those who requested prayer. Nancy
Berger went in the hospital last night. They had to shock and restart
her heart. But I haven't heard, but I think they were going home
after that. She'd had the procedure before. But remember her in your
prayers and the others who requested prayer also. Smith died, didn't he, that fell
around the pizza end? Sorry, he died. James. Liam,
James. James. James, Liam, James, yeah. I remember eating at the Pizza
Inn way back when. That steakhouse was the steakhouse
beside it. Do you remember that? Put J.C. Standard there on your
list. He's a bad shank. One of his
legs is spoiled. He's in the gutter. He needs
help. He knocked. He just came. Rain French has checked himself
in the rehab. This is the first time. I pray
that it'll work for him. I hope so. Jesse Stanley. Yes. I hope you
do it. Let's begin our worship service
with hymn number 236, Amazing Grace. And after we sing all
these verses, we'll sing the last verse in Cherokee. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
am found, was blind, but now I see. Grace that taught my heart to
fear and grace my ears to hear. through many Already come! His grace hath brought me safe
thus far And grace will lead me home When we've been there
ten thousand years Bright shining as the sun, we no less wait to
sing God's praise. and when we first begun. Une lana iureji, Iga lujo hei,
na lojo sa. Yehudah say, Yehudah, Yehudah,
Yehudah. bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him lord of all bring forth the royal diadem and crown
him lord of all ransomed from the fall. Hail Him who saves you by His
grace, and crown Him Lord of all. Hail Him who saves you by
His grace, and crown Him Lord of all. To Him all majesty are strike,
and crown Him Lord of all. will join me Tell with me if I was pleased
with John the sixth chapter. of Galilee, which is the sea
of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed
him because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were
diseased. And Jesus went up into a mountain,
and there he sat with his disciples. And the Passover, a feast of
the Jews, was nigh. When Jesus then lifted up his
eyes, he saw great company come unto him. And he saith unto Philip,
whence shall we buy bread that these may eat? And this he said
to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip
answered him and said, 200 penny worth of bread is not sufficient
for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of his
disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, there's
a lad here which has five barley loaves and two small fishes.
But what are they amongst so many? And Jesus said, make the
men sit down. Now there was much grass in the
place, so the men sat down and numbered about 5,000. Jesus took
the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to
the disciples, and the disciples to them that were sat down, likewise
of the fishes, as much as they would. And they were filled,
he said unto his disciples, gather up the fragments that remain,
that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them
together and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five
barley loaves, which remained over and above them that had
eaten. Then those men, when they had
seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of the truth of
that prophet that should come into the world. Let us pray. We come in the name of Jesus
Christ, our Lord, our great Savior, who is King of kings and Lord
of lords, for whom nothing is too hard.
We thank you, Father, that he rules and reigns with absolute
sway in this world. We are thankful that all things
that take place are ordered and ordained for the good of his
people and for the glory of his name's sake. We thank you for
an opportunity to gather, to worship you, and to hear the
word of God. We pray for those who are sick, those who are going
through trials, those who have lost loved ones. We ask, Lord,
your help for them as only you can. I pray you would touch the
hearts and minds and souls and bring them to the feet of Christ.
Father, we pray for ourselves tonight as we gather here, as
you might be pleased to give us a glimpse of our Savior. May we touch the hem of his garment,
see him high and lifted up, enthroned in glory, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. to intercede on our behalf. We thank you that He came to
this world to do that, to intercede on behalf of His elect. Help
us now, we pray, to think on things that are worthwhile, to
think on Jesus Christ. We pray in His precious name. Amen. Now this is one of the grand
miracles that our Lord did in His ministry. The employment
of these miracles was to set a stage, we know that, for preaching
the gospel. That was the design and the reason
why the miracles were done. To give men a sensible reason
to hear what the Lord said. So he did these miracles that
they'd gather to him and then he'd speak to them. Those who
were fed this day will hunger again. No one saved by the miracles. No one was ever saved by the
miracles. of those raised from the dead was temporal and they
would eventually die again. Those who were fed this day will
hunger again on the morrow. The reason for the miracles was
to gain a hearing that's always designed even through the apostolic
age. And though this was the case,
it somewhat mirrors the gospel. It is preached to many, preached
to the whole world, but few there be that find it and enter 5,000 men plus women and children were
fed that day. But from the response of the
men that came later, there were few, if any, that actually believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ. They did refer to him as the
prophet that was promised in Deuteronomy 18. But the words
betrayed them. The words that came later indicated
that their assessment was not about believing what the prophet
said or hearing the prophet's words, filling their own bellies
with what was available. In verse 1 it says, After these
things, and the things that he's speaking of refers to the healing
of the man at the Pool of Bethesda, the Jews accusing Christ and
the healed man for doing what was prohibited on the Sabbath
day, and the Lord asserting his deity as the Son of God. That's
what after these things means. In verse 2, the reason that crowds
followed him is clearly stated. They were fascinated with him.
I probably would be too. If he came along, I probably
would be too if he was able to feed 5,000 with a few fishes
and a few loaves of bread. They were fascinated with him
for healing people. And since sickness troubles almost
everybody, sometime in their life they saw an opportunity
to catch a glimpse of his miraculous power Since it's not mentioned,
the doctrine he taught garnered no interest in them and doesn't
show anyway. It's often the case in this day
of entertainment value of healing crusades and religious music
fests. They garner huge crowds and there
seems to be a strange kind of pride that many are supposedly
saved without any preaching of the gospel at all. There seems
to be a bragging point among them. Well, I'll tell you what,
so many people say the preacher didn't even get a chance to preach.
Well, I hate to tell you this, but you ain't saved through gospel
singing. And you ain't saved through raising up your hands
and clapping your hands together and jumping up and down. There's
one way God has ordained that men come to know Jesus Christ.
That's through the preached word of the gospel. That's how faith
comes with the help of the Holy Spirit making it so. It is undeniable
that these things that people do in the name of religion today
is certainly an experience. There's no doubt about that.
I've seen some of them. They have light shows, man. They
have neon lights. They have pyrotechnics. It's a wonder. And they call
it a worship service. They call it a worship service.
And it's really, it's like a rock concert. And the feeling is the
same. You clap your hands. I watched
Queen perform at the AIDS concert years and years ago. Hundreds
of thousands of people listening to Freddie Mercury sing and waving
their hands back and forth. They were so excited. Heck, I
was excited too. It was great. It was a great
show. That's it. That's religion today. Gets you
excited, gets you wound up, gets you down in front. This is the religion of the flesh,
and it's discounting of the necessity of truth revealed through the
preaching of the gospel, which is the singular means that God
employs to create faith in men. It's the only way it happens.
It happens no other way. I've had men come up to say,
well, can you read the Bible? And you'd say, I don't corner
God. I can't corner Him. He's too big for me to corner. that a person may be able to
read this book and always speak it in life. I don't know. But
it never uses that as an example in scripture of how people are
saved and how faith comes. There's only one way. Our Lord
said, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. But how shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? How shall they believe in him
whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? So faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. That's why
the Lord sent me into the world with this word. I don't know
how it works. That's an intricate thing. I
don't have any idea how it works, but it's kind of like the old
fella says, how does electricity work? He said, really well. And
that's what the gospel does. It works really well. Now can
I text in verse 3, our Lord goes to a mountain near Bethsaida
and is probably at rest and has some time for teaching his disciples,
perhaps a reflection As in another gospel, it's recorded that he
had just heard of John's beheading at this time. When the Passover
feast was at hand and the food involved was barley bread and
watered-down wine. That's what they used in this
Passover feast. Verses 5 through 9 are about
faith. It's about the difference between
the faith of Philip and the faith of Andrew. Let's read that. When Jesus lifted up his eyes
and saw great company coming to him, he said, Philip, when
shall we buy bread that is made? And this he said to prove him,
for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered, 200 penny
worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them
may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew,
Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, there is a lad here
He said, five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what are
they amongst them? So many, so many. This is a test
that our Lord has given to Simon Peter's brother, Andrew, and
to Philip. Our Lord surveyed the crowd that
had followed him, and he knew that he was going to feed them.
In Matthew 15, 32, according to this, it says, Christ had
compassion on the crowd because they were hungry. Now he had
not shown any compassion to the religious Jews that he had just
spoken to. He said they didn't believe God,
didn't believe the love of God, didn't believe the word of God,
didn't believe him. That's what he said. The love of God was
not him. He had compassion on the religious
crowd, but he had compassion on people that were hungry. People
that were hungry. This speaks to our Lord's true
humanity, his tenderhearted kindness. And reflects on what we should
be as children of God. Always have compassion on those
in need. There's no doubt about that. But he's using their hunger
to prove faith for his disciples. Or the faith of his disciples.
He asked Philip, where will bread be bought to feed this multitude?
Now the Lord, it says, he knew what he was going to do. He knew
that he was going to feed this crowd. Already knew that, but
he asked this to Philip. And he asks this question, he
says, to prove him. Now that word prove means to
try, to assess, or assay. Now it's not to dismiss the faith
of Philip, but to center the faith of Philip, to let him know
where his faith needs to be in all things. Because sometimes
our faith is rather weak. In fact, most of the times it
is. Our Lord said to his disciples who followed him day by day and
listened to him preach. He said many times, oh, you have
little faith. Oh, you have little faith. And
that was not a rebuke. Well, he said if your faith was
the size of a mustard seed, you could move mountains. So he wasn't
saying that we ought to try to get that kind of faith. So we
can move mountains, he was saying. Faith ain't a great deal. It's
sufficient faith. It's the faith God has given
us, therefore it's true faith and it's real faith and it's
the faith God has given us and it always is directed to one
person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philip's faith, Philip was a
pragmatist, you see. He looked at the crowd, he looked
at his wallet, and he said, there's no way that this, we can buy
enough food. Look over at John 14, I'll give
you a sense of Philip's pragmatism. John chapter 14. Verse 8 said, Philip said to
him, Lord, show us the Father. And that'll be enough. Show us
the Father. And it's a fight. And our Lord
had just said, no man can come to me except the Father, which
he sent me. Draw him. And he said, show us the Father. Show
us the Father. That's a pragmatism. I like to
see what you're talking about. I like to visibly lay my understanding
on that. And he said, if you've seen me,
you've seen the father. You've seen the father. But that's
Philip. He looked at his wallet, and he knew that the pennies
he had could not buy enough bread. But he's not considering that
he has seen water turn to wine. He's seen a lame man who was
lame 38 years take up his bed and walk. And this is not held
against him, but was an opportunity to teach him. Little faith and
great faith are nonetheless true faith and a gift of God. The
measure is of God. Only one person ever had faith
without measure and the spirit without measure. That was Jesus
Christ himself. Everybody else got a little bit. Got a little bit. The measure
is according to God's pleasure. The difference between what Philip
said and what Andrew said wasn't what they were considering. Philip
was considering the inability of the wall. And he was right. He didn't have
it up in his wallet. Andrew was considering what the
inadequacy of the amount of food called for and the ability that
was needed was for something to happen miraculously to feed
these people. Miraculously. Verse 8, it says
one of the disciples of Andrew, Philip's brother, says to him,
there's a lad here. And Philip says, he ain't got
no money. to buy enough bread to feed this
crowd. And I said, there's a kid over
here, why would he say that? Because his faith was a little
bit different, and a little bit differently directed than Phillips
was. Phillips was directed at his wallet, and he understood
that he didn't have it, but he said, there's a lad here which
has five barley loaves and two small fishes. So what are they
among this crowd? What are they among this crowd?
Andrew was considering that the inadequacy of the amount of food
called for the ability of someone else and something else other
than just a wallet, just a wallet. And so with five barley loaves,
five barley loaves and two small fishes, the Lord turned this
bigger morsel into a banquet for 5,000 with 12 baskets left
over. That's what it says in verse
11, it says, Jesus took the loaves. And when he had given thanks,
he distributed it to the disciples. And the disciples, to them that
were sat down, and likewise of the fishes, as much as they would.
And when they were filled by a thousand people, that's just
men. There were probably women and
children along with them too. They gathered up the fragments
of the remains, let nothing be left. They gathered up 12 baskets
full. It's interesting to know that
the meal consisted of barley loaves and fishes. These were
sun-dried fishes. That's what they did. They took
these fishes and they gutted them and they hung them out and
let them dry in the sun. And the barley loaves were made
from the first fruits of the barley harvest. This was not the best bread. Barley was the first fruits of
the harvest and was food fed to horses and to cattle and food
for the common folk. It pictured the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, a plain thing, not fancy, not a whole bunch
of stuff hanging from it. It's just plain through Jesus
Christ and him crucified. But it pictures that. It appeals
to the hungry. It appeals to the thirsty. But
if you're not thirsty, if you're not hungry, it doesn't appeal
to you at all. This barley and these fishes
to the hungry, and if there's going to have a meal, there's
going to get to eat that day. Barley, plain fare. It was the
barley harvest that Boaz, the Kinsman Redeemer, gave orders
to the harvesters to give Ruth handfuls on purpose. Handfuls
on purpose. The gospel is for the poor. That's
stated throughout the scripture. The poor in spirit. and the broken
hearted and the hungry and the thirsty. That's who it's for.
That's the language that's used. When we preach the gospel, we're
preaching that kind of language. We don't know if you're hungry.
We don't know if you're thirsty. Nobody does. You can't tell if
a person's hungry or thirsty for the gospel. We can't tell if a person yearns
for salvation. We can't tell any of that. We
speak to them with the language that if they are, if God has
done something to them and made them hungry and thirsty, if they
are, we got something for them. Now if they're not hungry, what
we say won't mean a thing. Just like that fellow Stubb when
Barnum was preaching and said, I don't believe a thing you're
saying. Barnum says, I wasn't talking to you. We don't know who the elect are,
but we got the food We got the message. And that message is
the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's why the Lord said, oh,
everyone that's thirsty, come and drink. Buy meat without money. Buy food without money. In talking in Luke chapter 4,
he turned to the passage in Isaiah 61 when he said this. Turn over
there. The prophecy of the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 61, he said, the spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me, and
that word is Christ, anointed me to preach good tidings unto
the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison for them that are bound. to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord, the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort
all that mourn, to appoint them that mourn in Zion, to give unto
them beauty for ashes. They're ashes. Their life is
ashes. They'll soon end up being ashes.
That means there's no fire left in them. There's only a pit to
throw out the trough. What's God gonna do? He's gonna
give them beauty for it. In place of their ashes, God's
going to give them beauty, the beauty of holiness, the beauty
of righteousness, the oil of joy for when they mourn. He's going to give them joy down
deep in their soul even though they might be heartbroken. The
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness when you're down
and out, down deep in your soul if you know the gospel, you've
got reason for praise. You've got reason for praise. that they might be called trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be
glorified. The gospel is for the brokenhearted. That's not talking about those
who are broke up with their loved one. That's talking about those
who are brokenhearted in spirit, talking about those who are poor
in spirit, talking about those who are hungry and thirst after righteousness.
That's who the gospel is for. That's who the gospel is for.
Here on this day, The master feeds the poor, and the hungry,
and the most meager and meek. One old prophet, one old preacher
said that brown bread and the gospel are fine fare, and they
are. And having fed the masses, he
gathered fragments, amounted to 12 baskets full. This speaks
to the inexhaustible depth, the grace and mercy of God. You can't
exhaust it. And there was Spurgeon who wrote
about God's checkbook on grace. You can't deplete the bank account.
You can't deplete the bank account. I think it was Sir Walter Scott
who was always beseeching the Queen to give him money for this
project and that project. And somebody was embarrassed
by it and said, why do you keep asking her? for money. Aren't you embarrassed? He says
no. Why do you keep asking? Because he loves to give it.
And so he just kept asking and she kept giving because he was
very special to her. Why do you keep asking for grace
and mercy? Because he just gives it and
gives it. There's no, the depth of his
mercy is unmeasurable. That's how Paul worded it in
Romans chapter 11. In verse 33, it says, oh, the
depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God,
how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. And in Philippians chapter 4,
verse 19, it says, my God shall supply all your needs according
to His riches in grace. That's what happened this day
in the physical realm of teaching the spiritual truth. Now the
response of those who enjoyed the abundance delivered by Christ,
we'll find out what they thought of that in weeks to come. But
this is what they said, this is of a truth that prophet that
should come into the world. Now they spoke of the prophet
that was promised in Deuteronomy 18. that Peter preached in Acts
chapter 3, Deuteronomy 18, that prophet. This is what was said
of that prophet. This is what the Lord said, when
I send that prophet, in the capital P, Deuteronomy 18, 18, I will
raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto
them. Remember, he was the son of David. and will put my words in his
mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I command him. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever will I hearken unto my words, which he shall speak
in my name, I will require it of him, I will demand it of him."
That prophet, they spoke these words with a singular interest
in filling their bellies. We'll see that probably in the
next lesson. They had found a source of free
food and that was their notion of that prophet. That prophet
was going to feed them. But you don't find anything about
that prophet in just what I just read about feeding anybody or
supplying natural means. What did the Lord say about it?
I'm going to put my words in his mouth. And you are bound
by God to hear His Word and to obey Him. That prophet was not
about giving them food. That prophet was about giving
them the Word. Our Lord even said in John 12, I will not judge
you, but there will be one that will judge you in the last day.
The words that I speak, they will judge you in the last day.
That prophet is the Messiah. That prophet is the Messiah,
the promised one. What he came to do is not what
they thought. In Daniel chapter 9, here's what the Messiah came
to do. We know it's talking about Messiah because down a little
ways in the chapter it says, so Messiah shall be cut off and
not for himself. It says in verse 24, 70 weeks
are determined upon the people and upon the holy city to finish
transgression. That's why he came. To finish
transgression. To make an end of sins. To make
reconciliation for iniquity. To bring in everlasting righteousness. To seal up the vision of the
prophets. That's the word of God. And to anoint the most holy. That is the Lord Jesus Christ.
That prophet is the Messiah. Why did he come to do it? Did
he come to feed the hungry? Well, the people needed feeding
and he fed them. He knew he was going to do that.
But why did he come to this world? It's all in his name, you see.
Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen. All right. I'm on the celebration key.