[0:00] If you are new with us today, special welcome to you. We are in the Gospel of John, and how we do things here is we keep your Bible open and keep your finger on the text, and we are sticking in Scripture.
[0:14] We will go through this Scripture verse by verse and see exactly what exactly John, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is trying to speak to us today.
[0:25] Okay, and as we're going into this, thank you, Babatuna, again for reading. The passage today starts out with after this, and this is important.
[0:38] This is a contextual marker in your Bibles. So as we get into the bulk of the text, we have to understand what John's trying to indicate to us, after what exactly, because that's called context, and that is crucial with understanding where John is heading in this passage.
[0:55] So after this would indicate just after the healing of Bethsaida, the time when Jesus came to Jerusalem, found himself at the pool of Bethsaida, and healed a man.
[1:13] And this was not just any ordinary day. This was the Sabbath day. This was a huge violation for man's constructs and man's rules that they have instituted on their own whim to follow God's commands.
[1:30] And they were so dedicated to them that they were rebuking a miracle from a man who is God himself. And so as we see, this was a pivotal time for Jesus to explain that he is no one, he's not just a good teacher, he's not just a prophet, but he is sharing with God.
[1:54] He says in chapter 5, verse 30, that I can do nothing of my own. And that is the theme that echoes throughout chapter 5.
[2:05] And actually, there's contextual markers after this throughout John's gospel. So while we can isolate a literary unit in scripture and totally expound on it and go out of this place and completely neglect the momentum that John is trying to build, we have to take good notice of those contextual markers because look in chapter 5, verse 1, it says after this.
[2:32] So it's building upon, we don't want to isolate the units from one another. And so Jesus basically says to these Jewish people who are stuck to their commands, he says to them in verse 39, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.
[2:51] And it is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me after you may have life. You refuse to come to me that you may have life.
[3:03] And we see that he's connecting something here because these Jews were very, they were Moses fanboys, we'll say. Moses was the leader that they recall is the greatest leader and a great leader he was.
[3:19] However, he says to these men just before chapter 6, for if you believed Moses, you would believe me for he wrote of me.
[3:30] But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? Context is so important and it drives the meaning of scripture.
[3:41] And so we arrive after that, that confrontation with the Jews. We arrive here today. And we arrive here in section 1, in verse 1 through 4, that this is the Passover at the Sea of Galilee.
[3:58] This is an important day as well. After this, Jesus went away to the other side of Galilee. He disperses from that confrontation, which is the Sea of Tiberias.
[4:13] And at this point, there was a large crowd following him. And they saw what he was doing. And so Jesus kind of got away from the crowd, went up to the mountain, sat with his disciples.
[4:23] And then we find out that it is the Passover, the Feast of the Jews. It was at hand. And so Jesus is in the thick of his ministry days. He's been growing in numbers.
[4:36] He's been growing in popularity. And he's been showing that he is no ordinary man. But for those who are fanboys of Moses, who can't get Moses out of their heads, what they're following is just another Moses at this time.
[4:55] And not only that, they saw what he was doing, many signs and wonders. And he was growing in this extreme popularity. And this crowd was large. We see that this crowd was actually numbered as 5,000 in verse 10 in chapter 6, as Babatunde read.
[5:11] And that doesn't even include women and children. That's 5,000 men. So if you include the bulk of that crowd, it's probably somewhere around 10,000 to 15,000 people at large.
[5:24] But we have to ask. We have to get inside of this crowd following his mind. We have to ask, what was the basis of their following this man?
[5:34] In my mind, it brings about the scene in Forrest Gump when he's out running across the country and, you know, long hair, long beard, filthy, and turn around and seeing all these multitude of people following him.
[5:51] Just a man dedicated to his task. We have Jesus here dedicated to a task and turns around and people are starting to take notice that, man, this guy has some tricks.
[6:03] And verse 2 illuminates the basis of this crowd's following. It was the signs that he was doing. Similar to the account we found with the official's son way back in chapter 5, where the people were rebuked by Jesus because their hearts were following based on what they could benefit from him, bringing the sick and totally negating the implications of that.
[6:33] This is no ordinary man. This is Jesus Christ, the son of the living God. And that was the point and the basis of his miracles. Their attraction to him was merely physical.
[6:44] It had nothing to do with the spiritual level of relationship. So Jesus escapes this crowd approaching him. He heads for the hills with his disciples. And this is very significant imagery, especially for the Moses fanboys of this crowd following Jesus.
[7:03] Because John is really capsulating upon the imagery here with Moses. He's playing upon the scenes of Moses' exodus with what Jesus is doing here.
[7:15] Because he's trying to draw out, okay, we know that you think you're following Moses. You think that. He was a great leader, but Jesus is no ordinary man.
[7:26] He's no ordinary prophet. We see those similarities in this passage. When Moses led the thousands of people, just like Jesus is doing in this passage, the crowds earned respect by Moses by the signs, by the wonders that he did, just like Jesus is doing.
[7:43] Moses and Joshua went up to the mountain, just like Jesus and his disciples went up to the mountain. And these events, I mean, the biggest connection is that this happened during the Passover, which is a time of commemorating the exodus with Moses.
[7:57] You see that John is putting these words inspired by the Holy Spirit to indicate something here. Because it's really difficult for the Jewish readers of John's gospel to really feel that tension and similarity.
[8:13] He's wanting them to feel that. He's saying, pay attention. And we should pay attention as this passage continues to keep our eyes upon that crowd. Because what we will observe as this continues is that they were merely following Jesus based on contingencies of what could benefit them.
[8:33] And so Jesus was truly standing out. And there's a lot of increased opposition in his ministry at this time and popularity. The more popularity gained, the more opposition.
[8:44] And obviously on the horizon of John's gospel is that silhouette of the cross that's coming for Jesus. And Jesus is capitalizing upon signs and wonders, not for fame, but to reveal that he is the son of God.
[8:59] And for people to believe in him, as listed in John 20, verse 30 through 31. And so naturally, as Jesus remains stationary, the crowds are drawing closer to him.
[9:13] And so he evacuates the area. And in section two, we see something important in verse five through nine.
[9:25] Lifting up his eyes then, seeing that the large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, where are we to buy bread? In section two, verse five.
[9:37] Lifting up his eyes then, seeing the crowd, seeing that people are coming for him. Jesus said to Philip, where are we going to buy bread so these people may eat? Isn't that odd, church?
[9:48] That Jesus, the son of God, the guy who can do many miracles, who can do all these things. He is God, as he's been proving himself to be. Why in the world would he ask his disciples? As if he's dependent upon his disciples to solve a problem that God has.
[10:04] That just doesn't make sense at all. So I hope that you can see the oddity of his request in this passage. Is Jesus dependent upon his disciples to solve his problems?
[10:15] We see the answer in verse six. He said to this, to test them. He said this to them, to test them. For he himself knew what he would do.
[10:27] Jesus had a plan. And he was merely giving an opportunity for his disciples to be tested at this time. And this is crucial. My head was spinning in my study this week.
[10:39] And often we know this story. Sometimes the most popular stories in the Bible that are, I just actually read last night to our kids. Because I'm like, I'm preaching on this passage tomorrow.
[10:50] And you know, maybe I'll disguise it as a last minute prep time in the children's book. Maybe the children's book might be seeing something that I might not be seeing. But we just read this passage last night.
[11:01] And we have all these popular Bible stories that we know from Awana and church programs as a kid growing up. We have to be careful sometimes that the passages that we feel are so common to us that we can say, oh yeah, Jesus did that.
[11:17] Isn't that amazing? But my head was spinning at this to know that we know that these stories take place. When Jesus provided the large abundance of food.
[11:28] But we never hear the significance of this miracle revolving around a test for the disciples. That's not in the children's books. So what we have here, church, if we could follow along and sort of leading into next week as well.
[11:43] Consider these two aspects of this account, of this miracle. We have two contexts. We have a massive crowd. And we're going to attend to them next week. But we also have Jesus' disciples.
[11:57] And within John's writing, we sort of start with the disciples. We see the miracle, the great miracle it was. And then back to the disciples.
[12:07] And this is important. Because modern preachers, I mean, you've heard it. Modern preachers of our day can often take this passage and make it about materialism.
[12:18] And Jesus always coming through to give us an abundant share. After all, we deserve it, right? Because we're Christians. We are his. Come to Jesus for what he can give you.
[12:30] This is nothing more than a prosperity gospel. But Jesus tests Philip and Andrew. This is important in the passage. And Philip responds and answers him.
[12:44] Look with me in verse 7. Now 200 denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each to give them a little. Philip says over a half year's wage couldn't even scratch the surface of hunger for these people.
[13:00] Really, Jesus? Where can we buy bread? We're going to need a lot of money. Andrew responds. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him in verse 9.
[13:12] There's a boy here. That poor boy. There's a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they for so many? I mean, grasping for straws.
[13:24] I mean, in short, Philip failed this test because he relied upon human ingenuity to solve this food shortage problem. Andrew takes a boy's lunch and is doubtful in the small portion it would even cause to satisfy somebody's hunger, especially a large crowd like that.
[13:46] And man, John is capsulating the echoing this Moses because what we have here is a similar interaction back in Numbers 11, which has several passages which echo in this chapter today, where the Israelites asked the same thing to Moses.
[14:04] In verse 13 of chapter 11, where can I get meat for all these people? They asked Moses, along with a handful of other passages of Israelites complaining, grumbling, the description of manna, that food provision, reference to meat and flesh, and the striking disproportion of existing need, vast need, and limited resources.
[14:30] If Moses could do it, Jesus could do it, right? But is Jesus just another Moses? This is precisely what we have here. There's a great need, limited resources.
[14:43] This boy's lunch, mind you, is nothing to brag about. These are small cakes of bread that are bland.
[14:54] The fish, small sardine-sized fishes. This was nothing great. This was merely just the sardines probably seasoned, gave the bread a flavor.
[15:08] And they're looking at this as the only opportunity that they can have to feed this massive crowd. This was a poor man's dish.
[15:20] Why didn't the disciples reply to Jesus' inquiry, were we to buy bread and just say, well, you're God, so why don't you do that little thing with the water and wine again?
[15:34] It sounds like a good plan. But no. They immediately, upon a situation, a crisis that they faced, of Jesus testing them, they relied upon, number one, human ingenuity to solve that problem.
[15:50] And also, they were, they had a defeatist mentality. This ain't gonna do anything, but here. We can maybe cut up this sardine and little mices, and maybe mice this thing up and give little, small fragments to people.
[16:07] We can be really hard on the disciples, can't we? We can be really hard on the Israelites in the Exodus. But however, just as the passage today echoes circumstances during the days of Moses, we understand something vital.
[16:20] That even throughout the days of Moses, God is still God. And throughout those days, man is still man. Isn't that right? God is the miraculous provider, the miraculous sustainer of his people.
[16:37] He comes through at the 11th hour. This is who God is. And man is the selfish, the lowly, forgetful people of God's miraculous person.
[16:52] So church, is this about food at all? Or is it about faith? You see, church, how many times do we see the Lord work throughout the pages of redemptive history?
[17:06] We can look, we can scour these pages and see the grace of God being poured out upon his people, the Israelites. And even in our own lives, we're constantly reminded.
[17:20] And within a small span of time, something happens and we doubt. I'm preaching to myself. I'm preaching to myself. Trust me, I am preaching to myself.
[17:33] Church, we are wired with the same flaws as the Israelites in the days of Moses. And we are those disciples close to Jesus who should know who he is, but lose faith so quickly.
[17:48] In relation to this situation, Philip resorted to human solutions. If none are found, we sort of despair like Andrew did. We are the same.
[17:59] And God is telling us who worry and doubt, just like he said to Joe, where were you when I laid the foundations of the world? Who are you that doubt me?
[18:11] How many times have you experienced that defeatist mentality in life? Looking to yourself, thinking to yourself, what difference is this going to make anyway?
[18:26] Yeah, I haven't been in the Bible for probably three years of regular reading and saying to yourself, what's, what's, why even try? I mean, I haven't, I haven't picked it up in red.
[18:39] I don't even know where to start. Just a defeatist mentality of something that can provide so much essential nourishment in your life. We often think, what difference will this make? Well, here's some bread and fish, but this is a lost cause, Jesus.
[18:54] Looks like we ain't eating, you know, as we tell Jesus, the God of the universe. This is us. Theoretically, at a distance, we can all, I believe that we can all have a resounding agreement that God can do anything at any time.
[19:15] We can affirm this at a distance. That he is God, but practically within close range, when we are the same way tested, we tend to doubt that God will ever meet our need, even hear our prayer.
[19:32] Right? Theoretically, we practice our faith at a distance. Like, yeah, we know God is God, but man, I have this desperate, dire need right now, and I don't know if God hears me.
[19:48] Church, John is pressing you to hear the word of the Lord today. And have faith that he is a great I am, regardless of your food shortage, we'll just say.
[20:01] His plans are greater than your immediate circumstance can testify, and we see this as he reveals in this upcoming miracle.
[20:12] Trust in the Lord, not just for the benefits, but because of who he is, his love for you. Trust that he will sustain you and never leave you or forsake you.
[20:26] And we see God's plan unravel in section three, starting in verse 10. And this is the great miracle that we all know within all the children's books.
[20:37] It's one of the only miracles recorded in all the gospels. Jesus says in verse 10, look with me.
[20:50] Have the people sit down. And everybody sat down. There was much grass. And so the people sat down, the 5,000 in number, and actual with women and children being 10 to 15,000.
[21:02] This is a big area of grass. And just a little tidbit, this is actually huge to understand, that it was actually in the Passover season. Grass in this area was very limited in the summer days from the heat of this Middle East.
[21:17] And so Jesus then took the loaves, these five little cakes, and gave thanks. And he distributed them to those who were seated. So also, the fish, we'll call them sardines, as much as they wanted.
[21:31] Wow, right? And just like that, Jesus does it again. The disciples' doubt is confronted by truth of who Jesus is, that Jesus is God.
[21:48] And this was no ordinary provision at all. But this was a grand display of Jesus' divinity as his fourth recorded sign in John's gospel.
[21:58] And just like Moses fed the multitude, so does Jesus. This was in all-you-can-eat buffet. In our household, we have a contentious topic of my wife's disdain for buffets.
[22:15] I always suggest jokingly, let's go to Golden Corral. And she just, it's a touchy topic in our household. I love buffets. I think it's great.
[22:26] I know what this is saying when it's saying that they took as much as they wanted. Because you know what an all-you-can-eat buffet is like. You put stuff on there that you can't even fathom putting into your body.
[22:40] And by the time it comes to dessert, that ice cream machine that has that good soft serve, you just, you feel like you want to puke, but you have to get that soft serve ice cream. I mean, this is a time where this large crowd had an all-you-can-eat buffet.
[22:58] They were feasting. As much as they wanted in verse 11. And look at it. There was some left over.
[23:08] In verse 12, it says, Similar to Ruth under Boaz's care in Ruth chapter 2, verse 14, where she ate and was satisfied.
[23:40] She ate until she was satisfied. And she had some left over too. A connection with what John is illustrating here. And there were fragments back in this time. If there was anything bigger than a grape size, it was in Jewish culture, it had to be collected and put into baskets to be saved for later.
[23:58] Many theologians say that them filling these baskets up with the remnants of that miracle was actually fulfilled prophecies of Jesus being the fulfillment of the 12 tribes of Israel, being 12 baskets and things like that.
[24:12] There's so many connections with Old Testament references within this passage and within the resolve of this miracle. And while we tend to marvel at the physical side of these miracles and these signs, better for us to marvel at this point, that Jesus provides abundant satisfaction.
[24:35] Abundant satisfaction is available through Jesus Christ, which came into view at the cross. Think about that for a moment.
[24:46] This is a cross-cultural topic that abundant satisfaction is available through Jesus Christ. And it might have nothing to do with the clothes on your back, the size of your house, the amount of money in your checking account.
[25:01] But this came into full satisfaction at the cross as the wrath of God was poured out upon Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin.
[25:16] Empathize with the disciples in this passage for a moment. These guys were just holding five little cakes of a poor man's lunch and two little sardine-sized fishes.
[25:32] Imagine being one of those disciples, instructed by Jesus to go among the crowd and pick up an abundant leftover.
[25:46] Not only was this boy who once had only just a lunch for that day, now has lunch for a week. Think about that.
[25:57] We can marvel at that. But we see it's huge. This has a huge, tremendous effect upon the crowd, and we'll come back to them next week.
[26:09] But look at what the crowd does. The crowd goes wild over this. In verse 14, look with me. When the people saw the sign that they had done, that he had done, they said, this is indeed the prophet who has come into the world.
[26:31] We've been studying the book of Moses. The book of Moses back in Deuteronomy 18, verse 15, spoke about a prophet like Moses who would come.
[26:45] This is the guy. Look what he just did. The crowd goes wild for this. These people are ready to crown him as their savior. We got the Moses.
[26:56] He's going to save us from the oppressive Roman government. This is the political candidate that they have been waiting for to save them from their physical ailments, from their temporal situations, not from their eternal situations.
[27:15] To meet their needs, they wanted to crown him. And perceiving in verse 15, perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
[27:32] In complete disregard for the growing fame on this earth, Jesus knew that his kingdom was not of this world. His candidacy was not political or sociological.
[27:43] It was to suffer. That was his candidacy upon this earth. And just as Jesus rejected Satan's offer to him to rule over the world in Matthew 4, he rejects mankind who places their agenda upon him and who want to crown him king because of the convenience it would bring them to save them from the Roman authorities.
[28:14] All the benefits. Man, they're thinking of living the Roman dream. You know, the Jewish dream. We call it the American dream. We're living the Jewish dream.
[28:24] They'll have the white picket fence. They'll be on top. We might ask, why would Jesus flee from this? Why would Jesus not capitalize upon this moment?
[28:37] He's got all ears. And just correct them in what they want to do and just instruct them that they are actually in error because his kingdom is not on this earth.
[28:49] It's in heaven. Well, Jesus knows the heart of man and the king they were wanting to crown has nothing to do with the kingdom Jesus came to inaugurate.
[29:02] I know what most of us might be tempted to do. We might say we wouldn't be tempted, but don't lie to yourself. If you had all that following and if you had a specific mission or cause on earth, don't lie to yourself.
[29:16] You know that you would be tempted of being like, oh, you know how many followers I'm gonna get on Twitter after this one? You know, popularity I'm gonna have going out of this?
[29:27] They love me. It was not Jesus' aim. It was not his focus. But this was a guy that fits their bill.
[29:41] They were totally blown away by this miracle. No need to campaign any longer. All the steps that they followed Jesus, they don't need to follow any longer.
[29:52] Make this guy, let's carry him to Rome and let him put this government straight. He'll fix it. Get this guy his throne. Make way. We got our king.
[30:03] Lowercase, king. He's our personal Jesus. He's our hero to save the day. Such a flawed perspective. Man thought Jesus was merely doing these things to suit their needs.
[30:20] Jesus was useful to them to get their way. Literally, they got a plan to crown him king. They baptized it, metaphorically speaking, and all of a sudden, this is God's plan.
[30:33] Don't we do that in life? Get an idea in our head. We might pray about it, maybe for a day or two, and we feel good about it. So we just say, whoop, in the water we go, and this is God's plan for our lives.
[30:48] Don't we have the same tendency at times to do this? Sean DeMar says, similar theology like this in the prosperity gospel is exactly like marrying somebody for their money.
[31:04] And how many times we often come to Jesus in this manner. We create a list of things of what we would like Jesus to do for us and completely neglect to consider God's greater plans and will.
[31:20] In our suffering in life, we want instant reprieve. In depression, we want instant joy.
[31:30] In our loss, we want instant provision. In our poverty, we want instant wealth. In our anxiety, we want instant peace. In our sickness, we want instant health.
[31:41] In our loneliness, we want instant companionship. In our doubt, we want instant confidence. Church, this is not faith of the Bible. Do you not know that Jesus is Lord over all?
[31:58] And might your suffering, your depression, your loss, your sickness, the whole plethora of things that I didn't even mention today, might these actually reveal to you that Jesus is actually nearer to you than ever before?
[32:12] Because we know that his word promises that he will not leave us or forsake us. And so our faith isn't contingent upon what he does for us. He's just waiting for you to trust in him without strings being attached to that faith.
[32:28] Because it's not about your ailments. It's not about a food shortage. It's about faith. It's not about the plans and ideas that you baptize in life and then just adhere them, just stitch them onto the robe of Jesus and say that, Lord, lead me in this way.
[32:46] And we can get so focused on ourself, our individualized faith, and our benefits that we can receive from Jesus. Consider the Israelites.
[32:56] Just four days after being through the Red Sea, being led on dry ground, they questioned Moses. Four days they questioned Moses. That they would rather go back through that Red Sea.
[33:09] Maybe they'll swim. They'd rather go back and be in bondage and captive by the Egyptians than to die out in the wilderness.
[33:20] These are people who experience the miraculous wonders of God providing for them. And they constantly needed more and more verification to appease their emotion-led faith.
[33:35] Grace of all, church, we as a Christ-centered church, we understand the grace that we have received from him.
[33:47] We know that Jesus is not only the candidate qualified to forgive sins. You can have confidence that Jesus is the one drawing you up from dead faith and having saving faith, becoming friends with God.
[34:03] And he is also the one who sustains all things. He sustains the universe. And he's going to sustain his children. Especially when we less heal it.
[34:18] This is good news, church. And this is the gospel. God in his perfect holiness has been revealing his plan of redeeming sinful man to himself.
[34:31] And Jesus, God, bore the wrath of God and died in our place upon the cross. So that by faith in him alone, we receive forgiveness for sin.
[34:43] We receive new hearts. The greatest gift we could ever receive from our creator. If you want to receive forgiveness of your sin, simply tell Jesus today, if you're in this place, just tell Jesus within your hearts that you believe him, that you trust in this message, that it doesn't matter if you lack everything, all resources in this life, you are a follower of Jesus Christ through thick or thin.
[35:11] This is a marriage that you're not marrying somebody for the money. You're not a gold digger Christian. You are an authentic believer coming to Jesus.
[35:22] Tell Jesus that you want that, that you want to trust him, that you want to come to faith in Christ alone by your faith. And make a plan after this sermon to come forward, if that is you, to come forward so I can pray for you and help you in the next steps forward.
[35:41] This life will have quite a bit of trouble, but what a great reminder to keep our eyes focused upon Jesus without strings attached. And we see in the last section, we have another sort of plot structure in the walking of water.
[36:01] And we see his identity confirmed in the fourth section, starting at verse 16. Look with me. When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat and started across the sea of Capernaum.
[36:16] And now it was dark and Jesus had not come to them yet. Stop there for a minute. Can you, can you sense for a moment what we just came out of? We just came out of a marvelous, miraculous miracle.
[36:34] And what's going on? The party isn't continuing. Jesus has disappeared. The guy who the crowd was following, all of a sudden, they don't benefit from him being away from them.
[36:49] So out of lack of interest, the crowd disperses. In my mind, we would be partying all day. I'd follow Jesus up to the mountain. Where are you going, Jesus? You know, out of curiosity.
[37:01] But look at the, just the emptiness of this passage. A great miracle. And who comes into view again? The disciples. The very ones who were tested before the miracle happened.
[37:14] John is going back to the disciples here. Truly, Jesus didn't seem concerned about the political needs of that, that crowd. But he is concerned about the faith of his, the closest, people closest to him.
[37:28] Their interest in him. Their faith in him. So we see the text continue. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat.
[37:44] And they were frightened. Rightfully so. Right, church? I mean, it's dark in this time. They don't have, you know, the luxuries of having city lights sort of illuminating through the sky.
[37:55] This was dark. And you're out on the water in darkness. Kind of scary. So they were frightened, especially seeing a man coming toward them.
[38:07] And he said to them, it is I. Do not be afraid. Then they were glad to take him into the boat. And immediately the boat was at the land in which they were going.
[38:23] And within various gospel accounts, we can see this account pretty much expounded on in great detail. We don't hear any mention of Peter getting out of the boat. We don't have a mention of all of those details.
[38:35] But that's for a purpose, church, when I talk about context. We're in John's gospel. We're not in Matthew's gospel. Matthew had a specific point in his gospel. But we're analyzing and examining John's purpose of his gospel.
[38:48] John had a purpose of looking at the disciples right now and proving to him, proving to them one specific thing. And we're going to see that.
[38:59] These two signs, the walking on water, the feeding of the crowd, play an important role and are consecutive for a reason. He does this.
[39:10] By saying to his fearful disciples, he reveals the magnitude of his identity by saying, it is I, do not be afraid. And this is the same exact structure of his previous I am statements, ego e me, in the original language, which is the same structure where Jesus is saying, essentially, do not be afraid.
[39:30] It is I am who I am. The same words that were uttered to Moses at the burning bush. essentially saying to the disciples, do you believe in me now?
[39:47] Do you believe in me, Philip and Andrew? Behold our God church. This is the God who appeared to Moses and God provided for his people during the Exodus and the same God who is inaugurating a new Exodus, not of human deliverance, essentially, out of a land of suffering, but deliverance from sin through the forgiveness through his blood.
[40:13] This is our God. And so as we close today, we ought to be encouraged, church, right? How can we not be encouraged by this?
[40:24] Through God's provision, through God's providence in life, God works despite our flawed human ingenuity, despite our logical means that we often baptize and say it's God's will.
[40:48] Now, this is important because God may never heal your physical ailments. That's not saying that he can't, but he may choose not to. But praise the Lord that he has forgiven your spiritual ailments.
[41:04] This passage should grow our confidence and faith. Knowing Jesus can provide our physical needs, every need that we have, he can provide our physical needs, but more importantly, he will, without contingencies, provide our spiritual needs when you come to faith in him.
[41:27] Tom Watson says that we must love God more for who he is than for what he bestows to us. And isn't that so true?
[41:40] We can have confidence that when we are lacking in life, we actually have it all because we have Jesus Christ. Amen? So I want to challenge you to closing challenges today. I'm not going to have table wars like we do in small groups at Bible study, but I have two challenges for us today and throughout this week and Lord willing, throughout the rest of our lives.
[42:01] Two challenges. First one, do you rely upon human ingenuity when faced with hardship in this life like Philip?
[42:12] or do you resort to a defeatist mentality of why try anyway and sort of just marinate in your defeatist mentality?
[42:32] Do you rely upon human ingenuity when faced with hardships, when faced a food shortage within the context of this passage? The second challenge is do you look to God as a physical beneficiary that makes Jesus a personal candidate to take away all of your trouble and try to cast him into your molds?
[43:00] Thinking that we know best. Do we treat Jesus like with no extra specific honor than we treat somebody sitting in the White House?
[43:13] Is Jesus just another physical beneficiary who stands for all the things that we want to stand for and if we have any plans that we want, we sort of just advocate to them through legislation.
[43:24] Do you legislate to God, to Jesus Christ, of things that you need or do you submit your will to him and know that he knows best, not us?
[43:35] Thinking of, you know, the United States of America, we have a saying of life, liberty, and the pursuit of what? Happiness. But this is actually not a biblical idea at all.
[43:50] And often we come to the pages of Scripture with life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness and we're just having a great time. Man, the 5,000, we're not gonna, we just have everything. This is America, right?
[44:02] And we baptize that life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness in complete disregard for biblical instruction. You want to know the biblical command? It's submitting to heavenly ideals. It's not about life.
[44:14] It's about dying to yourself, dying to your pride, dying to your sin, and allowing the life of Christ to fill you up. It's nothing about you. It's not about liberty.
[44:25] It's actually about being slaves to righteousness. It's about being obedient to God. And happiness, do I even need to cover that? It's not happiness.
[44:36] It's pursuit of godliness. And that comes at quite a cost. And it's not gonna be happy most of the time. So do you look to God as a physical beneficiary that makes Jesus your personal candidate?
[44:52] Jesus 2020. Don't submit yourself to that idolatry. Do you have faith in this Jesus that we read about?
[45:03] Church. Think about that this week and ponder these challenges. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.