgive all the sinners of all the thrusters. Our Lord Jesus Christ will supply all the needs of all who call upon him and he will do it forever. God's mercy in Christ is a deep, deep well of which no man has yet to find the bottom.

What a comfort there is here for God's saints in this great attribute of his compassion. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not concerned, Jeremiah said, because his compassions fail not. He knows the world in which we live. He knows our frailties. He knows Satan's devices. And he pities us. He pities us.

And I said all that to say this. If the Lord Jesus is full of compassion toward us, how much more compassionate we ought to be toward the needs of other men, and particularly of one another. As we therefore have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Now I commend you, I commend you, I can't tell you how many times various people of this congregation have come to me and stuck something in my hand and said, see to it that this is taken care of, see to it that you send this out here and take care of that, and I commend you for it. Lindsey or Bob comes in sometimes and says, I think we ought to help. I say, whatever you want to do, it's all right with me. Name it, we'll do it. Name it, we'll do it.

I urge you, be ever looking particularly toward folks' spiritual needs, minister the gospel to them, carry the word of grace to them. But if you would be compassionate toward their spiritual needs and expect to be heard, you're going to have to be compassionate toward their emotional needs, too, and their material needs, too.

Absolutely. I got a call last night from a lady so distressed. Her daughter just left home. She's been raised in church all her life. Been raised in a very strict, legalistic environment. Her mother's tormented because of it. And she said, I have to admit, she's justified in great measure, for she's seen so much hypocrisy in religion. She just kisses all goodbyes. So much hypocrisy. Now listen, I said to that dear lady, I said, don't allow her to take that escape. That's not justifiable. The world's full of hypocrites about everything, and she's just as big a hypocrite as anybody else.

But understand, we do have that responsibility to not only speak graciously, but to behave graciously. Fourthly, The employment of our Lord's disciples in the distribution of these loaves and fishes teaches us something about the sphere of instrumentality.

Our Lord said to his disciples, said, how much food do you have? How many loaves do you have? And they said in verse 34, seven and a few little fishes. And he commanded them to sit down on the ground. In verse 36, he took the seven loaves and fishes and gave thanks and gave them to his disciples and the disciples to multiply.

If he could make the fish as he gave them out one at a time to multiply he didn't need the disciples. He who reigned manna from heaven calls it to reign so bountifully in the wilderness for the children of Israel that when they got up in the morning all they had to do was reach out the tent door and gather enough manna for the day.

And he could have done the same thing here. The point is, our Lord doesn't need us. He didn't need them. He could easily have taken care of this thing by himself. In fact, he could have divided out the loaves and fishes and fed the multitude just like that with greater ease and far less time than the disciples. It took him hours to do it. Can you imagine? These fellows breaking out loaves and fishes and giving them out to 20,000 people. It took a long time.

Well, why on earth did he use them? Because he honored them with the highest possible honor. Our Lord chose not to do what they were perfectly capable of doing, even though they might stumble and fall out of nothing. What a privilege it was for these disciples to be allowed to pass out the bread and fish as he multiplied. I hope you look upon serving Christ just that way. Serving Christ by serving the needs of his people is the highest honor and greatest privilege in this world. It's the highest honor and greatest privilege in this world.

These ladies are so hospitable. We have guests here. Go about and take care of things, have them in your home, and you feed them. And when we have things here at the church, you bring the food in and you take care of them. And for the most part, you do it with such cheer and such gladness. I so much appreciate it.

But at the same time, oh, what a privilege you should have. To give a cup of cold water to many of the disciples. To entertain the sons and daughters of God Almighty in your home. to care for God's prophets under your roof, at your table? Oh, what a privilege. Our Lord says in Matthew 10 that you do it to these, you do it to me. And it's not just a matter of taking care of God's prophets and God's preachers and missionaries and pastors and so on. It's a matter of taking care of God's children. He says you give them a cup of cold water, you give me water. You visit them, you visit me. You take care of them, you take care of me.

And what a privilege and honor it is for a man to be given the honor that I'm given of preaching to sinners the unsearchable riches of Christ. I'm going up to Ohio Friday, the Lord willing, and I'll be preaching. I do so with fear and trembling, I think you know me well enough to know I'm not afraid of the folks I'm going to be preaching to. I'm not the least bit afraid of the men's faces. But with fear and trembling, because I'm going to be handling matters of eternal consequence, talking to folks I may never get a chance to talk to again in this world, who are going to meet God at judgment very soon. What a privilege, because I'm going to be taking to eternity-bound sinners the word of life and grace, which if they will hear and heed, will bring them into the kingdom of God. Oh, our goodness.

In verse 33, the disciples show us the necessity of faith in serving Christ. when our Lord said, I'm not going to send them away. I will not send them away fasting. The disciples said in verse 33, they said to him, whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness as to fill so great a multitude?

Now, remember, we're only one page past chapter 14, where our Lord had taken five loaves and two fishes and fed 5,000 men besides women and children. No more than just a few days, at most a few weeks prior to this is what's recorded here in chapter 14.

So the disciples hadn't forgotten. They remembered very well what had happened. But the disciples are not here raising a question as to whether or not they have any reason to look to the Lord to take care of things. They are simply confessing their own inability and their own insufficiency. They hadn't forgotten what happened.

They were simply saying, Lord, if this crowd's going to be fed, you'll have to do the feeding. If this crowd's going to be satisfied, you're going to have to feed them. We don't have any bread. We have no way of getting any bread out here in this wilderness. We look to you and to you alone. Now there's something to be learned here. We are most useful. when we acknowledge that we're most useless. We're most sufficient, as God said, when we acknowledge we have no sufficiency in ourselves.

I ask you to pray for me. I correspond with folks and ask God's people to pray for me in the various doors of opportunity opened in the preaching of the gospel. God has put a tremendous Tremendous amount of opportunity in our hands. He's given us tremendous opportunities around the world.

But nothing I do, nothing I preach, nothing I write, nothing I say, and nothing you do will be of any consequence, will bring any good to the souls of men. or benefit people spiritually and eternally unless it's blessed of God to their souls. Sometimes people mistakenly, and I understand and appreciate it, I don't reprove, I'm not scolding, but people mistakenly in their attempts to express their appreciation for the ministry give too much credit to the preacher. Say, well you study hard, you're a scholar, you're this or that.

Scholastic's got nothing to do with it. Natural abilities got nothing to do with it. Eloquence got nothing to do with it. Nothing at all. The preacher's ability to tell stories and illustrate or to get folks to laugh at the right time and cry at the right time has got nothing to do with it.

If any good is done for your soul, by what I've prepared and said here tonight, it's because of God's blessing. And if he doesn't bless it, it'll just be so much sounding brass and plain and simple. Sixthly, in the last line of verse 31, we see the goal. of our ministry, and they glorified the God of Israel. Now, that's the opposite. That's the opposite. Amanda was telling me a couple, oh, just a few days ago, maybe it was last Sunday, someone had gotten upset with her, of course.

She was suggesting to the non-Indonesian church that she was preaching the Word and worship God. Well, what about all the trash that goes on in the name of religion? What about all the plays and the programs and ministry to this group, ministry to that group, ministry to the other group, and special services and special skits and special plays and special programs, all that stuff? She might not have said it, but I'll say it.

That was just so much manure, nothing else. There's so much of an excuse of men calling the service of God, which is nothing but the entertainment of men, on the road to hell. Reason we do what we do is to get folks to worship God. That's all. Gary, that's the reason we don't have any ball teams. That's the reason we don't have plays and skits. That's the reason we... My interest is not in entertaining you or your peers, your mama and daddy or their peers. Our interest is in getting folks to know and worship the living God. That's our only object. And if we miss that object, we've missed everything. We've missed everything. Our goal is not success, but worship. Our goal is not popularity, but worship. Our goal is not fame, but worship. If God will allow me, if God will allow us to direct a few wandering souls to his throne to worship him, I won't let them down. Oh, God help him out of worship. If God has enabled you tonight in some measure to come to his throne and worship him, then my labor today has been well spent. It's been well spent.

One last thing. In verses 34 through 37, we won't read them again. The Lord took the loaves and fishes the disciples gave him, and he demonstrates something of the blessedness of giving. In verse 37, we read that they did all eat, that is the whole 27,000 people, ate and were filled. They were satisfied. They didn't just get a nibble, they were filled. And they took up of the broken meat that was left, seven baskets full. Now look back in chapter 14. Verse 20, they took up They did eat and were filled and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.

But the word basket in those two places is two different words. Two totally different words. The word basket that's used here in chapter 14 verse 20 is a little lunchbox. That's the word basket. It's the kind of basket that folks can carry when they're going out for a day and they just have a little snack with it. That's what the word is.

It's a small basket. The word basket that's used over here in chapter 15 verse 37 is a market-sized basket. I'm not talking about the kind of baskets you carry to market. I'm talking about the kind of baskets you see in the market where they've got baskets full of produce, baskets full of bread, baskets full of things.

That's the word. As a matter of fact, the word basket that's used here is the same word that's used in chapter 9 of the book of Acts, where they put Paul in a basket and lowered him over the wall of Damascus. You remember that? These were good-sized baskets.

And the scripture says here, when our Lord got done breaking the loaves and fishes, and got done feeding these twenty-some thousand people, they took up of the remaining things seven huge baskets full of red fish. My soul. how God is honored by those who give to him and how he honors that which we give to him. What an honor it is to give to God.

What do you have? Seven little loaves of bread and a few little sardines. Put him right here in my hand. And he takes those seven loaves of bread. My soul, how far would that go? Wouldn't even beat this crowd very well. He takes those seven loaves of bread, those few little dishes, and feeds thousands and thousands. Well, what are we going to do tomorrow?

Just reach in one of these baskets here. There's plenty there. You see, it is our honor for God to take our loaves and fishes and use them. And it is impossible for anyone to impoverish himself by giving. Can't be done. Can't be done. Our Lord says, give and it shall be given to you. Press down, shake it together.

He says, you honor God with the first fruits of your increase, and your bonds are lethal. Our Lord speaks plainly. He says, he that soweth sparingly, shall reap sparingly. He that soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully. God teach us so to do. that he will indeed supply our needs as we give to him, give to his cause, give to his people, whatever it may be.

I just read this today. I had read the story before, but I didn't know who was involved. You ladies may have heard of Wanamaker's in Philadelphia, huge department store in Philadelphia. John Wanamaker, who founded the department store, I read today was a child of God, a believer, a man who worshipped and served our Redeemer.

One occasion he was in China and as he was touring, just walking by, this is when he was a much younger man, he was just touring China and he saw a boy pulling a plow with his father directing him from behind. And he asked the fellow who knew the family, he said, Why is that boy pulling the plow?

I don't understand that. There don't seem to be folks who would have to do that. He said, well, this family, a member of our congregation, we're trying to build a church building. And this boy told his dad, he said, Dad, if you'll sell the ox, I'll pull the plow. One maker said, I, in my heart, fell to my knees and cried, Lord, teach me to give like that. Teach me to give like that. That's a cheerful giver. And God loveth a cheerful giver.