Let's look at verse 13. This
will be, I pray and believe, trust, a blessing to your heart.
Matthew 14, 13, when Jesus heard of it, that is the beheading
of John the Baptist, he departed thence by ship into a desert
place apart. And when the people had heard
thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. And Jesus
went forth and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion
toward them, and he healed their sick. And when it was evening,
his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the
time is now past." Now think about every statement in this
passage, and the spiritual teaching that we know is here. It's a desert place, and it's
past time. It's an urgent matter. Send the
multitude away that they may go into the villages and buy
themselves victuals. There's a need, an urgent need,
a basic need that must be met. But we're in a desert place.
But Jesus said unto them, they need not depart. There's no need to go anywhere
else. Give he them to eat. Think about
every phrase, every word. And they said unto him, we have
here but, what's that word but? They didn't say, well, we have
five loaves. They said, we don't have but five loaves and two
fishes. And he said, bring them hither to me. And he commanded the multitude
to sit down on the grass and took the five loaves and the
two fishes and looking up to heaven, he blessed and break
and gave the loaves to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude. Oh, and this is so beautiful.
And they did all eat. Every need was met. When the Lord provides bread,
you fixin' to be fed. And were filled. They didn't
just get by. It didn't just tide them over
until they could go to a restaurant or get to their refrigerator. They were filled. They didn't
think about food the rest of that day, I guarantee you that. And there was still plenty left. They took up of the fragments
that remained, 12 baskets full, and they that had eaten were
about 5,000 men, beside women and children. Now, as I said, this takes place
just after the beheading of John the Baptist. Once the disciples
had collected John's body and told the Lord about it, the Lord
went out into this desert place and the multitudes followed him
there as they did often to other places. And after a time of teaching
and healing, it began to be late in the evening and the disciples
became concerned. that it was time to eat, time
to get to a place where they could eat. So the disciples said
to the Lord, we better send them away. The only answer to this
problem. We're in a desert place and what they need is not here.
The only solution is they need to go somewhere else. And the
Lord said, no, they don't. No, they don't. A basic elemental
need of man is expressed. A need that is so important that
everything else must be placed on hold. Everything else, however
important, must be set aside so that this need can be fulfilled.
They have to eat. We're going to have to break
this thing up. As important as this is, we're going to have
to break it up because we have to eat. Whatever else happens,
we have to eat. This is a gospel truth as all
scriptural truth is. Everything our Lord did everything
our Lord said was spiritual gospel truth This is a picture of the
one basic most vital need of every sinner You are a human
being and As a human being you have have needs Your body has
needs food and water and rest and things like that but You're
a sinful human being. And your needs as a sinner are
more deep, more basic, and more consequential than your needs
as a physical human being. There are consequences to not
meeting your physical needs. If you don't eat, you eventually
will die. But if your spiritual needs are
not satisfied, you're really going to die. You're sure enough going to die.
You're going to eternally die. You're going to die in every
sense of the word, the least of which is the stopping of this
heart. And let me get right to the point
this morning. One thing is needful. You have one need. Spiritually,
as a sinner, you really only have one need. You never have had but one need. Right now, you just have one need. We said spiritual needs a moment
ago, plural, because you could certainly describe them as various
and many. Righteousness, you must have
righteousness. You must have sanctification.
You must be set apart, holy in this world, unto God. You must
have wisdom. You must have redemption. You
must have peace. There's enmity between you and
God by nature. You must have peace. There must
be peace with you and God. You've got to have love. The
greatest of these is love. He that loveth not the Lord Jesus
Christ, Paul said, let him go to hell when the Lord comes.
You must have joy. You can't live without joy. Did
you know that? You've got to. You've got to
have it. You're going to delight in something.
or somebody, you must have eternal life. But all of these needs
are really one because they're all met in one place, in one
person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Your one need is Christ because
he is the fulfillment of every need that you have. And he is
the only fulfillment of every need. that you have. And again
as we saw in the text in verse 15 the disciples said this is
a desert place. These people have a vital urgent
need and they're in a place where there's no way it can be met.
And you have a basic vital urgent spiritual need this morning and
you live in a desert place. You live in a place where it's
not just going to naturally happen. Something's going to have to
change. Something's going to have to
come to you, or you're going to have to go to him. Because where you are
naturally, your need will never be met. Amos 8.11, listen to
this. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land. He didn't
say, oh no, there's going to be a famine. What are we going
to do about it? He said, I'm going to send it. Not a famine of bread,
nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. You're in a desert place. There's no substitute for the
word of God. Religion has put many things
in its place. This world is full of churches,
and this world is spiritually speaking a desert place. No gospel,
no water of life, no bread, Entertainment, but no exposition of the word.
A lot of talk about what man needs to do, but not a word about
what Christ did for sinners. A lot of begging people to do
something for God, but no preaching of that gospel whereby God does
something for sinners, converts and heals their souls. And turn to Psalm 19, would be
Psalm 19, seven. Word of the Lord we're in a desert
place We're in a place of famine of hearing the word psalm 19
7 Why do we need the word what's
gonna happen if we don't have the word Why is this such an
urgent need? Well, look at Psalm 19 verse
7 the law of the Lord is perfect and Converting the soul. That word is restoring the soul. Restoring what we lost in Adam. Restoring the place of our soul. A place of acceptance, communion,
fellowship with God. The ability to walk with God
in fellowship and harmony. To be in his presence. And to
be worthy to be there. How does that happen? God accomplishes
that by his word, by his law, that is his doctrine. If you
look at that word law there in verse seven, the doctrine of
the Lord is perfect. Converting the soul. There are
a lot of decisions made in religion, but there can be no conversion
of the soul apart from the truth of Christ in him crucified, the
gospel of Christ. Look at the next phrase, the
testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. You know, that word simple there
doesn't mean, well, I'm a simple man. No, it means a fool. Simple in understanding, unable
to understand things. Making wise the simple, that's
what God's word does. How's a fool gonna know who God
is? The fool who says in his heart
by nature, no God. How's he gonna be wise concerning
God and the things of God? The testimony of the Lord, the
word of God. How will a sinner know their
true helpless condition before God? Everybody says I'm a sinner,
but what does that mean? It just means, well, I've done
some bad things. No, that's not what it means. It means you're
as sure for hell as if you were already there, unless God does
something about it. You're helpless and hopeless
without God and without Christ in this world. No hope in yourself. How will they know
how God can be just and justify sinners like themselves by the
blood of Christ? Making wise the simple. Paul
said to Timothy, you've known from your very youth the holy
scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation.
Oh my. Verse eight, the statutes of
the Lord are right. Doing what? What did we just
say? Rejoicing the heart. There's no rejoicing like the
rejoicing that comes by hearing the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the
eyes. I was blind, but now I see. How? Because God said something to
me and gave me grace and faith to believe it. The fear of the
Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether, and more to be desired are they
than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Sweeter also. Two things. There's nothing more
valuable, more priceless, more precious than this book. And there's nothing more enjoyable. Sweeter also. Not just riches,
but honey to the tongue. Sweeter also than honey and the
honeycomb. But we're in a desert, a famine
of hearing this precious, priceless, delightful word. But the good
news is that though this world has nothing that can meet your
need, and if anything, they'll stand in your way. That's what
our Lord accused the Pharisees of. He said, you not only won't
come in, but you block the way for others to come in with your
lies and heresy. But there is someone in this
world, a person, who is himself the fulfillment of your every
need. They didn't have there the things
that were necessary, they thought, to fulfill their need. But there
was a person there. And that's your situation in
this world. He's the answer to every question worth asking,
the solution to your every problem, and the fulfillment of your every
need. And he's still in the saving business. He's still in the business
of feeding the souls of sinners so that they might be filled,
satisfied. Their urgent mortal need fully
met. And then some. You're in a desert place, but
there's water right in front of you. Wasn't that true of these
people? What they needed wasn't back
in town. It was right there in front of
them. If you can just see it, if you
can just see him, that's the problem. The word is na'vi as
we said this morning. It's na'vi. Turn to Genesis 21. This is our situation and the
truth. concerning it. Genesis 21, 14. You remember the story of Hagar? She had to be sent away. She
couldn't live. There was enmity now. And we
know the gospel allegory there. She's the bondwoman and she can't
live with the free woman, nor their sons live together. But
look at the picture that Hagar presents here to us. Verse 14
of Genesis 21. Abraham rose up early in the
morning and took bread and a bottle of water and gave it unto Hagar,
putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered
in the wilderness of Beersheba. And the water was spent in the
bottle. They drank everything they had. And she cast the child
under one of the shrubs. And she went and sat her down
over against him a good way off. as it were a bow shot, for she
said, let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over
against him and lifted up her voice and wept. I don't want
to watch him die. And so she cried out to God.
And God heard the voice of the lad. He heard that little boy
crying. And the angel of God called to
Hagar. out of heaven and said unto her,
what aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard
the voice of the lad where he is, in a desert place with a
vital need. Arise, lift up the lad and hold
him in thine hand, for I will make him a great nation. And
God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. Do you see what
that's teaching there? He didn't make a well of water
appear. The well of water was there all
along. He just opened up her eyes and she said, there's a
well of water there. We're not going to starve. That's
what's happening here in our text. The fulfillment of every
need, the most vital, urgent need that a sinner has is right
there standing in front of them. What needs to happen is for the
eyes to be opened and see that river of water of
life, clear as crystal, that proceeds from the very throne
of God. Christ is the river. But Jesus said unto them, they
need not depart. They just need to realize who
He is. They don't need to go anywhere.
Give ye them to eat. And this is very instructive.
Why did they not need to go anywhere? That's an easy answer, isn't
it? Because He was with them. That's why they don't need to
go anywhere. In fact, they're better off not going anywhere.
To go anywhere else is to go away from Him. and he's the one
that's able to meet their need. They just needed their eyes opened.
They didn't have any physical food right then, but the one
who made every bite of food that was ever eaten was right there
with them. Now think about that. Where would
they go if they left there for this reason? They don't have
any victuals. It's getting late. They're going
to have to eat something. They better go. Where are they going to go?
To a market? There's a store down here I know where a man
sells food. Yeah, but the one standing right here with you
is the one that made the food that that man sells. Why would
you go down there? And this is the clear spiritual
lesson. You need to be taught. You need
the word. That's what we read. The conversion
of your soul, the making of you wise into salvation, the saving
of your very soul is a function of God revealing his truth to
you. The word of the Lord is all of
those things, the testimony of the Lord, the doctrine of the
Lord. It's by that gospel, That gospel which is, as Paul said,
the power of God unto salvation that sinners are saved. That's
what you need. Christ is the word made flesh. Why would you go away from him?
You need to see God. We don't have to see God. Christ said, if you've seen me,
you've seen God. You need spiritual life. The
Lord Jesus Christ said, I give life to him so ever I will. You
need your sins forgiven. Christ said, the son of man hath
power on earth to forgive sins. You need to be holy and spotless
before God. As our brother read, sins are
washed away only in the blood of the lamb. One thing is needful. And that one thing is identified
in Luke 10. This is familiar scripture, but
let's look at it again. I want to see something that
maybe we haven't seen before. Luke 10, 38 through 42. There is in this whole passage
that we're looking at a reference to the gospel. When the Lord
breaks that bread, and gives it to the disciples, and then
the disciples give it to the multitude. What's that a picture
of? Life is Christ, but that life of Christ comes to the multitude
by the preaching of the gospel. And that's what we're talking
about. That's what we saw in Psalm 19 there. And look here in Luke
10, verse 38. Now it came to pass, as they
went, that he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman
named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister
called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about
much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, don't you care
that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore
that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto
her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many
things, but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that, that
one good thing that's needful. Well, what was Mary doing? How
do we? What does he mean by that? Look
back again at what she was doing, verse 39. She had a sister called
Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. And the Lord Jesus said, that's
the one thing that you've got to do. The one thing needful is the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the way you receive Him is
by the hearing of His Word. To sit at His feet and hear His
Word. And that's what the Lord is showing
in our text. If they had left the Son of God
to go get something to eat, would that have been the prudent thing
to do? Well, if we stay here, we're going to starve to death.
No, you won't. And if you did, If you did, if you starved to
death right there, you'd have died at the feet of Christ, hearing
his word. I can't think of a better place
to starve. Can you? But I don't have any
money to reimburse you. You need not depart. I got to go home, get some, get
a little silver to, you know, you need not depart. Come ye
without money and without price and buy. Well, I didn't even
bring a scrap of bread with me. I can't contribute anything to
this cause. You need not depart. Well, I usually would have eaten by now
and I've got low blood sugar. I'm so weak I can't even get
up and come get anything. Nobody's going home hungry. Tonight,
nobody, every one of them had something to eat and were filled. And think about this, is this
truth not put on display here? Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness. And all these things, what you
shall eat and what you shall wear, what you shall drink shall
be added unto you. Those folks had gathered to hear
Christ's word, the gospel, and to be healed by him. You reckon
he's going to let them starve to death? What about somebody who might
have you, I wonder if anybody, and this is just me, me thinking
here, I just kind of know how we are. Wonder if there was anybody
who followed him out of ways and then realized, man, we'd
follow him out there to hear him and to be healed, but it's
a long way out. We didn't bring any lunch with
us. We better turn back. You reckon anybody said that?
What a tragedy that would be. What a tragedy. Everything you
need is found by being where he is and him being where you
are. Seek ye first. Seek ye first. Now again, they need not depart
for one reason. There's one reason why they didn't
need to go anywhere else because he was with them. He is the fulfillment
of their need, but notice how he fulfilled their need. In verse
10, he said to the disciples, you feed them. Now, this is a
lesson for all of us. Give ye them to eat. Is that what he said to us? Peter, do you love me? You know all things, Lord. You know
I love you. Feed my sheep. You feed them. Give ye them to
eat, Peter. and everybody else who loves
the Lord Jesus Christ. Give ye them to eat. And there's
no greater act of love than telling someone the truth about Christ. It's not always easy to do, is
it? There's no greater act of love that can be done in this
world. Tell them the truth. Tell them the truth. Now our
Lord didn't just start pulling sandwiches out of his pockets
and passing them out. That's what he could have done.
He could have certainly done that. He fed them the same way
he feeds his people spiritually now, today, right now. He commands
his disciples, his servants to feed his people. And there are
means to do that. We have five loaves and two fishes,
verse 17. Why didn't the Lord arrange this
event? And he, you know this as well
as I do, every detail of this scene, just like he sent the storm,
he sends the famine, he made the desert, he created this scene
in every detail. Why didn't he have it so that
they didn't have anything to eat? Well, because the teaching
is that he has provided means. Where did those loaves and fishes
come from? The five and the two. He made them. He made them. And he provided them. No question
about that. But we know, just like these
disciples did, it's evident on the very surface of it, right
from the start, that the means are not sufficient without his
blessing. It's not going to cut it, is
it? The Lord's given us a voice. He's given us a heart. He's given
us many things. We have his written
word. There are means. This bread and this fish that
they had, there was life, physical life in those. It just wasn't
enough without His blessing. That's the thing. Don't despise
the means. Don't neglect the means. Don't
try to circumvent God's means. He's going to feed them with
those five loaves and those two fishes. That's how He's going
to do it. Isn't He? But there, they knew this. We have here but five loaves
and two fishes. Paul said, who is sufficient
for these things? The means just aren't going to
get the job done, are they? Christ answers that question
of Paul in the next verse. Who is sufficient for these things?
Bring them hither to me. That's the answer. And Paul answered
his own question in the same context. Who is sufficient for
these things? And then in the next chapter,
he says this, our sufficiency is of God. Bring them hither
to me. Our Lord said, and God helped
me. If I'm going to have anything
for you, I'm going to have to go to him first. It's going to
have to come from him. It's got to come from Him. When
these disciples told this story later, and I bet you they told
everybody what happened on that day. You reckon? I would have.
Everybody I know and then total strangers. I'd have said, you're
not going to believe this. How do you think they told it?
We fed a multitude today with the Lord's help. You think they
told it that way? Or do you think they said, the
Lord fed 5,000 people. with five loaves and two fish. And we were there to see it.
That's how I guarantee you that's how they tell it. And that's
the way we'll tell it before he is. The glory is his. He commanded them, verse 19,
to sit down on the grass. And he took those five loaves
and those two fish, the means that he had provided now, And
looking up to heaven, all good and perfect gifts come down from
the Father of lights, in whom is no variableness, neither shadow
of turning. You must be born from above if
you're going to be born. So he looked up to heaven and
he blessed. Those two words right there,
comma, he blessed, comma. Well, that's key, isn't it? That's
key. He blessed the means and He break. The reason we have bread, the
reason we have His flesh and His blood, which are meat indeed
and drink indeed, is because He break. And gave loaves to His disciples
and the disciples to the multitude. So we have delivered unto you
that which we have received. What else are we gonna give?
What else, what have you got? Are your opinions worth anything?
Mine neither. We have to give what we've received.
Of the Lord, I have received of the Lord that which I've given
unto you. Philip asked that Ethiopian eunuch,
do you understand what you're reading? And he said, how can
I? Except some man should guide me. Some man, just some man. Philip was that man. He was just
some man, but he was a man chosen by God, taught of God, blessed
by God, and sent to that very spot by the Holy Spirit of God. You look at it in Acts chapter
eight sometime. Sent to that very spot by God's Spirit. Verse
20, and they all did eat. and were filled. And they took
up of the fragments that remained 12 baskets full where the need
abounded. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
did much more abound. They all did eat. I said a while
ago, nobody went home hungry that night. Why not? Because we know that in this
world, not everybody's fed. Were every one of these people
God's elect that were here, this 5,000 plus women and children?
I don't know that. But I know that this is a spiritual
picture, revealing a spiritual truth, and I know this. Spiritually
speaking, I know why every mouth here was fed. Look at verse 14
again. Matthew 14, verse 14. Every mouth in that place was
fed and here's why verse 14 and Jesus went forth and saw a great
multitude And was moved with compassion
toward them He took pity on them This multitude
all had several things in common They all heard the Word of Christ.
He preached everywhere He went, every time there was an audience.
They all witnessed His miraculous power to save. He healed many
of them there. They were all in the presence
of the Almighty, Sovereign, Gracious Son of God. I'll tell you what
else they all had in common. They were all hungry. Isn't it good to be hungry for
the right things? Our Lord said, blessed are they
that hunger. After righteousness, they'll
be filled. And in that word in our text,
they'll be filled. They were all filled. The whole
scene, though, begins with this word. The Lord Jesus had compassion
on them. Every grace, every mercy, The
meeting of every need begins and finds its source in
the love and mercy of Christ. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Have compassion on me. Lord, if you will, if you're
moved to do so, you can make me clean. Lord, have compassion, we pray,
on our loved ones, on those that we would do anything for, but
there's nothing we can do. Make them see that there's nothing
you can't do, and that you are salvation. Reveal yourself to
them in saving love and mercy. give life to their souls in this
desert place. Let's bow in prayer.