All right, you can take your Bibles and turn to the Gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 9. Beginning in verse 12 is the passage for this morning. In Luke 9, like we talked about last week, we see kind of a shift going on in the emphasis of Jesus's ministry and who he is dealing with specifically. He has kind of been dealing with the nation of Israel in a general sense. We get the indication that he is speaking to crowds of people and certainly the disciples are present with him, those twelve men who became what are known as apostles, but they are kind of Jesus's main followers, if you will. They're not really in that role of being specific, having a specific duty until we come to chapter nine. in the Gospel of Luke. And we know that one of Luke's purposes in writing, of course he wrote two books, the Book of Luke and the Book of Acts as well, is describing this role of these twelve men and how that role evolved and what it became in the time of the people who were living at the time of the Book of Acts. So if you study Luke and Acts together sequentially, you kind of, you get Luke's overall purpose in writing. And he is writing to show these people who are receiving the book, Theophilus in particular, writing to show him what exactly is going on in the world today at his present time and how did we get to the place where we are. And that is, and part of that is showing this shift in how Jesus is dealing with these 12 men. Last time we saw them going out and teaching and doing other things. And Luke wants to describe how these men became essentially the foundation of the church. And here in this chapter, we see them starting in their training, really, from the Lord for that role. Today, the title of the message is A Feast from the Savior. Very familiar passage to each and every one of us here, I'm sure, in the feeding of the 5,000. So last time, we saw in the beginning of chapter 9 that these 12 apostles being sent out on a mission. This is where we actually get that term apostle. It's from the Greek word there, being sent out on a mission. And we'll see that again today. And they were sent out on a mission to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. And we spent a good amount of time describing just exactly what that is, but the primary portion of their mission, at least initially, is that they were to go, essentially, without any provisions whatsoever. Jesus told them to not take any money, don't take an extra set of shoes, don't take extra clothes, just go, and I will, essentially, the meaning is, essentially, I am going to provide for you. You need to go on this mission in complete trust and dependence on me, on God, to provide for you. And then we saw that they, of course, went out and did that, and they performed miracles as they were going. And then Luke kind of takes this other focus and talks about Herod, the ruler who was over this part of the nation of Israel, Herod the Tetrarch. He ruled over over Galilee and quite often Luke and the gospel writers in general contrast believers and unbelievers to show the difference between how they are reacting to what Jesus is doing and what his ministry is, how he's working in the world. And we saw there in verse 9 that Herod didn't know who Jesus was. Even though he was a ruler of the Jewish people, he had no idea who the Messiah was and what he was going to do. But he wanted to see him. Essentially, he wanted to see Jesus perform a magic trick for him, essentially, is what it comes down to. He wanted to see some of these great things that were going on. Not for the purposes of trusting in Christ, of course, as his savior, but rather just to be entertained. And then we saw that the apostles returned to Jesus, told him about all the wonderful things that they had done. It would seem from the account here that it was a successful mission. And they came back, and Jesus had attracted a great crowd, which leads us into what we see today. But he continued teaching them about this kingdom, this kingdom that he was coming to bring to the people. And we looked at a lot of those details last week as well. But that leaves us with our passage for today, Luke 9, verses 12 through 17, where we have this crowd of people. who have a need as well that we'll see today and saw in our scripture reading. So today we'll have an overview first from the parallel passages, take a look at some of those details, and then we'll see in our passage this morning in verses 12 and 13 we'll have the obstacle verses 14 through 16 we have the offering and then finally in verse 17 we have the observation. Let's go to the Lord in prayer and then we'll begin. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this passage that we have to look at this morning and we thank you for the fact that this event that took place some 2,000 years ago still has relevance for us today in this world in which we live. We thank you for preserving the word for us so that we can study it. We thank you that it is written in our own language, that we can do some study about the original language that it was written in, but we have the scripture preserved in our own language so that we can better understand it and communicate it to one another. We thank you for that and for those faithful men who literally gave their lives for that purpose. We pray, Lord, that through this study of your word, we would be conformed to your image and ready to give a defense for the truth of salvation in Christ, and also prepared and ready to stand true to your word, whatever the cost may be. We just thank you in Jesus' name, amen. So first we have the overview. This account of the feeding of the 5,000 actually appears in all four of the gospels, and we don't have time this morning to read each and every one of those, but you see there Matthew 14, verses 13 through 21, Mark 6, verses 33 through 44, and then our scripture reading from this morning, John 6, verses 1 through 15. But then in John's gospel, like he is so does so readily, he gives the actual spiritual significance behind that miracle with some more teaching from Christ concerning this miracle and what he was really getting at by performing this miracle, what Jesus what Jesus's intention was in multiplying this bread and he shows in verses 26 through 71 the spiritual aspect of this and in fact that is known as the bread of life discourse because Jesus is teaching the people that he is in fact the bread of life and when you trust in him he gives you life. Life comes through trusting We'll see some of these details that we gather from these passages as we make our way through. And you'll also notice that John actually gives the most details, some of the other details that are left out from the other accounts we see in John's account. One of the major parts that John gives to us in that, that we saw in our scripture reading, is that Jesus is omniscient. He kind of set up this entire incident without really having to literally pull strings and make people do things. It was there for him. just in his omniscience, in his omnipotence, the fact that he is God, he can make these circumstances happen. And we certainly see that he has foreknowledge, primarily, that Jesus Christ, deity in human flesh, knows all events, past, present, and future, before they happen. In John's Gospel, it's said that he asked Philip about how they were going to feed him as a means of testing. Because he already knew the outcome. He already knew what was going to happen. He knows what decisions we are going to make as individuals. That's what foreknowledge is. He knows the ramifications of those decisions. He knows the ramifications of all the myriad of options that we have in making decisions. He knows all things. All things that are knowable to know, Jesus knows as omniscient God. and you can really get yourself wrapped around the axle, but if you just kind of take that by faith, it's a hard concept to understand because we aren't God, but he is, and praise the Lord, we aren't God, and he is. This feeding of the 5,000 and the resurrection are the only two miracles that actually are accounted for in all four Gospels. Feeding of the 5,000 and the resurrection appear in all four Gospels. And that's the only two miracles in all of Scripture that you can say that about. So that gives us an indication of just exactly how important this miracle is. This and the resurrection, those are the only two you're going to find in all four Gospels. So that tells us that a proper understanding of this miracle, of this account, is very critical for our understanding of Scripture and for our understanding of who Jesus Christ is and just exactly what he wants us to do as believers. So we can take away from this the fact that Jesus fed a bunch of people who didn't have food. So what's the role of the, and the apostles played a role. We'll see that today. The apostles are the ones who gave out the food. So we as New Testament believers, we would say that that's our role. Our role is to go out and feed the hungry. And as a matter of fact, you're going to find As we continue in time, if the Lord tarries, I can guarantee you that that is going to become more and more prominent in the role of the church. I actually read a book review just this past week. It's amazing how these things work out. But I read a book review from Tyndale Theological Seminary's journal by Gary Gilley. Some of you are familiar with him. He reviewed a book called The Tangible Kingdom. And of course, it's written by, comes from folks who are within Christendom. And the book is called The Tangible Kingdom. So you can imagine what their view of the kingdom actually is. The kingdom is right now. And they give their theories about how the church should then operate. and you can't make this stuff up. These people believe that we should disregard all parts of the New Testament except the Gospels. The Gospels are the only part of the New Testament that apply to us because that's where we see how Jesus lived and what Jesus did, and we should do exactly what Jesus did. And that is so far from the truth of Scripture and what is revealed in the rest of the New Testament that it's hard to even imagine. So part of their theory is that we need to, since we need to be just like Jesus, and Jesus lived in the world, in order to have any impact, we need to be, you can guess what's coming next, just exactly like the world. participate in the same activities as they do. We need to have church and bars or coffee shops or whatever. We need to literally go and be right where these people are, live exactly the same way as they do or we can have no impact on their lives. And of course that is completely contrary to what those epistles, the rest of the New Testament teaches about being conformed to this world. Paul says that's not something we should do, Romans 12, one and two, rather we should be conformed to Christ's image. We should be holy as he is holy. So doctrine is very important. And an understanding of this miracle is very important. And clearly, that means this miracle, this account, means something other than we need to go out and feed the hungry. And this is why such a proper understanding of the Gospels is important for us today. We need to see where those fit into Scripture and how they actually apply to our lives. If we spend too much time emphasizing the Old Testament as some people under the banner of Christendom do, we're going to be prone to keeping the law. If we spend too much time in the Gospels without taking into account the rest of Scripture, we're going to think that we're living in the kingdom today, and that is not true at all. We need to understand the whole counsel of God in order to understand any of it. We have to understand the overall purpose of the entire the entire book so that's a that's enough of the soapbox the obstacle beginning in verse 12 of Luke chapter 9 says now the day was ending and the 12 came and said to him send the crowd away that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and get something to eat for here we are in a desolate place and But he said to them, you give them something to eat. And they said, we have no more than five loaves and two fish, perhaps we go and buy for all these, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people, sorry. So the apostles. come to Jesus and say, send them away. Notice that word, send, right there in verse 12. The first word that the apostles say to him, send them away. That's very similar to what Jesus said to the apostles back up in verse 2 of Luke 9. And it says, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God. So the apostles are coming to Jesus and it seems as if they are giving him a command, telling them to send these people away from here. And of course these are actually two different words in the Greek. That word that we see, sent them out, there in verse 2 is apostello and that's where we get the term apostle. That means to send out with a purpose, send them out on a mission. That's what an apostle is. Apostle comes from the verb form of that word. But this one that we see here in verse 12, send the crowd away, is Apollo. And that is just, you know, get rid of these people. Get them out of here. We need to get these people out of here because this just isn't a good place for them anymore. They're going to starve if they stay out here. And so that obviously brings up the question, should they be commanding the Lord? It seems like they're the ones giving the orders now instead of Jesus, deferring to Jesus and his purpose. Because as we see, as we make our way through this passage, that Jesus, of course, has them right here in this place for a purpose. Notice that they say that we are in a desolate place, it says there in verse 12. Send the crowd away that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and get something to eat, for here we are in a desolate place. And that's the Greek word erimos. And it's often used to describe the desert. Now, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is a desert place, but rather it can have two different terms. It can certainly refer to a desert, or it can refer to a place kind of out in the boonies, if you will. There isn't anything around here. We're out in the country. We're in this mountainous area. There's nothing for these people to eat here. And in the Septuagint, we see this term quite often, arimos, used in Exodus chapter 16, speaking of the nation of Israel being in a desert. That time they were literally in a desert. John 6.31, Jesus, after this miracle, uses this term as well, where it says, our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, he gave them bread out of heaven to eat. That term wilderness there is this eremos. Speaking of the wilderness area. But the apostles, the 12, are looking at this as, you know, this is a place where they can't get anything to eat. We need to get them out of here. But notice what Mark 6.31 says concerning this desolate place. In the parallel passage, Mark 6.31. It says, and he said to them, come away by yourselves. This is after they had returned to Jesus, following their mission. Jesus is going to give them some instructions. And he says to them, come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while, for there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. That term for a secluded place is the very same word, aremos, this desolate place. So Jesus literally, in his own words, told them to go to this place, go to this desolate place. He had them right exactly where he wanted them to be. And another item that we get from Mark's gospel is that Jesus had compassion on this crowd when he saw them because they had no shepherd. They were just kind of wandering there. Notice Mark 6.34. It says, when Jesus went ashore, he saw a large crowd, and he felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things. So that goes right along with what we see there in verses 10 and 11. When the apostles returned to Jesus, Jesus had slipped away in this boat, and they They went and it says in verse 11, but the crowds were aware of this and followed him and welcoming them. He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing. Mark puts it this way. He says he saw the crowds and Jesus had compassion on them because he saw them as a herd of sheep without a shepherd. And I've never owned sheep, but I understand that they need a shepherd. They need someone to take care of them, to guide them, to lead them to places to eat and those sorts of things because essentially they're helpless. And incidentally, sheep and people have a lot in common. We are the same way. That's why Jesus had compassion on these people, because they had no leader. They had no shepherd. And this is, of course, speaking of the nation as a whole. Notice that Mark says that he saw the large crowd and he felt compassion for them. This entire group of people, this crowd, we're going to see this term used again later in Luke's account. But this is speaking of the nation as a whole. He's looking at the overwhelming majority of the people in Israel. and they are in unbelief. They are like a shepherd, or like a herd of sheep that has no shepherd, just like they are today as a general rule. Of course, individual Jews believe in Jesus Christ just the same way as Gentiles do, but the nation as a whole is in unbelief, and Jesus felt sorry for them. And unfortunately for the nation of Israel, it's going to take seven years of tribulation for the nation as a whole to call on Him. to be their shepherd. And that's one of the reasons why we believe that the rapture of the church is before the tribulation takes place, because that seven years is specifically designed to bring the nation of Israel, God's chosen people, literally the Jewish people, to belief in Jesus as their shepherd. Savior and one day the Bible promises that they will believe Ezekiel 34 in verse 12 Says as a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep So I will care for my sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day even though we see people coming back to Israel they are still a nation that is scattered and I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock and I will lead them to rest, declares the Lord God." That is a yet future event. One day when the nation of Israel calls on Jesus Christ, He will be their shepherd and they will believe in Him. And this is a picture of that. This is giving a physical picture of what Jesus is going to do in the future. But they have to believe. That is the overwhelming teaching of the gospel is that Jesus is offering them this salvation that Ezekiel mentions. However, they have to believe. When they believe, he will do it. Notice verse 13 again in Luke 9. So they're in this desolate place, all these people that they're responsible for, they have nothing to eat, nowhere to go, no one to lead them. Notice what Jesus says in verse 13. But he said to them, you give them something to eat. And they said, we have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people. you give them something to eat, Jesus says to them. One of the many facets of this miracle account is how Jesus is continuing to teach these 12 men, specifically these 12 men. Notice If you haven't noticed it yet, this is one of the miracles that the author does not mention the reaction of the crowd in any way. Usually, so far in the miracles that we've seen, Jesus heals a leper and the crowd is amazed. Jesus raises someone from the dead and the crowd is amazed. He heals all the sick people. They can't believe it. Wow, this is amazing. They go away talking about the amazing things that God has done. Here, there is nothing. No account of the reaction of the crowd in any way, giving us the indication again that this is primarily focused on the apostles and what Jesus is teaching them. You give them something to eat, he says. And what's their immediate reaction? Of course, we don't have the resources. How are we going to do that? Philip says that it would basically cost a fortune to feed them. 200 denarii is 200 days' wage, or over a half a year's wage to give all these people just a little something to eat. We don't have that, Mark 6, 37, and John 6, 7 says. And then John's account also mentions Andrew, Peter's brother, who says, oh, we've got this young lad here. He's got some five loaves and two fish. All of the accounts mention the loaves and the fish. But notice that the apostles are immediately like, OK, we've got to make this happen. Let's figure out how we can do it. Do we have enough money? How much money do we have? We don't have that. All right, well, let's just get our food together, and then we'll be able to give that out to the people. And they come up just a little bit lacking with how much food is there. They have one lad who has five loaves and two fish, indicating that he's thinking of going out, his parents, or he gathered up this food, this is enough for me for the day when I go out and listen to this guy named Jesus teach. Certainly not enough for the amount of people who were there. So what is Jesus trying to get them to think about? Walk by faith. Remember how 12 apostles, my closest followers, remember just a couple days ago or a week ago, however long it was, I sent you out on this mission to travel throughout all of Israel? Give the people the gospel. I told you to take nothing with you. You're going to have to walk by faith. Trust in my resources. Verse 3 of Luke 9 says, Take nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money, and do not even have two tunics apiece. Notice he tells them not to take any bread or any money. And then those two ideas are coming up again here in the feeding of the 5,000. As soon as they get back, Verses 10, 11, and 12 are all part of the same account. Our Bibles might divide them up into different chapters or have a different heading in there somewhere, but really it's all one thing. The apostles came back. They told Jesus about what they did. Jesus saw the crowd. He's teaching them. He's healing them. And then verse 12, now the day, that day, that same day was ending. So this is all in the same day that these things are happening. So they literally are giving an account to Jesus how we went out, we did what you said, we walked by faith, we stayed in the villages, we taught them, and God miraculously provided for us. Now the day is ending, and all these people don't have anything to eat. You give them something to eat. Oh, man. OK. Well, I don't have any food. Do you have any food? Maybe we can take a collection. They immediately, just like we are so often do exactly the same thing, start turning to their own food. flesh. They're not walking by faith. So don't get too down on the apostles here because I know I personally will do the same thing. The Lord can teach you a lesson about something and just the next time it comes up you do the exact same thing again. God knows that about us. Jesus Christ knows that about us. He knows we need to continually learn these lessons. And what he's really trying to get them to do, of course, is to trust in him. They could have immediately maybe taken these things into consideration. We don't have any money. We don't have any food. We have no way of providing for these people. Jesus, is there any way that you could help us out? Perhaps they should have realized that immediately. We can't do this. But since you turned the water into wine, since you healed the lepers, since you healed sick people, since you cast out demons, since you raised people from the dead, maybe you can help us out in this situation. Maybe we should just trust in you to make this happen. But notice that Jesus is really trying to get them to understand the spiritual purpose behind this. The bread that Jesus is going to distribute here literally is the equivalent of his teaching. And we'll see that in Matthew chapter 16, which is very soon after this miracle takes place. Jesus mentions the fact that this bread is equal to his teaching. Notice what Matthew 16, 5 says. They're in another incident, not too distant to this one in time. It says, and the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread. Matthew 16 6 now it says and Jesus said to them watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees and they began to discuss this among themselves saying he said that because we didn't bring any bread and But Jesus, aware of this, said, you men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the 5,000 and how many baskets full you picked up? Or the seven loaves of the 4,000? He did this miracle, again, not too much in the future. And how many large baskets full you picked up? How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread, but beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees? Then they understood that he did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." So Jesus is getting the spiritual message to them that the bread that he is distributing to the people is his teaching. And that we are to trust in this teaching as we go about our daily lives. Matthew 11, 28 through 30 speaks of this. Trusting in Jesus' teaching for not just our justification, but also our sanctification. Matthew 11, 28, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Galatians 5.16 tells us to walk by the Spirit and we will not carry out the desires of the flesh, essentially. That's sanctification, trusting in Jesus' teaching, trusting in His resources, the Holy Spirit, to live a life that is pleasing to Him. And, of course, in 1 Peter 5, verses 6 through 7, we can even trust in Him and His resources for the very cares of our life, all the incidents in our life. We can trust in His resources. First Peter 5-6 says, therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. And this is also not just a New Testament principle, but this is something that the Israelites themselves should have been aware of, should have realized what he is teaching them. Trust in God's provision. Psalm 55, verse 16. As for me, I shall call upon God and the Lord will save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will complain and murmur and he will hear my voice. Walking by faith entails trusting in Jesus Christ and his provision for us in our spiritual lives and in our daily lives as well, that Jesus Christ has the answer for our problems. It may not be the answer that we want to hear in our own minds, but as we trust in Him and His provision, His will will be done, and that will be for our betterment. So we have the obstacle, this great crowd of people who need something to eat. Jesus tells the apostles essentially to walk by faith. You provide for them. You give them something to eat. And then notice the offering. Verse 14 of Luke 9. For there were about 5,000 men, and he said to his disciples, have them sit down to eat in groups of about 50 each. They did so and had them all sit down. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he blessed them and broke them and kept giving them. Luke just kind of throws it in as an aside. Oh, by the way, there were 5,000 men there. 5,000 men means there were probably in the neighborhood of 10,000 to 12,000 people from the local area. That is the entire population of the city of Flushing was here in this desolate area with nothing to eat. And Jesus tells the apostles, you give them something to eat. Imagine the entire, is there even a place within Flushing where the whole population could gather in one area other than some kind of an arena or something like that? We'd have to be out in the township somewhere in a vast field for the entire population to be there. This is what Jesus is asking these apostles to deal with, an utterly, obviously impossible situation for them to deal with in their own strength. And that's what Jesus is trying to get them to realize, that they have to trust in him and his provision in order for this to happen. But notice what the disciples do. They obey. In verse 15, he tells them to have the people sit down in groups of about 50 each in verse 14, and then verse 15 says, they did so, and had them all sit down. In spite of the utter impossibility of this circumstance, the disciples obey. And one thing that we need to understand as we move through the gospel, especially now, especially that we're getting into this section where the apostles, these 12 men, are becoming the focus of how Jesus is working, we need to have a very clear understanding of that term. disciple as we move through. Disciple can be used in several different ways. Here we see that term being used specifically to address these 12 men. Sometimes it's used in a broader sense to refer to the people who are traveling with Jesus. And sometimes it's used specifically describing the Christian life, discipleship, being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Never does it exclusively mean a believer in Jesus Christ. And we can see that here, knowing who the twelve are. Luke uses all of those terms. He uses the twelve, the apostles, disciples, to describe these twelve people whom he had called to be his apostles. One of them, we know, was not a believer in Jesus Christ. So the term disciple does not equal believer. That's something that we have to have clear in our mind because there is teaching that's very prominent today that says, if you are not For example, picking up your cross and following Jesus daily, you are not a Christian and you need to be concerned about your eternal destiny. See, our eternal destiny is determined by one decision that we make, whether we are going to trust Jesus Christ and His provision of salvation or whether we are not. And as we move into living our own lives, our Christian lives, post-faith, that is discipleship. Faith is justification. Faith is eternity with Jesus Christ in heaven. That is an instantaneous, moment-of-time decision that every person has to make, whether or not they are going to believe in Jesus Christ. That is the single criterion for salvation. Faith in Christ. Discipleship is a whole other matter. That is, moment by moment, trusting in Him for the rest of your life. And oh, by the way, that's very difficult. That's what essentially the rest of the book of Luke is about, describing to us the utter impossibility of following Christ perfectly. That's why we need lessons like this right from the beginning. Walk by faith. It is literally impossible for you to live a perfect Christian life in your own strength. You must walk by faith, because apart from Christ, you can do nothing. Walking by faith is the essential ingredient of the Christian life, the essential ingredient of sanctification, and that's what Jesus is teaching these people here. But notice that Christ delivers them right in the desolate place, verse 16. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them and broke them and kept giving them over and over and over. Five loaves. These aren't giant big barley loaves. These are five little essentially pieces of bread that this lad's mom had baked for him that day. And he was probably carrying them in a sack or something. And Jesus kept breaking them and kept giving them out until the entire population of Flushing, Michigan had enough to eat with 12 basketfuls left over. That's quite a miracle. But notice that he delivers them right in the desolate place. He didn't say, OK, everybody, follow me. We're going down to the restaurant here. I've called ahead. I made reservations for all 12,000 of us, and we're all set. They're going to take care of us. He doesn't deliver them out of the situation. He delivers them right in. the desolate place. Sometimes he takes us out of a situation, just like Jairus' daughter. He delivered Jairus and his problem right out of the situation. He raised his daughter from the dead. Sometimes Christ does that for us and we don't even know that he's delivering us out of a situation. I always think of getting stuck in a traffic jam for some reason and I think, I can't believe I'm stuck in this traffic jam, I'm gonna be late. Who knows what you just got delivered from while you're stuck in that traffic jam, while you're off on the side of the road with a flat tire. Somebody calls you right before you have to leave the house, you don't know. Perhaps Christ delivered you from some situation, took you right out of a situation and you didn't even understand it. Most times, however, he delivers us right in the situation. He has us in that particular place for a particular reason, just like he had these people in this place in order to deliver them out of this situation. And he does this for our growth, for our own personal betterment, he does this. James 1-2. says to the 12 tribes who are dispersed abroad. Greetings. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without doubting, for one who doubts is like surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind, for that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord. Being a double-minded man, and unstable in all his ways. Now that seems a little bit difficult because sometimes, you know, I have trials in my life that I can ask Christ to help me, but I'm not so sure he's going to be able to do it. And that's not exactly what James is getting at there when he says you have to ask in faith, otherwise he's not going to do it. His point is more to describing the person like Herod there earlier in chapter 9 who just wants to see Jesus do a magic trick. If that's your attitude, then you are like this unstable person who is being tossed around by everything that comes down the pike. But if you are asking, trusting, that Christ is going to take care of you. That's what it means asking in faith. Not asking flippantly that he's, oh, Jesus, please, I just want to see you do this great miracle, and then I'll believe. That's the sort of attitude that is is not correct. That's not asking in faith. But if you are humbly submitting to Him, coming to Him, knowing that He is going to be able to deliver you, it may not be the way that you want to be delivered. However, if that's your attitude then it is for your own good and he will do it and it is for our growth Romans 5 3 says and not only this but we also exalt in our tribulations knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance and perseverance proven character and proven character hope and hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us so As Christ delivers us from these desolate places in our lives, it is for our own growth. It is for our maturity. And we can ask Him for faith to carry on, ask Him for wisdom in dealing with these situations. That's walking by faith. That's precisely what He wants us to do. That's precisely what He wanted these disciples to do as well. And then finally, notice the observation in verse 17. And they all ate and were satisfied. And the broken pieces, which they had left over, were picked up, 12 baskets full. This is what we have here, a picture of the great banquet that is to come in the kingdom. Looks like I left an E off the end of a word there. But what Jesus is doing is he's giving these people, again, a physical picture, a literal example of what he is going to do in the future. Just like when he is healing people of diseases, when he is raising people from the dead, he's giving them a physical picture of this kingdom that is to come. And this banquet, this feast that he is giving to the people here is no different. than that. This is part of it that's kind of dealt towards the crowd, giving them an indication of just exactly who Jesus Christ is. And they could have realized this if they would have applied the situation to the Old Testament scriptures. Isaiah 25.6 says, The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain. a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined aged wine. Joel 2.24, speaking of this kingdom to come in the future, says, the threshing floors will be full of grain and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil, then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locusts has eaten, the creeping locusts, the stripping locusts, and the gnawing locusts, my great army which I sent among you, you will have plenty to eat and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord your God who has dealt wondrously with you. Then my people will never be put to shame. Ezekiel 34 verses 14 through 16. The passage that I read earlier points to this great time in the future when they will have plenty to eat and Jesus Christ himself will be their shepherd leading the people. The Psalms speak of this great feast in the future. Psalm 81, 16, but I would feed you with the finest of the weed and the honey from the rock I would satisfy you. Jesus himself speaks of this banquet in the future in the Gospel of Luke. Luke 12, 37, blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will gird himself to serve and have them recline at the table and will come up and wait on them. Luke 13, 28 through 29, Luke 22, 28 through 30 all mention this banquet in the future when Christ is going to have a banquet in his kingdom, when he is going to feed the people. Christ is showing them, in fact, that he is the God of Israel by doing this. And really, the people should have been able to figure out the imagery that Jesus is giving here. It's not too complicated, really. Exodus 16 and verse one. Speaking of the nation of Israel, of course, after they had been released from captivity in Egypt, God has them in the desert. Exodus 16.1 says, Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin. There's our word, Ramos, speaking of the wilderness or the desert, which is between Elim and Sinai. On the 15th day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt, the whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The sons of Israel said to them, would that we had died by the Lord's hand in the land of Egypt when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full. For you have brought us into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them whether or not they will walk in my instruction. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily. So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, at evening you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, for he hears your grumblings against the Lord. And what are we that you grumble against us? So God is going to provide for these people in this wilderness area and Jesus is giving them precisely the same physical example that he is the one who provided that bread for you in the desert for your ancestors back in the desert. Notice they were to walk by faith though the Israelites were in the desert. They were only to gather just what they needed for that day as a means of testing whether or not they would obey what God said. And of course another great example from the Old Testament that we have concerning God being a shepherd is Psalm 23 that we read this morning in our call to worship. And the imagery here is very, very telling, especially in John's gospel that he talks about the grass and being on the hills, and there's, John doesn't mention still waters, but I've read commentaries that say that there were, in fact, in this, the area traditionally known where where it's traditionally held anyway that Jesus performed this miracle, that the imagery is almost identical with Psalm 23 and Jesus being their shepherd and leading them to this place, having them lie down and then feeding them. It's incredible imagery that Jesus is giving to them. Psalm 78, 19 says, then they spoke against God. They said, can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold, he struck the rocks so that waters gushed out and streams were overflowing. Can he give bread also? Will he provide meat for his people? Jesus is answering that psalm, the questions of that psalm in this miracle. Yes, in fact, he can provide bread for the people in the wilderness. Notice Deuteronomy 8.3, Moses' last sermon before he died. Last instructions to the nation of Israel before they went into the land. Deuteronomy 8.3 says, He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything. that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. And that's why John gives so many more details in that Bread of Life discourse in John 6, indicating Jesus, showing the people, spoon-feeding it to them, that He is the Bread of Life. He is the one who is the source of our eternal life, our justification, but He's also the source of our daily walk with Him. as well. And we cannot be successful in the Christian life unless we are trusting in that daily provision. And essentially, he's proving that he can give them this kingdom. See, he is offering this kingdom to the nation of Israel, if they will only trust in Him, if they would just believe in Him, I would give you this right now. And He's showing that He can do it by producing food for them. It wasn't like it is today. They couldn't just go down to the corner and get something to eat in two minutes like we can today. It was an all-day preparation for these people to be able to eat, but Jesus is literally providing it for them instantaneously. He was showing them that he can give them the kingdom. And a lot of scholars today and Bible teachers will dispute that, that he never offered the kingdom. That wasn't on his agenda. But notice John 6.15 again. John 6.15, so Jesus, after he had performed this miracle, so Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone. The people thought, wow. He really can be our king. Look, he can give us food. Let's physically make him be our king right now. And then we'll have all the great Old Testament promises about our kingdom. We'll be the superpower of the world because we have unlimited food right here at Jesus's hand. And that is precisely not what Jesus's intention was. It is a righteous kingdom. It can only come through trusting in Him. That was his point. And the nation, by and large, did not trust in Him. But oh, how he wanted them to trust in Him for this provision. We see Him literally weeping over Jerusalem because of their unbelief later in the Gospel accounts. but he wanted them to trust in him. Notice Isaiah 55, we'll close with this. Isaiah 55, speaking of this provision that comes from the Lord. Isaiah 55 one, ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy, and eat. That's the apostles, they had no money, they had no way to provide for these people. Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me. Listen that you may live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you according to the faithful mercies shown to David. Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, and a nation which knows you not will run to you, because the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. He is right there with him. God is begging for the people to call on him. He was literally in their presence. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bare and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so will my word be which goes forth from my mouth. It will not return to me empty without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. For you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you. And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush, the cypress will come. And instead of the nettle, the myrtle will come up. And it will be a memorial to the Lord for an everlasting sign which will not be cut off. If only they would trust in him, he would give them their kingdom. And of course, we as Gentile people living today in this world, that same offer of salvation is there for us. Yes, he would save their souls, literally, if they would trust in him. But as a nation, if they would trust in him, he would give them this kingdom. He would allow them to move immediately into that kingdom if they would only trust in him. So in this feast from the Savior, there's so much information, so many different angles that we could take concerning what Jesus is doing there, but it's best for us to understand it if we just see that he is providing this miracle to them as another way of teaching the apostles to walk by faith, trust in his provision. They need that lesson over and over and over again just like we do. We need the same lesson because without Christ, any hope of being a disciple or discipleship is completely lost because without him we can do nothing. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this account of such an incredible miracle that teaches us so many different things about who you are. It teaches us that you are the God of Israel who can provide for his chosen people. It teaches us that salvation comes to us through trusting in you, and it's of no cost. We just simply receive it as a free gift the way that the people would receive the food from the apostles. It teaches us to walk by faith in our daily lives that you are the one who who gives us our daily sustenance our daily spiritual sustenance that we need to be Successful disciples. I pray Lord that you would help us to see the the many facets and the truth of your word and that we would apply them to our lives and and therefore be successful believers uh... who bring glory to you with our lives i thank you for each one of these people and pray that you would go with them in this week to come and uh... keep them safe and uh... walking close with you we pray in jesus name