I was sitting there thinking
about Martha. Sister Martha has taken an awful
beating from preachers over the years. You remember Lazarus'
sister Martha, who was cumbered with much serving, and she came
to the Lord while Mary sat at his feet and heard his word.
And the Lord reproved her, not for her self-serving. That wasn't
the reason. He reproved her because she became
cumbered with much surfing. I'm married to a Martha who serves
me well. I don't mean cumbered with surfing.
I thank God for her. Every time I go get a fresh,
clean pair of socks out of the drawer, Martha put them there.
Every time I put on a shirt hanging in the closet, Martha ironed
it and put it there. Every time I sit down at one of those meals
over at the house, Martha did it. And many of you, men and
women, are Marthas. You serve well and serve faithfully
behind the scenes, but as we are engaged in labor, we do have
a terrible tendency to become encumbered with our labor. We
have a tendency to become encumbered with the work. And when you become
encumbered with the work, it becomes a burden. And that's
true not only of serving God in doing things that other men
say. That's true in serving God in
preaching, in study, laboring in the gospel. It can also become
encumbering. So that we become encumbered
by our much serving because we have such heavy, heavy responsibilities. With that in mind, I chose this
title for my message. You might want to write it down
next time you begin to become encumbered with your serving,
as I often do. Try to remember it. Two fish,
five pieces of bread, and 5,000 for dinner. Now that won't wake you up. I
don't know why it would. Two fish, two pieces of bread,
five pieces of bread and 5,000 for dinner. You'll find my text
in Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9. In this passage,
we have Luke's inspired account of this great miracle that our
Lord performed in multiplying the loaves and fishes to feed
5,000 men. 5,000 men. That's repeated Every time it's given, 5,000
men, and then we're told beside women and children, there were
at least, at least 20,000 people here, probably more like 25,000
or more, fed with two fish, five pieces of bread in the hands
of the master. Oh, what he can do with our nothing. what he can do with that which
is totally insignificant. What he can do with that which
we look at and consider to be utterly useless. Two pieces of
fish, five pieces of bread, 5,000 men, besides women and children,
fed till everybody was ready to take a nap. Just fed to overflowing. And of the baskets that remain,
of the fragments that remain, there were taken up 12 baskets
full. So they could feed a bunch more.
May God, the Holy Spirit, give us the instruction we need from
this great miracle. The instruction we need now.
Now this miracle is recorded more frequently than any of our
Lord's miracles. And it is recorded more fully
than any of his miracles. It is recorded by Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John. And Mark, of all of them, the
briefest of the gospel narratives, gives us the most detailed account
of the miracle. Luke gives us a somewhat briefer
account. Let's read it together. Verse
12, Luke 9, verse 12. When the day began to wear away, the day had been long, the work
had been hard, And now it was about over. Everybody was weary,
tired. Then came the twelve and said
to him, send the multitude away. Oh, what a horrible betrayal of unbelief. Send them away. Look here, all
these people around here, we've been busy all day. You've been
busy all day. Now it's getting time for supper.
It's getting dark. The day's come to an end. Send
them away because we can't feed them. We haven't got anything. Send them away that they may
go into the towns and country round about, that they may go
somewhere besides to you and their lodge. and get victuals
and food. For we're here in an empty desert
place. But the Lord Jesus said to them,
give them to eat. What? Give them to eat. But we ain't
got any food. We're out here in this empty,
barren desert place. And we don't have any money if
we could get in town and buy food before it got dark on us.
The master said, give them to you. And they responded. What a sad response. It's been
mine many times. Has it been yours? They responded,
looking to themselves, looking to their means, looking to their
ability, looking to their possessions, looking to their power, looking
to their strength, Looking to their energy, they said, we have
no more but five loaves and two fishes. This is a little boy's
lunch he packed to come on a picnic. Except we should go to town,
should go and buy meat for all this people. For there were about
5,000 men. And he said to his disciples,
now this got their attention. Now make them sit down by fifties
in company. You have them sit down and I'll
show you something. You have them sit down and I'll
teach you something. Make them sit down by fifties
in company and they did so. And made them all sit down. Then,
now here's the key. Oh God, here's the key. He took
the five loaves. and two fishes. He took them. Now, they're not
in the hands of that little boy. They're not in the hands of these
respected apostles. They're not in the hands of men.
He took them. He took them. What you brought
this morning for the furtherance of the gospel, oh, if you'll
take it in his hands. What I bring to him tonight in
the preaching of the gospel, Oh, if he'll take it in his hands,
if he'll take it in his hands, then it might not, not might,
it will not something. If you find it just coming from
my hands, you'll go away hungry just like you came in. He took
the five loaves and two fishes and he looked up to heaven and blessed them and blessed Gave thanks for them. Praised
God for them. Acknowledging these five loaves
and these two fish. Father, you sent down here. These
five loaves and these two fish are what you have given for this
occasion, for this purpose, for the feeding of this multitude.
And he gave thanks. Gave thanks. When we read about
blessing, him blessing the Lord for these things, he's not talking
about some kind of an idea somehow we consecrate to food, we make
it useful by pronouncing a blessing on it or asking a blessing on
it, but rather he's talking about giving thanks to God. He lifted
his eyes to heaven. He gave thanks and praised God. Because God Almighty had on this
occasion resolved to honor himself by meeting the needs of men with
meager provision. Five loaves and two fish. And he broke. He broke, he broke,
and he broke, and he broke, and he broke, and he broke. You remember
the widow's barrel? Her barrel of meal, as long as
she kept dipping, she kept getting more meal. You remember the crews
of oil? As long as she kept pouring,
she kept getting oil. He broke, and he broke, and he
broke. And gave it to the disciples
to set before the multitude. And they did eat, now look at
this, and were all filled. And there was taken up of the
fragments that remained to them twelve baskets. As the Lord Jesus
graciously and miraculously supplied the needs of this hungry multitude,
so he graciously and miraculously supplies the needs of his people,
the needs of his church, the needs of our souls, the needs
of our bodies, the needs of our lives, day by day in his wise
and good providence. He's the supplier. And he supplies
exactly what's needed on every occasion for the good of our
souls. Now, what does our Lord mean
for us to learn from this often repeated story? I'm certain there's
much more here than I can give out in this message. In fact,
last week and again yesterday and part of this afternoon, I
looked over some notes I'd preached on this in Matthew's gospel and
in Luke's gospel. our Matthews and Marks gospel
and also a message I preached some time back from John's gospel. And I was a little surprised
to realize that the things I had called from the story for this
message and those I'd gotten previously were all different,
all of them different. I want to find what God has for
us tonight. And I'm confident these seven
lessons at least Seven plain practical lessons from the loaves
and fishes are what we have need of now. Number one. With God our Savior, nothing
is impossible. With God our Savior, nothing
is impossible. Oh, how I wish I could learn
this. Really learn it. I've got it down pretty good
theologically. I've got damn pretty good in my head, I've
got damn pretty good so I can recite scriptures to prove it.
Would to God I'd learn it, and learn it so as not to forget
it. Our Lord Jesus Christ, he who is our God and our Savior,
is God omnipotent. That one with whom nothing is
impossible. by the mere exercise of his will. By the mere exercise of his will,
he took five pieces of bread, two pieces of fish, and fed 5,000
men. Just by the exercise of his will.
Now this is not a fable. It's not a parable. It's not
even an allegory. This great miracle was performed
in public before thousands of people. That same divine power
that created all things out of nothing in the beginning, created
here food for a multitude where there was no food before, or
practically none. Now this was not the trickery
of some snake oil hoochster, and the woods are full of them
today. And I'm talking about religious substance. This is
not one of those fellas who put on a big show and got TV cameras
to come and got folks to come in and act like they were paralyzed
so he could heal them and throw their crutches away and get you
to give them their money. He didn't ask for anything. This
miracle was performed by him who is God Almighty in such a
public manner and such a public display of divine power that
no question could be had concerning the validity of it. 5,000 hungry
men would not have all said they were full if they were still
hungry. There would not have been 12
baskets full of food taken up if these men had still been hungry.
The Lord Jesus here shows himself to be God Almighty He's the king
of creation. He's the king of providence.
He's the king of grace. He rules everything exactly as
he will and always does what he will for the glory of his
name and the good of our souls. He who is God our Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ, is that one of whom Paul speaks when he says,
he calleth those things which be not as though they were. With him, nothing is impossible. When he wills something, it's
done. People today, and we know better, but we are so
poisoned with the pollution of our day, we tend to think like
this. We tend to think, well, the Lord
wants, or the Lord wills, or this is what God really desires. What God really desires is what
He is. Can you understand that? What God really wants is what
He is. What God really wills is what He is. He wills and it's
done. It's not a matter of maybe it
will be, might be. If folks will cooperate, what
He wills, He does. It's done by His will. Everything is in grace and in
providence. When he commands a thing, it's
performed. You remember the ruler who came
to the Lord Jesus, and he said, I'm a man like you. I have soldiers
under my authority. And I say to this one, go here,
and he goes and do that, and he does it. And I know if you'll
just say the word, if you'll just say the word, my daughter
will be made whole. My servant, rather, will be made
whole. The Lord Jesus has the whole creation under his authority,
everything. And he sends his servant, all
of his servants, where he will, to do what he will. He commands
and it's done. He creates light out of darkness. He makes order out of chaos.
He brings strength out of weakness. He turns sorrow into laughter,
weeping into singing, and mourning into gladness of heart. He brings
food out of nothing. Now I've said all that. Not so
much to talk about material needs. Most of us here don't know much
about material need. Some of you may have been hungry.
I have been. I know what it is. I know what
it is to be hungry. Hungry. But there is a greater
need than that. With regard to the work we are
set With regard to the work he has put in our hands, we might
well despair, were we not the servants of him who is God mighty
to save. The Lord Jesus Christ has committed
to our trust the gospel of his grace. Unto me who am less than
the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. It's mentioned
in his prayer. Oh, what a trust God's given
to this assembly to carry the gospel of his grace into all
the world. So we can't do that. Why not?
You tell me why not? Well, you don't have anything.
You don't have any. Somebody asked me one time, said,
who's Who's your primary benefactor? I don't even know what he's talking
about. What do you mean? Well, who is it that supplies
all your needs? I said God Almighty. God Almighty. But I'm talking about men. Well,
not any of us here can do it. Not any of us. Oh, yes, we can.
Oh, yes, we can. God Almighty never called anybody
to do anything. He didn't bountifully supply
the need. Never. He never put any work in anyone's
hands. He didn't also give strength
to perform. He has entrusted to us the mystery
of the gospel and given us command to carry the gospel to the four
corners of the earth. We are commissioned of him to
gather his sheep for the saving of his people.
for the calling out of his elect, for the establishing of his kingdom.
That's what we're here for. When I see the corruption of
men's lives, know the depravity of their hearts, when I observe
their obstinate hardness of heart repeatedly manifest when unbelief
appears to be willfully and firmly established in the hearts of
men. I would be in utter despair. We're written off of one thing. He who is our God is God Almighty. Well, who can be saved, the disciples
said? This man can't be. With God,
with men, it's impossible. With God, why, that's no problem.
That's no problem. That's no problem. He is God
mighty to save. His arm is not shortened that
it cannot save. His power is not and cannot be
limited. His grace is not and cannot be
restrained. He's God. His will cannot be
frustrated. He's God. His purpose cannot
be altered. He's God. We're talking about
God. We're talking about God. Now
anything less than this is not God. If somebody talks about
God, wanting what he doesn't have, willing what he doesn't
do, desiring what he doesn't accomplish, trying what he doesn't
perform, they're not talking about God. They're talking about
a good luck charm. They're talking about an idol. They're talking
about some imaginary deity they conjured up in their minds. God
is almighty. He does what he will. He does
what he will. Ezekiel. Can these bones live? They've been laying there a long
time. They're bleached white. They've broken apart, scattered
across the field. If it's up to them, they can.
And if it's up to me, they can't. But Lord God, you know, it's
up to you. Prophesy to the bones. Prophesy
to the bones. Call the wind of heaven to come
and watch the bones dance before God. Can that poor soul be saved? If God saves him again, can that hard-hearted rebel son
be converted? If it depends on you, no. If
it depends on him, no. If it depends on me, no. But
if God turns him, he'll be turned. Can that profligate daughter
be fetched from her pit that she dug by her own hands? If
it depends on her, no. If it depends on you, no. If it depends on me, no. Oh,
no. But if God Almighty reaches down
His hand, He'll snatch them from the horrible pit just as He did
us. Our Lord Jesus said, All power. What a word. All power, all the energy, all
the authority, all the power of heaven and earth is in my
hands. Hold on. They talk about the energy of
the sun. Man, that's nothing. They talk about the powers of
the universe, the powers of the galaxies. It's all in his hands. All the power of creation is
in the hands of him who created it. All authority, all authority,
the authority of kings and the authority of devils, all authority
is in his hands. All of it. The authority of God
is in his hands. Thou has given him power over
all flesh. How come? How come? Why does
he hold this power? that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. All right, here's the second
thing. The Lord our God works by means. The Lord our God works by means. He graciously condescends to
use human instruments to accomplish his work in this world. Isn't that remarkable? Isn't that remarkable? Remember
when he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, he said to those
standing by, take away the stone. How come? Because they couldn't. They couldn't raise him dead,
they couldn't roll away the stone. And he says to these disciples, he
said, you make them sit down by rows of 50, and you give them
food to eat. You do it. Well, looks to me like it would
have been easy for him to do it the other way, it would have.
But he honors men to be used of him to do his work in this
world for the souls of men and the glory of his name. Mmm. Reckon what you'd have given
to have been there passing out fish. Just take the bread and say,
here, here, here's some more. Take it. He uses men. He uses men. What an honor. What an honor. The hungry multitude here is
a vivid emblem of mankind. Sinners in this great company
of empty souls. in the midst of empty souls,
men of unclean lips in the midst of a nation of unclean lips,
hungry, needy, perishing for lack of bread, as sheep without
a shepherd. The Lord Jesus Christ is a compassionate
Savior. Matthew and Mark both tell us
that the Lord looked on these multitudes and had compassion He had compassion. His heart
was moved by the hunger of these souls. His heart was moved by
the fact that they were hungry. And I'm talking now physical
hunger. And they hadn't been long without
bed. They'd just been out there that one day. But his heart was
moved with compassion because they had a need they couldn't
supply. What moves you? What moves me? What's of greater
concern to you? The souls of men? Or the latest
stats on the sports page? What moves you? What moves me? The needs of eternity bound souls? Or who's in the White House?
What moves you? What moves men? Our Lord was
a man tender and full of compassion. And that which moved him was
what men needed. That's what moved him. The Lord Jesus Christ has given
into our hands that which will meet the needs of men's souls
in every walk and circumstance of life. He's given us the bread
of heaven, the gospel of his free grace. These disciples are
good representatives of God's preachers in this world. We don't have any bread, but he does. And I've been praying today,
Lord, as you fill these disciples empty hands, fill my soul to
feed your people. We haven't any ability, but he
does. We haven't any power, but he does. Our work is simple. Give them the bread. Give them
to eat. Our work is vital. Give them
to eat. Give them to eat. That's what
he put us here for. And our work is delightful. Give
them to eat. Give them to eat. You ladies,
I suppose more so than the men sitting here can relate to what
I'm talking about. You have folks in your house and you labor hard
and you prepare a meal and just a fabulous meal. You go all out. Just pile it
on, can't get it all on the table. Just pile it on, pile it on.
And folks come, and they're hungry. And saving up for this. I hadn't
eaten anything all day. I've been saving up. I knew I
was going to have a good meal. I've been saving up for this. And
they sit down, and when they get done, the platter is clean. And you just sit there and smile.
Ah, look at them. They enjoyed that. Oh, what a
delightful thing. to give men the bread of life
and their souls consume it. But some won't eat. I know it.
I know it. And I'd be lying to you if I
said that didn't bother me. I'd get a little disturbed by
it. But I soon get over it. Because I know hungry folks will.
If they're not feeling up on something else, they'll eat when
there's good food around. And they'll eat no matter how it's
served up. It doesn't matter whether the fellow is eloquent
and polished or not. It doesn't matter whether he's
well educated or uneducated. If he just serves up the bread,
give it to me. It doesn't really matter whether the top plate
is clean or not. If I'm hungry, I'll eat the bread. Thirdly,
our Savior's name is Jehovah Jireh. He provides everything. His name is the Lord who will
provide. He is that one who heals our souls. He is that one who
nourishes our souls. He is that one who preserves
our souls. He is the one who provides all
things for us. And he provides for us, Bobby
Estes, everything we need. Turn over to Luke chapter 23.
Chapter 22, I'm sorry. Verse 35, the Lord Jesus said
to his disciples, when I sent you without purse and script
and shoes, I sent you out to preach. I sent you out to preach
requiring that you provide nothing for yourself. I sent you out
to preach demanding that you not compromise my gospel to feed
yourself. I sent you out to preach promising
you nothing from anybody. I sent you out to preach with
no security. I sent you out to preach with
no visible means of support. Light key anything? Light key
anything? And they said, nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Oh, Don Fortner, why can't you
learn what you preach? Learned from the experience of
God's goodness and grace. He sent me out, boy, 17 years
old, preaching the gospel of his grace, with no promise of
anything that I could see, no visible means of support, demanding
that I not care for myself. And you know what? I have exactly
as much now as I had when I was 17 years old. Exactly as much,
no more, no less. And I've never lacked for anything.
Never lacked for a thing? Never. I get to fretting about this
dear lady sitting over here, what's going to happen with her.
God forgive me. God forgive me. She's his, not
mine. He takes care of his own. I'll
tell you something else about him. He supplies our needs specifically
to serve Him. He supplies our needs specifically
to serve Him. He didn't put anything in my
hands or yours for our pleasure to consume on our lust. You didn't mean to say that.
He didn't put anything in my hands or yours for our pleasure
to consume on our lust. No, sir. No, sir. Whatever he
put in your hands, whether it's your farm, your car, your house,
your bank account, whatever he put in your hands, whether it's
your talents and abilities, whatever he put in your hands, whatever
he put in your hands, he put in your hands to use for him. and using it for him, you'll
never see it diminish. This is what the wise man says,
there is the scatters, here, what's needed dad, here,
here, what's needed here, here, take it, take it, scatters, and
it yet increases. So I came forward give, I can't
afford to do this. If I had more, I wouldn't. No,
you wouldn't. No, you wouldn't. If you don't use your pennies
for it, you won't use your dollars for it. If you don't use your
minutes for it, you won't use your hours for it. If you don't
use your tent for it, you won't use your house for it. Believers
have been trusted with these things as stewards for God. Now, he who has less is not responsible
for he who has more, but he's responsible for his less. It's
exactly right. Turn over to Philippians chapter
four. I'll wrap this up quickly, but
I want you to see this. Paul's in prison and these poor
Philippians, they're The pastor of Paproditus was going down
to visit his buddy Paul in time of trouble. And word got around, you going
down to see Paul? Yeah, yeah. Well, hang on. They should have seen me before
you go. They should have seen me before you go. And they got
together and sent him a care package. They sent him some blankets,
I suspect. Sent him whatever they could. Sending the best of what they
had, but whatever they could. The very best of what they could
give, but whatever they could. And it wasn't much because they
were poor folks. They were poor folks. And Paul said, I've received
from Epaphroditus your gift. A sweet smelling savor to God. A sweet smelling, they didn't
give it to Paul. They gave it to God through Paul.
A sweet smelling sacrifice to God. And he felt kind of bad. He felt kind of bad. Here poor
folks give him to take care of him, sacrifice him to meet his
needs. And then he felt better. Listen
to this, verse 19. But my God, but my God shall
supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ
Jesus. Give, and it shall be given to
you. Press down, shake them together, and running over. Scatter, and
it'll increase. All right, fifthly, understand
this, and it's stated in all four accounts. Our God is a God
of order. The Lord Jesus said to those
men, make them sit down and rose at fifty. Rose at fifty. We've been studying the sacrifices
in the book of Leviticus. God says you're going to worship
me, you do it after this order. When David brought the ark of
God up, and you remember Uzzah reached out and touched the ark,
and God killed him, and David was mad at God, and then he repented. He said, God's brought a breach
upon us. And this is the reason why we
saw him not after the due order. If we serve Him, we'll serve
Him His way. If we worship Him, we'll worship
Him His way. Churches having vape sales and
send folks out begging. God Almighty is not a beggar
in His church either. God Almighty doesn't grovel before
me and His servants don't either. We serve Him according to His
order. Whether we're talking about what we give, how we conduct
our ministry, whether we're talking about the worship services, we
worship God according to his order or we don't worship him
at all. Sixthly, I mentioned this earlier, so
I'll just touch on it. Our Lord can and does cause the empty
barrel of meal to overflow and the crews of oil to constantly
flow. As we use what he puts in our
hands for his glory, he graciously supplies us with more to use
for his glory. I can't tell you how many times
I've seen this, though. An opportunity presents itself
to serve the interest of God's kingdom, and I think I can't
add another hour to my week. I just can't. I can't do it. No, I'm sorry, I can't. I'm trying to learn not to because
I've never yet put my hand to the work and added another hour
to the week for what another hour to be found. Never yet. No, we can't. I'm sorry, we can't
help. I'm sorry. We just, we don't have any means. Wait a minute. I've never reached
in my pocket to give anybody anything. I didn't find something
to give them. Have you? Now I've often looked in my pocket for
something to give it up. No, no, I need, I need, no, no, I
can't. But I've never yet reached in
my pocket to give anybody anything. There wasn't something there
to give them. And you know what? I've never missed it. Never missed
it. The proverb is, little is much
when God's in it. The blessing of Christ will make
very little to go a long, long ways. Have we not seen it? These 22
years we've been laboring together. My God, how he's demonstrated.
The little that the righteous man has is better than the riches
of many. The riches of many wicked, and
a dinner of herbs is better than a stalled ox. Oh, yeah. David learned the foolishness
of envying the prosperity of the wicked. Let them have it. Let them have it. You men and
you ladies, don't envy the rich of this world. Let them have
it. That's all they've got. Let them
enjoy it. That's all they've got. And feed
your soul upon things that matter. Seek things that matter. Labor
for things that matter. One more thing. When the Lord Jesus feeds, He satisfies. I pity the Esau's of this world
who count their cattle, and count their shekels, and count their
acres, and count their possessions, count their servants, and count
their name, and count their fame, and count their reputation and
say, now I've got enough. Oh, I pity them. But being the scoundrel he was,
David, I'd sure like to be like Jacob, who lifted his eyes to heaven
and said, I've got enough. I have enough. Christ is mine. Who lay back in the office? His
mother, poor, but possessing all things. Having nothing, but
possessing all things. That's God's people. Christ is
ours. What we have here is His. What He puts in our hands
is His. My wife, my daughter, my children
are His. They're His. His trusted to me
to use for Him. My time, that's not mine, it's
His. My possession had not been his.
It's his. It's me to use it other than
for him. It's me to rob God. Father, oh Father, forgive our
sin and teach us by your grace to
honor you. in all things. Amen.