Jesus Feeds the Five Thousan..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.

Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. lifting up his eyes then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat? He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, 200 denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.

One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many? Jesus said, Have the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about 5,000 in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated.

So also the fish, as much as they wanted. Twelve. When they had eaten their fill, He told his disciples, gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost. So they gathered them up and filled, and they filled 12 baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left from those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, this is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.

Perceiving them, perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. So brothers and sisters and friends, we are It's been about six weeks since we were last back in the gospel according to John. And the last time, if your memory serves you well, the last time we were in the gospel according to John, we concluded, obviously because we've just started chapter six, but we concluded chapter five.

And what a chapter, chapter five is. There's no doubt in my mind that the contents in chapter 5 are also very much evident throughout the Gospels, all four Gospels. But in my estimation, there is not a single chapter in the Gospels that is so clear and comprehensive of the deity or proving the claims that Jesus makes that He is indeed God. Because the healing of the invalid man at the Pool of Bethesda that opened up the chapter was an opportunity for our Lord to teach the glorious Christological truths that would render both His listeners then and His readers, the readers of God's Word even now, without excuse. Because the discourses and the claims of our Savior are so clear.

They're so clear. Whether one agrees with what Jesus says or not, I truly believe the only conclusion you can have If you read the text, if you understand the text in chapter 5, the only conclusion you can have is that which is identical to what the Jews came up with. Now that may seem like a surprise, because as we read on, we know that the Jews got it wrong in so many instances, but in this case, they got it right with pinpoint accuracy. Their verdict was perfect and on the mark. And it made them furious towards our Lord, didn't it?

And what was their verdict? Chapter 5, verse 18b, he was even calling God, his own father, speaking of Christ, and then comes this, making himself equal with God. As far as the Jews were concerned, that is blasphemy. As far as the Jews were concerned, that is a sin punishable by death. But Jesus doesn't hold back, but rather he goes further and deeper again with every word in that chapter, claiming not only that he's equal with God, but he's one in unity with the Father.

He's united with the Father and he's equal with the Father in his work, he says, in his power, in his authority, He even claims that he's equal with the Father in that he is the source and the very substance of life itself. Knowing full well though, Jesus knowing full well that his testimony before these Jews will probably not bear a lot of weight because these Jews understood the Torah and in the Torah it is written unless you have two or three witnesses then your testimony is of no value and Jesus knew this so then the latter part of the chapter Jesus proceeds to bring witness and after witness after witness who who testifies to Christ and His claims to be true. The first was John the Baptist. The second was the works that the Father had given Jesus to do. And the third, of course, is Scripture, the Word of God, the Word that the Jews thought and knew that in it contained eternal life.

However, although the Jews had memorized the Scripture, and they were very diligent in their study of God's Word, they were meticulous in fact, because of their calloused, unbelieving hearts. Proud hearts, Jesus says. All their endeavors were devastatingly resulted in only superficial, academic knowledge of God. His word didn't abide in their hearts. In their minds, yes.

but he did not take root in their hearts. This means that the Messiah they were waiting for was not a Messiah based on their true and proper understanding of Scripture. There is Scripture. They memorize Scripture, but they didn't understand the spirit of Scripture. So therefore, based on their faulty understanding, and you would call it a fabrication of their mind, they built a Messiah that they were expecting.

And so when the Messiah does come and stares them in the face, they do not recognize Him. And that's devastating. What an object lesson for all of us here this afternoon. We can, too, be very, very familiar with Scripture. We can memorize it.

We can read it every day. In fact, we can go as far as say that we can even teach Scripture. But the Bible is so clear, unless we are intimately, intimately familiar, not only with the written Word, but the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, then we're lost. And so the chapter ends with the convicting words of our Lord, making it clear that Moses, the lawgiver, The one who had given them the Torah that they loved and cherished. Moses, the one that they claimed to be disciples of.

It is Moses, it says, at the latter part, or the last verses of chapter 5, who stands in outrage, accusing these men of unbelief. Unbelief. Why? Well, it's clear. Jesus says, if you truly believe Moses, you would believe what he wrote.

And that which Moses wrote about, that's me, Jesus says. And you do not believe me. And therefore, you don't believe Moses. And therefore, you're not disciples of Moses. So moving on now to chapter 6, here we have the written account of the fourth of seven miracles, or as John calls them, signs in the fourth gospel.

Already we've considered together the first three. If you remember, the first, found in chapter 2, is the turning of the water into wine in Cana at the wedding feast. And the second is in chapter 4, where the royal official's son, who's in Capernaum, is healed by Christ, who is in Cana. And then the third, of course, is the one that began chapter 5, that momentous chapter that we just finished, and that is the invalid man of some four decades. who is made well by our Lord and our Saviour.

Now, before us, in the text that we read this morning, is a sign of huge proportions. It's the sign that Jesus does in turning a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish into a meal to feed multiples, thousands upon thousands. In fact, the text tells us 5,000 men Matthew tells us that's not including women and children, so it's more like probably upwards of 15,000, maybe even 20,000. And this is a very, very important miracle. It's a very important sign, and we must take very close notice of it.

Now, we're not taking notice of this one more than others, as if to say that the signs or the other signs that Jesus does aren't important. They're all important, but the Apostle John only lists seven in his gospel for a reason. He was there. He's the eyewitness of multiple signs and miracles at the hand of our Lord and our Savior. In fact, towards the end of the book, actually the last few verses of the book, he says that if he was to write all the things that Jesus had done, all the books in the world would not contain them.

However, he chooses seven of the ones that he personally witnessed for a reason, and John tells us why. Why that reason is, and it's in his purpose statement. And I know I've told you and I've expressed this statement on multiple times in the last probably 18 months that we've been in this book. So it should come to our minds, I hope. And it is found in John chapter 20 verse 30 and 31.

And how does it read? This is how it reads. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, 31. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. The purpose of the signs, beloved, They're not simply to be enamored or captivated by the wonder.

No, the sign is meant to point to something greater than itself. It's a means and not the ends. It's meant to point to Jesus. It's meant to authenticate what Jesus claims to be. And he claims to be the Son of God.

He claims to be the Messiah. He claims to be the saviour of the world. And then, Once you see these signs and you acknowledge these signs can only be done by God, then you look at the one performing the signs and you hear what he has to say. And then if you believe him, this is the beautiful part. If you believe in what this Jesus has to say, you share in his life.

You share in his eternal life. You see, every sign recorded for us is only possible with the divine power of God. And as I said earlier, if the signs are only possible when God is involved, when it's by the power of God, then God approves of the one doing the signs. And not only does He approve of the one doing the signs, He approves of the one speaking, and what he says, and his message, and his words, because God will never sanction a liar. Never.

So the one who speaks, it's Christ. He needs to be heard. He needs to be believed. And beloved, we need to remember that because it's one thing to see the sign and believe in the sign. It's another to believe the person and believe what he has to say.

Because in this passage, as we work our way through the gospel or the sixth chapter of the gospel, according to John, we will quickly see that the people, many, probably most of the people who are following our savior are enamored and marveled in the signs themselves and the wonders. But verse 66 tells us so clearly, they'll have nothing to do with His words. And beloved, if you don't have anything to do with His words, if you reject the words of our Savior, you are rejecting the Savior Himself. The only hope is being rejected if you reject what he has to say. So now our meditations this afternoon are going to be in verses 1 through 13.

Now we have read 1 through 15, but the response of the crowd that we find in verse 14, and the response of Jesus to what the crowd want to do to Him, and in fact they want to crown Him as King forcefully in verse 15, I want us to keep until next week. And we'll look at those next week. And I want you to realize also that the sixth chapter in the Gospel according to John is the longest chapter in the Gospel. And the whole chapter gives really an explanation of the sign that begins the chapter. In fact, the miracle in the beginning is a picture of what Jesus will go on to explain to the end of the chapter.

So we'll work through the verses together. However, this afternoon, my emphasis is going to be on building some context, some foundations for the rest of our study for future weeks. And also I want to have a look at the testing of Philip. And also I want to have a look at the overarching view of the sign and what it means. Now having said that, as we progress through the chapter there will be more and more light shed on this sign, on this miracle.

So, I'm only saying that so you're not disappointed if I don't thoroughly address the sign here this evening, because over the next few weeks, there'll be more reference to what happens in the first 13 verses. And by God's grace, I believe, if the Lord wills, that we will be blessed, because we'll get a fuller picture. Once we go through the 71 verses of this chapter, we should be able to look back and see this sign, I hope, in a different light. And I trust the Lord will bless our time together. So let's have a look at the text.

Verse 1. After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. You see, some time has lapsed between the ending of chapter 5 and the beginning of chapter 6. Now, how much time? We cannot really be sure, because if you look at chapter 5, verse 1, we're told that there is a feast of the Jews.

Now, Feast of the Jews, it could have been the Passover. And if it is the Passover that is spoken of, the Passover falls in April of every year. And then if we look in our passage that we read here this afternoon in verse 4, we're told that this happened, or the feeding of the 5,000 also happened at the time of the Passover. So if it's the Passover in 5, then it's a year later that we have here. So from the last portion of chapter 5 to the beginning of chapter 6, we may have up to a year.

However, if the 5 verse 1 is not speaking of the Passover, if it's speaking about the Feast of the Tabernacles, otherwise called the Feast the booths, then that takes place in October, so we'll have six months between 5 and 6. Either way, we need to know there's been some time, because when we look and look at our text, we will quickly find out that the context is different, the geography is different. Jesus and the disciples are no longer in Judea, they're no longer in Jerusalem, but now they are to the north, in the region of Galilee. And so that would make a little bit more sense to us. Now, because also the sign, or this sign, the feeding of the 5,000, is found in all four Gospels, in fact, it is the only sign that is found in all four Gospels.

Only miracle apart from the resurrection of our Lord, of course. We are able to derive some additional information from the Synoptic Gospel to build some context. See, Luke tells us that the sign takes place near a town called Bethsaida. Bethsaida. Now that sound, the name may sound familiar to you, and that's because there are a few disciples that come from that place.

And in particular, and I want to turn your attention to this, is Philip. And he'll be instrumental in our passage here this evening. But also we're told by Matthew, He tells us why it is that Jesus and the disciples make the trip over to the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. Why is it that they actually go over there? And if you remember when we were studying the fourth chapter of John, you would remember Jesus was in Judea.

His disciples were baptizing. The Pharisees were now seeing that Jesus' disciples were baptizing more than John's disciples. And Jesus then departs from Judea, heads through Samaria, and then that's when we have that wonderful passage with the woman at the well. And if you remember back then I said that it's about that time that John the Baptist was imprisoned. It's about that time that John the Baptist was imprisoned.

Now Matthew tells us it's about this time now. that John the Baptist is beheaded. So this is around the time that Jesus receives the news that John the Baptist is now beheaded and he needs to depart. He needs to go to a solitary place. But there's another reason as well.

And that is because the disciples, according to Mark, had just come back from this small missionary journey when Jesus sent them out, two by two. and they were very busy. And Mark tells us, even to the point they didn't have a chance to eat. So Jesus looks upon the situation, realizes that they need rest, so he pulls the disciples and he takes them over and he says, I want to spend some time in private with rest, resting with my disciples in private over the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. But of course, as we read this text, we realize something very quickly, and that is that rest is very, very short-lived.

Because in verse 2 we're told, And a large crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. You see, we need to take notice of these things because the Apostle John is telling us something here about the people from the onset that you and I, as we continue to read, will figure out through their actions. You see, these people, for the most part, are not genuine followers of Christ. Despite their eagerness to hike the 10 or 15 kilometers around the seashore to get to where Jesus and the disciples are, they were in it for the spectacle. They were in it for the exhibition.

They were in it because Jesus is this miracle worker that attracted them. He's attractive to them. For then Jesus was a sensory experience, but they didn't believe him and they didn't believe his words. And despite their confession in verse 14, which we'll address next week, by God's grace, and their near attempt to forcefully make him king in verse 15, these people, for the most part, will soon reject Jesus. See, this proves that the signs for these people were an ends and not the means.

They weren't the means that they were meant to be. They were supposed to be a means that brought attention to who Christ was so that one could focus their eyes and their gaze upon Jesus and know who He is, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. They were meant to bring them to submission and belief and trust in Jesus Christ. But they failed to see Jesus as the Savior. They loved the excitement.

They loved the ecstasy. They were fascinated by this Jesus. They marveled. And they sought more of the physical healings, but they had little concern for their desperate need, which is their souls to be healed. So it's no surprise to our Lord, though, You see, John has already revealed to us that many in Jerusalem acted the same way.

Many in Jerusalem had the same attitude to Jesus. You might remember back in chapter 2, verse 23 and 25, the last verses in that chapter, this is what John writes for us. He says, many believed in his name, that's Christ, when they saw the signs that he was doing, but Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man. I love this. For he himself knew what was in man.

These people were attracted by the miracles. They loved the healings. They loved the spectacle. That's what they wanted. But who are they kidding?

Jesus knows what's in man. He knows their hearts. Beloved, He knows who are His and He knows who is fake and phony from a true follower of Christ. See, for you and I, the disciples, they may be deceived. You and I may be deceived because we don't know.

We take the testimony. But Jesus knows all. All things are revealed to Him. But this is the wonderful thing. Even though He knows.

And this is a testimony to His goodness. He won't send them back with an empty stomach. He'll give them a satisfying feed. But at the same time, and this is, I think, what we're gonna emphasize here this evening, by His grace, He'll test His disciple, Philip. And in fact, by testing Philip, He's testing the others also.

And He'll teach them a lesson I believe they will never, never forget. So we're told in verse three, our Lord and the disciples are now sitting in an elevated position, and they're watching. They're watching as people, the swarms and the crowd are now flocking towards them in hundreds and we know even thousands. And I think that's why Jesus went up the mountain. At least it's one of the reasons why he went up that mountain with the disciples, so that his disciples get an opportunity, in particular, Philip, to see the vast multitude of people so that he would feel the weight of what Jesus is about to ask him.

As he looks at the elevated positions and sees all these heads bobbing, multiple heads, more than you could count, he would now feel the weight of what Jesus is asking of him. And this is what Jesus goes on to ask. Verse 5 and 7. Where are we to buy bread, he says to Philip, so that these people may eat? He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.

Philip answered him, 200 denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little. You see, there's much speculation around why it is that Philip was chosen, why it is that Jesus indeed asks Philip this question, and we really don't know. We have to say that up front. We don't know. Some would say that Philip needed his faith proven.

Then he may have been a bit slower to get things. Because in John 14, when Jesus says, when Philip asked Jesus that question, it says, show us the Father and it is enough. And Jesus responds and he says, what does he say? He says, have I been with you long enough and you still don't know me, Philip? So some might appeal to that and say, well, Philip needed that nudge along.

But we can't be sure of that, because all the other disciples were in the same boat. Didn't they all prove ignorant at one stage or another? No, so we can't go there. Most may say that, hey, it's Philip's hometown. Jesus was asking Philip, because if anyone wants to know where the bread vendors were, where the bread merchants were, or those who sold grain, it'd be Philip, because he's from around here, he'll know.

But that can't be it. Why can't it be it? Because listen to what Jesus says in verse 6. He says, Jesus himself knew what he would do. You see, in other words, Jesus wasn't looking for a solution of how to feed the multitude.

That wasn't it. He didn't really plan. He didn't really decree in his mind what he was going to do. He decreed that he would feed the stomach of thousands that day, and beyond that, he would use that as an opportunity so that on the next day, He would teach the people the essential truth that their greatest need is not bread that goes into the stomach and you need more every day, but rather their greatest need is the bread of life, Jesus Christ Himself. The all satisfying bread for the soul.

Jesus had already decreed this. This miracle to feed these people was already going to happen, and he'd already resolved to teach that discourse. So why ask the question? Well, we're told in the text to test Philip, to teach him an object lesson, to teach him to trust explicitly in his master. Can you see how this is indeed grace from God?

Can you see how this is grace from Jesus towards Philip? You see, the Apostle John has already told us, he's been laboring to show us, even in the passage that I've already read from chapter 2, that Jesus knows what's inside man. Nothing is a secret from him, nothing. He sees all, he knows all. He's fully aware of the contents of Philip's heart, and so the test question wasn't for our Lord to know where the bread merchants are, and it wasn't also that our Lord would confirm what is in the heart of Philip, because He knows.

He already knows what is in the heart of Philip. The question our Lord asks Philip was for the benefit of Philip, not our Lord. It was so Philip would know where he is lacking spiritually, because Christ's concern for his people is that no one is lacking spiritually. That's his concern, that his people lack for nothing. Philip's response is clear.

And what's clear from Philip's response is that not only is he lacking in his understanding of his Master, But he is lacking in faith as well. Listen to what he says. 200 denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them even to get a little. He's not talking about fulfilling or satisfying these hungry people, no, even to get a little. Now, we know that a dinari is one day's wages for a man.

So, in essence, one dinari is probably enough, or it's enough for a modest family to survive for a day. So Philip has done some calculations in his mind and he's come back to Christ and essentially said, hey Jesus, even eight months, eight months worth of wages is not enough to give these people even a bite each. Now it's doubtful that Judas had the 200 denarii with him in his money bag, that's pretty doubtful, but irrespective of that, this is not a response of faith. This is not a response of faith. You see, the crowd following Jesus were following him because they'd already seen some of Jesus's miracles.

But Philip, Philip and the disciples, they had practically seen them all. They've had the whole Jesus experience. Miracles teaching the lot. Philip, you saw how he created an abundance of the very best well-aged wine in Cana to save the newly wedded couple the embarrassment and the stigma of one who runs out of wine at their own wedding. You saw that, Philip.

You saw the countless times that Jesus fulfilled the needs of people. and that He can fill the need of, or any need, of anyone He desires to fill the need for. Philip, you've seen that. You've seen your Master's power. You've seen His faithfulness.

You've seen who He is. And now, now Philip, Christ has already told you that it's his will. He's manifested the desire to feed the multitude. Why would you immediately go to human resources and logistics? Why would you calculate the cost, not even to satisfy the people's hunger, but to barely give them a bite each?

Philip, look at who's talking to you. You're in the presence of the Almighty Creator who has already proven that He has power to create at will in order to fulfill any need that He desires to fulfill. And He's already manifested that He wants to feed these people. Rather than acknowledge that nothing is impossible for your Master, rather than answering, Christ, Jesus, I know who you are. You are the Son of God.

You are the Almighty. You are capable of doing whatever you please. I don't know how you would feed these people, but I know one thing. If you want to feed them, you can find a way of doing it. Because you are divine, Jesus.

That's what His response should have been. But you see how Philip failed the test. His solution didn't involve Christ. It was a Christless solution. He failed to understand the ability and the all power of his master.

And you know, when Andrew comes in and gives his response a little bit later, it's not much different. Listen to what Andrew says. Verse 8. One of his disciples, Andrew and Simon Peter's brother, said to him, There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. Now at this point, if you stop there, you would think maybe Andrew gets it.

He's got these five loaves and two fish that can fit in the one hand. The loaves are quite small crackers. And he'd bring it to Christ. And maybe he's saying, there's only a little here, but I know, Savior, in your hand, you can make them great. You can feed through this.

But then he continues. And when he continues, he says this, but what are they for so many? There's your doubt. There's the doubt. He sets in.

Again, the solution of Andrew is Christless. He failed to see that Christ is the all-sufficient provider. Remember that, beloved. Christ is the all-sufficient provider for all our needs. Now I know that I'm sounding pretty hard on the disciples, but that's only because, hear this, If we're honest, you and I are no different, and that's why.

You and I are absolutely no different in and of ourselves. It's easy for us, I know, to point the finger at these men. We can argue they should have known better. We can argue that their senses, their eyes and their ears, they experience the majesty, the all-power, the sufficiency of our Savior. We can argue that all day long, but beloved, We are no different.

Because at a quick glance, quick glance at our lives, we will find that we act actually in the same way. We may say all the right things and do the right things when things are all working well in our lives. But when the situation gets a little bit difficult, And this was hard. Philip, you have to admit, he was put on the spot. All these people?

You're going to feed all these people? That seemed like an impossible situation for Philip. And it was impossible for Philip. But that's the point of the test. Because that which is impossible with man is possible only with God.

And when we're confronted with these impossible situations, in particular ones that we know we can't resolve, we still somehow, all too often, take the burden upon ourselves to develop or think through a solution rather than trust the Lord. Now be careful, I'm not saying that we are not to use the faculties that the Lord has given us wisely, the mind has given us, his word, the intellect. Yes, we are to use these things, but beloved, I'm saying why is it that we make Christ devoid in our decision making when we are pushed against the wall? I'm saying when if we're not confronted at this point in time with difficult times, I know for a fact if your heart is beating and if you have air in your lungs, you will. You will.

Because we're human. You will. It may be bad health that comes our way or relationship troubles. It may be money troubles or any other crisis that comes our way. To our shame, all too often, we seem to forget the all-sufficient power and the faithfulness of our God, who is a perfect provider in all things.

And we take it upon ourselves to figure it out on our own. We rely on our own understanding, our own intellect, rather than to come before him and submit and say, Lord, I need your help. You see, we fail sometimes to trust His Word. We fail sometimes, even when He's given us promises in His Word, when He has spoken and we know His desire, we fail to apprehend those in and through faith. But rather, when things come our way, we seem to forget these things.

Beloved, sometimes as Christians, we may do the right things. Sometimes we might say, hey, hold on one moment. I do actually pray, and I do read my Bible, and I do seek wise counsel when I'm confronted with these difficult times. And praise God, they are the things that the Lord has given us. These are means He's given us.

And we praise Him for that. But beloved, I am saying that in many occasions, if we're honest, we may do these things. We may read God's Word to develop or to try to receive the wisdom from His Word. But when we put it down and we pray and we say, Amen, we resolve to being self-sufficient. And what we've done before on many occasions is nothing but a facade that we put up.

And I'm saying that's dangerous, it's not fruitful, and we have a saviour who is all sufficient to provide. So I ask you this evening, do we understand, can we fathom how weak we are in and of ourselves? Can we see how needy we are? Not only in the physical things, but beloved, in the spiritual things. Because our battle is not against flesh and blood.

With the physical, we can see what comes our way at least. But the battle is a spiritual battle. It's an evil forces in high places. It's principalities. It's things you and I don't understand apart from God's word.

The only protection we have is Christ himself. His spirit and his word. We must submit. We must trust in Him. We need Him.

We need Him every moment of every day. And beloved, this is the problem. Because we don't always recognize that we need Him every moment of every day, we can be actually arrogant in our hearts to think we're okay on our own. And I'm telling you, once that happens, He's so gracious and He's so good. He does what He does with Philip.

And He puts us through tests. He allows tests to come our way, why? So that the contents of our hearts are not revealed for Him, because He's all-knowing, we've already established that point, right? No, no, He does it to expose our hearts for us, so that we see our failures, so we recognize our desperate need of the Lord in all of our lives, and that we would know that He is indeed all-sufficient. Beloved, this is as much to me as it is to you.

That's how James can write the words, count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of faith produces steadfastness, and that steadfastness, and let steadfastness, my apologies, let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may perfect and complete lacking nothing. That's the goal. Christ-likeness. The goal is to lack nothing.

And this is the glory. How is it that sinful, wretched, broken human beings can be lacking nothing? It is to be united in the one who lacks nothing. It's to be united in the One who is abundant in His giving, abundant in His mercy, abundant in His provision. It's to be united in Jesus Christ, beloved.

And this is why Christ can say in John chapter 10, verse 10, I have come to that you may have life, and life abundant. It's the abundant life that Jesus wants us to have. But we can't have it when we rely on our own intellect, on our own understanding. It's only found in Jesus Christ. It's only found in Him.

It's only when our eyes are secure on Him, affixed on Him. It's only when we're trusting Him. It is by faith in Christ, and in Christ alone. You see, now our Lord tells the disciples. He knows that Philip has failed the test, and so has Andrew.

The other disciples may have been present, and we don't know what was running through their mind, and they're probably thinking, I don't know how I would have answered that. We don't know. However, our Lord, in his grace, tells the disciples, why don't you go and get everyone to sit down? John doesn't tell us, but they're sitting down in lots of fifties and hundreds. And it's interesting that there is nothing in any of the four Gospels that would even indicate remotely that Jesus tells the disciples what he's about to do.

That's pretty interesting. All he says is, go and get everyone to sit down. We don't know more than that, but we know that disciples, they obey. And there's an object lesson in that. To obey, you might not understand why, you might not see beyond our nose, but you obey because the Saviour says so.

And you're not resting in the outcomes, you're resting in the Saviour himself. Your faith is in Christ, not in what comes of that, but in Jesus. And so they obey, and they sit them all down. Now these people are all seated, and the Lord takes the bread and the fish that Andrew brought, that little bread and fish. And when he had given thanks, Matthew tells us he broke the loaves, the five loaves, and he gave it to the disciples to distribute to the crowds.

And the flow of food continued and continued and continued and continued until every single person had their bellies full and they were completely satisfied. Now how did that miracle actually take place? The nuances? Was it when Jesus broke and gave it to the disciples and as they were distributing, he just kept giving more? I don't know, or was it that the disciples' baskets just kept filling?

We don't know, but it's by the power of Jesus Christ. And this miracle is so clear to us, and it demonstrates that Jesus has the power to create. Now that's already been demonstrated right back in Cana when he turned the water into wine. He's already shown that he is the creative God, the one who has the power to create, but here he shows it once again that although it seems impossible, and it is, although the disciples could not come up with the solution, and the crowd had all sat down, who knows how they convinced the hungry mob of people to sit down, like thousands upon thousands, what did they tell them? I don't know.

Here we have Jesus being the all-sufficient provider, create a meal for some 15 to 20,000 people, and He feeds them all until they are completely, completely satisfied. And how do we know that? Twelve basketfuls of fragments remain. That is to say that people receive far more than they could eat. They ate and ate and ate and they just couldn't eat anymore.

And those fragments were 12 basket loads. Now you know why I say that? Because liberal scholars will try to do anything. to discount what happens here. In fact, all the miracles of Christ, they're going to try to discount.

They'd want to take all the supernatural out of everything in the Bible. But beloved, you cannot read this text and understand it any other way. It says, they all ate as much, it says here in verse 11, as much as they wanted. And then verse 12, it says, and when they had eaten their fill, they were absolutely full. There's so much talk out there with some of the liberal scholars that say things like, this is not a miracle of creation, but rather a miracle of sharing.

The little boy came and shared, everyone's heart was touched, and everyone opened their coats and they started to share. That's not true. All their arguments, I can say with certainty, any one of the arguments, I can say with certainty, that tries to defy the supernatural here, that tries to defy that Jesus Christ indeed did something that is mind-blowing against nature to display His divinity, doesn't stack up. Cannot stack up. It's not true.

We have an iWinners account, and we have a primary source in John, and he tells us, I was there, and this is what happened. This is what happened. You know, when the disciples saw Christ create the water into wine back in chapter 2 in Cana, the big jugs of water that were used for ceremonial cleaning, washings, the disciples were fairly recent with our Lord. They saw that. And the Bible tells us that they believed.

In other words, their faith was strengthened through that miracle. And it's wonderful to see, but they've grown a lot since then. And I think now that they have the theology that Jesus spoke of in chapter 5 embedded in their minds, if they don't already, they must already. believe that Jesus is indeed the creator God, the one who created the universe. They must at this point, if they don't already, we know they will come to believe that he is the one who spoke the universe in existence.

How do we know this? Well, John has already told us, right? Back in chapter 1, that's what John says. He says, all things were made through Him. Who's that?

The Word, the eternal Word, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. What happens here on this day only provides the evidence that the words of John are true, that this is indeed the Creator of the universe. He is the eternal Son of God in flesh. Beloved, that is extraordinary.

That is wonderful. Our Christian faith is extraordinary. There's nothing usual about it. This is supernatural. It is amazing.

And I pray that that will never cease to amaze us. And so moving on from there, everyone had their fill. And now we're probably asking, and I think maybe some of you may be asking the question, why is it 12 baskets? Because whenever you see numbers in the Bible, they're important. They're actually there for a reason.

But sometimes people do go overboard in their explanations, and there's some strange ones for this one. Now to be honest, I think, I simply think it's to teach the disciples a lesson. See, the disciples labored with Christ and he And He provided in abundance for their needs, or for the needs of the multitude of hungry people. They were the ones who, that is, the disciples were the ones who distributed the provision. Now I want you to see that, because there's so many ways, no one can actually dictate how Christ does what He does, right?

He is God and He does it, and He does what He pleases, and everything He does is good. He could have done that miracle in a number of ways. He didn't need the five loaves and the two pieces of, He didn't need that, but He chose to do that. He could have distributed the food in another way, He chose to use the 12 disciples. He chose for them to come and minister and labor with Him in feeding the multitude.

You see, there's going to come a time There's going to come a time when Jesus will now, when He's ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, when He's accomplished all the work of redemption for those who would trust in Him, there's going to come a time where He will send the disciples out. The eleven. One of these is a traitor. And He'll send them out into the world. And He'll say, go.

And these disciples will be building a foundation, the foundation of the church upon the chief cornerstone, who's Jesus Christ. And when He does send them out, He needs them to know, all your provision I will provide, and I will provide in abundance. Twelve disciples, twelve baskets full to the rim. He will provide. He'll provide for them not only in what they need physically, but He'll provide for them what they need spiritually.

Beloved, that's glorious news. Because He is the all-sufficient Provider God that provides for His people. And beloved, it is His intention that His people lack for nothing. And what that means is not what your mind makes it out to be. Lacking for nothing means that everything that the good God in heaven has planned for His people to have, He will give until it's time for Him to call you home.

You may think you need something, but He knows better than you. He knows better than all of us. And sometimes we pray, and we think we have noble intentions, and that's good. We ought to pray. But beloved, we ought to also pray, and our prayers ought to be consistent with the teaching of Scripture.

Because when we ask above and above, or something external to the Spirit of God's Word, the Word that He's given us, if we are asking for something outside the will of God, then we're asking for the wrong reasons. We're asking because we want to satisfy the flesh. We're asking because we want to satisfy our carnal desires. Beloved, we ought to seek the kingdom of God first, and all these things shall be added unto you. Beloved, Jesus has taught these disciples an invaluable lesson here this evening, or this that evening, and that is, that what they think is impossible, what is indeed impossible in the eyes of man, is possible with God and their master can be relied upon to provide their every need.

And beloved, that lesson is not only for the disciples, that lesson is for you and I. If we are trusting in our Lord, If we believed upon Jesus Christ and Him alone for the salvation of our souls. If we recognize that He died on that cross to give us life. If we are found in Him, if we believe upon Him, if we are united in Him, then we are united in His life and we lack for nothing. So what you have right now is what He wants to give you.

And if you come to Him and say, Lord, I want more of you. I want more of you. I want to be more like Christ. And whatever that looks like to you, you know what that looks like. Oh God, I don't.

Give me more of Christ. He will engage His Spirit in your heart to see and illuminate His Word, and He'll be at work to make you more like Christ. Because we know, according to Romans 8, 28, that that is the ultimate purpose of God for His people, to conform us into the image of the beloved Son, He will give us our needs. He'll provide for us. He's faithful to supply our every need according to His riches and glory in Jesus Christ, Philippians 4.

19. I have another point, but I'm going to close there. Let's close our eyes and come to our Lord in prayer.