Now this passage describes an event that took place just after the beheading of John the Baptist, a story we saw this morning. Once the disciples had collected John's body, they told the Lord about it, and the Lord went out into this desert place, and the multitudes followed Him there. And it says, when He saw them, He had compassion on them. He healed their sick, and after he had taught them and healed many of them, it began to be late in the evening. The disciples were concerned just in common practical matters.

It was late, and they hadn't had anything to eat. The desert was probably hot. It was a long way back to town. And it would take them some time to get where they could eat. So they said to the Lord, we better send them away that they might find what they need.

And that's the simple message of this text, that a basic elemental need is expressed. And these people are not in a place where they can access it. And that's our simple, profound spiritual condition. We have a basic need, we have a dire life or death need and we're not in a place by nature where we could access that. We're not in a place where we can be fed or nurtured or healed. We're not in a place where we can live, that we can long live. So the disciples just naturally said, we've got to break this up. We've got to end this so they can go get something to eat.

But not only is this message simple in its portrayal of our need, it pictures the one basic vital need of every human, of every sinner. As a sinful human being, our needs are greater than our natural needs. They're more urgent. But we don't see them that way because we're creatures of sense. We feel the hunger. We feel the thirst to whatever extent we do in a land of plenty and being wealthy people. We know the need we Know that it's there and we feel it to one extent or another at times But we don't necessarily feel our spiritual need until the Lord Brings us to the place where we do We are sinful human beings and we're a Maybe most important about this is that the need expressed here, the disciples, just as an immediate reaction, told the Lord where this need could be met. They need to go back to town. And we by nature find other places where we think our need can be met.

The Lord told the woman at the well, you can drink this water in this well, but you'll be thirsty again. It won't meet your need. It'll postpone it. But it won't satisfy it. But if you knew who I was, you would ask me for water. and I'd give it to you, and you'd never thirst again.

We see that same concept here. Well, they've got to go to town, they've got to get, but that food, they'll have to eat again because it'll never satisfy completely. The flesh cannot be satisfied, the soul cannot be satisfied, the spirit cannot be satisfied apart from Christ. Man shall not live by bread alone. Yet you can't live.

You can prolong what we call life, but what we call life by nature is death. But by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, life is in the word of the mouth of the Son of God. If you don't eat physically, eventually you'll die. If you have Christ, that'll be a blessing.

We don't want to die that way by just stopping eating, and we're not going to, unless some disease makes it to where we can't eat. But if our spiritual needs are not satisfied, we really die. We don't know what death is until we understand our spiritual need and the consequence of not having that need met. And that's only seen by the grace of God in the preaching of the gospel.

So again, like every text that we take up, we find this to be the heart of the message. One thing is needful. One thing. We really just have one need. I know we call things needs. I need a job. I need food. I need water. I need money. But we have never had but one need. And right now we just have one need. And I wish that I could say it the right way so that we would understand that. I pray that God will say it in our hearts so that we will understand this.

Spiritual needs can be described a lot of different ways, and there are various considerations when it comes to our spiritual need. We need righteousness before God, because without it, no man's going to see Him. We need sanctification. We need God to set us apart. We need wisdom. We've got to know who God is. If we don't by nature, we're not going to figure it out. Christ is the wisdom of God. We need redemption. We need somebody to free us by paying the price for our freedom. We need peace. You know, the only way we understand these things is by perceiving things with our senses that will take our minds and hearts beyond the senses.

That's why the Lord used these earthly illustrations We understand a little bit about peace in that when we experience the opposite of peace in this life, it's not pleasant. And I'll tell you this, as you get older, it's less, it's more not pleasant. Peace. You know, you worry about things all your life, but you get to the point where you're weary of worrying. Lord, give me peace. Give me peace. But only by experiencing that in an earthly sense can I understand what peace with God is. There could be no peace as long as there's fear.

And when we're afraid of God, when our guilty conscience is always disturbing us and reminding us of our wretchedness. The Lord has to give us a good conscience, as the scripture calls it, and a good conscience is one that has no guilt because Christ bore our guilt. In the natural way that we're born into this world, the more guilt we feel, it just kind of piles on top of one another. The more guilty you feel about something else, the more guilt begins to pile up on you. But when a believer thinks of his guilt, he immediately looks to Christ and sees that he took our sorrow and our guiltiness and our Wrath and everything that was against us.

We need love. We need love. Can you even imagine? What it would be to have no one that loved you. Not an easy task, even imagining that would be. Not even an easy thing to do. I don't guess we can unless we've experienced it. I've never experienced that. But even in just cases where you thought somebody loved you and you found out that they really didn't, that hurts, doesn't it? Imagine yourself without the love of God. apart from the love of God in Christ. But all of these needs can be summed up in one, because Christ is the fulfillment of every need. He doesn't just give these things.

He is our sanctification. He is our righteousness. He is our redemption. And I'm still learning that. We think of these things as concepts. We think, okay, right, I've got to have righteousness. Well, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to me if the Lord has saved me and if I believe on him by God's grace. And we tend to think of it as like a condition or a state in which to stand. The Lord said, no man cometh under the father but by me. He didn't say but by righteousness. But he did say it when he said me. Does that make any sense? We see that this is a desert place. It's a place where there's no bread. Was it Mephibosheth that lived in Lodabar? Lodabar means no bread. How did Mephibosheth get out of Lodebar? The one who pictured the Lord Jesus Christ said, go and fetch him. I'm looking for somebody to have mercy on. And Mephibosheth is the one.

Called him by name and said, go fetch him and bring him to my table. so they were in a place of no bread where we all are by nature no way to fulfill the need of our soul a vital urgent need of great consequence and it cannot be met where they are or at least they don't think it can And we have a basic, vital, urgent spiritual need this evening. And we live in a desert place. We're not going to find it in this world. People look for it in this world's religion. They look for it in success. How am I going to get what I need?

Do you understand hunger? And is it easily relatable into spiritual matters? Your soul hungers. Your soul desires fulfillment. And we look for it everywhere, but in Christ by nature. The Lord said in Amos 8, 11, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. This is a desert place. And based on that prophecy, I think it's more so than ever.

I think it's more rare to come upon an oasis of spiritual water in this world than it maybe ever has been. And there's no substitute for it. There's no substitute for it. No water of life, then no life. Only the water of life can give life. This world is full of churches, but spiritually it's a desert place. There's entertainment, but no exposition of the scriptures. There's a lot of talk about what man needs to do, but not a word about what Christ did for sinners. There's a lot of begging people to do something for God, but no preaching of that gospel whereby God gives life to sinners.

It's the Word of God. By hearing the Word of God, what was the one thing needful? What was Martha doing? What was Mary doing? When Martha was cumbered about much serving, Mary sat at His feet and heard His Word. And heard His Word. That was that part, she had chosen that good part that nobody could take away from her. And that good part was hearing the Word of God. And she clearly loved the Word of God, nothing else mattered to her. Responsibilities in this worldly sense can wait. Do we have that attitude? Let me bury my dead. Let the dead bury their dead. Do we have that attitude?

You know, Psalm 19, seven speaks of the word of God. If you want to turn over there, we'll look at it for just a minute. I'll make a comment or two as we go through this Psalm 19, seven. When it says the law of the Lord and the statutes of the Lord, that's simply talking about the Word of God. Psalm 19, 7, the law of the Lord is perfect.

And it does something. It accomplishes something. Paul said to Timothy, that word is able to make your soul live. You've heard the gospel from your youth up, and it's able to make you, give you life. It's a life-giving word. Thou hast the words of eternal life, converting the soul.

And I wish I could say this to, I've got a lot of old friends that are in religion yet. And to them, the end all be all is getting somebody to walk down an aisle and make a decision. And I want so much to say to them, or I want so much for God to do this for them, that they could hear the word of God from somebody, somewhere, and see what salvation is. It pleased God to give life to sinners by the preaching of the gospel.

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. Your soul is not converted from death unto life by you deciding, by you walking an aisle, by anything that you do. It's as the gospel of Christ is preached. God will change you. God will give you life from death. And it's by His Word it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save.

You can make decisions until the day of your death, but there's no conversion of the soul apart from the truth of Christ and Him crucified. The testimony of the Lord is sure Making wise the simple, it's sure. Not only can you surely rely on what God said, not only is there no debating it, and it's sure in that sense, but it's sure in this sense. He said, I send it down from heaven and it accomplishes the thing where into I send it. The testimony of the Lord is sure. Making wise The idiot. That's what that word simple is. The stupid. That's what we are by nature.

How are fools gonna know who God is? By the preaching of the word. How will they know their true helpless condition before God? How are they gonna know the answer to the question, how can God be just and justify a wretch like me? The statutes of the Lord are right. This word seems to impress upon us this proposition. Let God be true. Every one of us a bunch of filthy, stinking liars. All of your preconceived notions of God, of his son, of yourself, and how God saves a sinner have got to be cast behind you as dung because the statutes of the Lord are right. The judgments of the Lord are true.

And the statutes of the Lord, you know what? God will show you to be a fool and you'll be a happy fool. You see that? Rejoicing the heart. That woman of Canaan was a dog, but she was a happy dog that day. Jacob was a worm, but he was a happy worm because the Lord said, you're my worm. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. You don't need to decide something.

You need the eyes of your soul, the eye of faith enlightened by God, and that happens by the preaching of the gospel. And when you want to confess that, you don't come down and get saved. When you want to confess that God has opened your eyes and you see his son to be all and in all, you baptized according to his word in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, commemorating the death and burial of Christ and his resurrection because you're with him in that. You died to sin in Christ and are raised again into newness of life.

Fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. You see how that's equated with the Word? Because if you hear and know the Word, it's reverence unto God. If you don't have any fear of God before your eyes, you're not going to care what He said. They go together.

The judgments of the Lord are true. David said, I was a sinful wretch from my womb, that thou mightest be clear when you judge me. If you judge me worthy of hell, you'd be right to do it. Righteous altogether, more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold.

And gold is a symbol here of what man, there's two gods. Gold and Christ. And gold just represents my fulfillment, my promotion itself. For to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, and sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb. Again, symbolic of everything that's desirable and valuable. Value and desire is found in Christ by the preaching of his gospel. Christ is the fulfillment of every need that cannot be met in this desert place of this world of sin, rebellion, and worst of all, religion. Christ is the fulfillment.

He's still in the saving business. We may not think about that too much, but I'll tell you this, if you've got somebody that you love with all your heart and there's nothing you desire more than to see them know the Lord, then you probably realize and remember often that the Lord's still in the saving business. A desert place, but bread is right in front of you. Think about that. They can't live if they stay here.

But the problem with that idea is that Christ was there. Christ was there. This is one of my favorite verses in all of the word of God. Verse 16, but Jesus said unto them, they need not depart. They don't need to go to this world to find what they need. They don't need to go into town to find fulfillment. They have everything they need right here.

And then, you know, he put it on the disciples, didn't he? They still don't know what's going on. And he says, you give them something to eat. Does that not indicate a need for us to open our eyes? The Lord has given us this treasure and these earthen vessels. Give them something to eat. We see this world in despair and say, oh, you know, the whole world's going to hell in a handbasket. Give them something to eat. Your friends at work, your family. Oh, they're in with the wrong crowd. They are the wrong crowd. Give them something to eat.

And you know, the truth of the matter is, the Lord gave them food because that is a physical need that's, you know, if they're going to survive, they've got to eat something. But more important than that, what they needed was to be able to see. They needed to be able to see that everything they needed was in Him. They didn't have any food wrapped in, but they're standing in the presence or sitting in the presence of the one who made everything good to eat.

And gives, he openeth his hand, the psalmist said, and satisfies the desire of every living thing. You think about that when your needs are fulfilled, even your earthly needs? It's because he opened his hand and gave you what you needed. And what a picture that is of our Savior and His all-sufficiency for the sinner.

What a beautiful spiritual lesson. What a glorious statement. They need not depart. They needed to be taught, they needed to see, they needed to understand. And Christ is that Word that was made flesh. We need to see God. And Christ said, if you've seen me, you've seen God. We need spiritual life. And the Son of God said, I give life to whomsoever I will.

You need your sins forgiven. And in that story of the man that was let down through the roof by his friends on a couch, we learn and hear this from the very lips of God's Son, the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. He still does. Give him something to eat.

We need to be holy and spotless before God. Sins are washed away. Who are these arrayed in white? These are they who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. One thing is needful. That good part was hearing Him speak. And the one thing needful is Himself.

If they had left the Son of God in order to get something to eat, where would they be? Where would they be? Many went away from Him, and He asked His disciples, will you go away also? If they had left the Son of God to get something to eat, you know, they thought, the disciples thought, at least if they stay here, they're going to starve to death. What if that had happened? What if they died right there? What better place to die than at the feet of God's son? If they had known him, if he revealed himself to them, and that was their last day, that would have been their best day.

Nobody brought anything, nobody had anything, except a boy with that which was completely insufficient. Picturing again our complete insufficiency to do anything about our problem. Our Lord says, Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to thee." All we need is Christ. If we seek Him and find Him, He'll add to us whatever we need.

You know, these people gathered, they followed Him out there. They came to hear His Word. You think He's going to let them die now? Is he gonna let him starve to death? Seek ye first. They did not need to depart for one simple reason. Him. He was the fulfillment of their need. Physical, earthly, temporal, heavenly, spiritual, eternal.

All of them. all of them he showed himself to be the one who gives the natural things the earthly things the earthly needs that we have and he preached to them and revealed to them that he is the fulfillment also but remember that he said you feed them you give them something to eat Our Lord said, as my father has sent me, so send I you, so send I you. Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep, feed my sheep.

What condescension and grace that he would allow us to even be involved in the bestowing of his mercy on sinners. Our Lord could have just started pulling sandwiches out of thin air, but he told them, give ye them to eat. He could do that. He fed them the same way he feeds his people spiritually now today. Give them to eat.

He sends a preacher. An angel came to Cornelius. And Cornelius says, we need to hear from God. And the angel said, go get Simon Peter. Wait a minute. You're an angel. You just came from heaven. Why can't you tell? No, that's not how God does it. That's not God's way.

He said, they said in verse 17, we have five loaves and two fishes. Where'd those come from? We thought, oh, well, look, they had, they had something, you know, they had to have, there was a little spark down in there. No. Where'd those come from? He made food from nothing. Can anybody else do that? If not, then where did your food come from?

God has provided means by which He bestows His grace upon sinners, the preaching of the Word. It's clear as a bell. Why didn't the Lord arrange this event so that they didn't have anything, even two loaves and five loaves and two fish? Why didn't He do it that way? Because He provides means.

Don't despise the means. I've heard people say, God doesn't use means, He just does what He wants to. Really now? Really? Show me that in the scripture. He doesn't need means. He created a world without means. I understand that. But when he's saving a sinner, he uses means. Not because he needs them. That's a great privilege. He doesn't need us. Where did those loaves and fishes come from? He made them just like he made the rest of it. He provided them, he gave them. We know right from the start that the means are not sufficient. They said we have here but five loaves. They knew it wasn't enough. We just have five, that's all we got.

And Paul said concerning the preaching of the gospel, the means God uses to save sinners, he said, who is sufficient for these things? I have but a voice and I have a sinful heart and I don't have any understanding or wisdom on my own. Like Moses said, I speak as a child. I can't even talk right. Don't sin me.

And the Lord said, bring them hither to me. God help me if I'm ever going to have anything for you, I'm going to have to get it from him. I'm going to have to go to him. With the means that he's provided. Pray that he will. take those means that he's provided and accomplish what we can't, provide what we can't, supply what we can't.

When these disciples told this story later, you think they said, we fed a multitude. Because he used them and he said, you feed them. You think that was their account of it? No, we fed a multitude today. I tend to doubt that, don't you? They said the son of God. Did a wonderful, marvelous thing. There were people that had no resources without him. And he taught us today that he's all we need. So may he teach us that.