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welcome to everyone it's good to be in the house of our god on this lord's day for our call to worship you can turn with me in your bibles to psalm 146 psalm 146 and i'll begin reading in verse 1 praise the lord praise the lord o my soul while i live i will praise the lord i will sing praises to my god while i have my being do not put your trust in princes nor in a son of man in whom there is no help his spirit departs he returns to his earth in that very day his plans perish happy is he who has the god of jacob for his help whose hope is in the in the lord his god who made heaven and earth the sea and all that is in them who keeps truth forever who executes justice for the oppressed who gives food to the hungry the lord gives freedom to the prisoners the lord opens the eyes of the blind the lord raises those who are bowed down the lord loves the righteous the lord watches over the strangers he relieves the fatherless and widow but the way of the wicked he turns upside down the lord shall reign forever your god o zion to all generations praise the lord amen one of the conventions you see throughout the psalter and in the prophets and in the new testament as well is not only an ascription of praise to god but the various reasons as to why we ought to praise god and that is what the psalmist does here and hopefully our hearts are filled with that knowledge so that as we sing and pray and look to god's word today we do so in a worship worship full frame of mind so please turn with me to psalm 22 in your hymn books psalm 22 be as in bravo and we'll stand as we sing together [Music] here [Music] is [Music] is uh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] has well let us pray our blessed god and father we give you praise and glory for this wonderful day that you have made we see your majesty revealed in the created order we see your power manifested in the providential order and the way that you govern all your creatures and all their actions and we see that grace and that mercy and that love so clearly revealed in the redemptive order we give praise to you for the gospel of our salvation we give praise to you for the mercy that you've shown us in that gospel we give praise to you for the life and the death and the resurrection of our blessed lord jesus christ we know father that you are a glorious god a sovereign god a powerful god and we see that in the salvation of our own souls we know it's not because of our goodness or our merit or our law keeping but we know it is solely and alone because of your sovereign grace we know as paul says that you chose us in him before the foundation of the world and that in the fullness of your time you sent forth your son born of a woman and born under the law to redeem those under the law we give praise to you for the ministry of the holy spirit who takes that finished work of the savior and applies it to your elect and god as we gather together today as the church of the lord jesus christ may we give glory and praise and adoration to our great god even father son and holy spirit and may you cause us to find great comfort and joy in your midst may you cause us to find encouragement from one another in the fellowship of the saints and may all that we do today redound to your praise we ask that you would forgive us for all of our sin and our transgression the apostle tells us we're to live in light of or we're to let our conduct be worthy of the gospel of our salvation and yet father we find in our own hearts that remaining corruption the hymn writer speaks of it so clearly when he says that we're prone to wander and prone to leave the god that we love so lord forgive us now and cleanse us in that precious blood of the lord jesus christ we thank you that he is the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world and we thank you that when we confess our sins you are faithful and just who forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness so do that even now lord god so that we may come before you with a clear conscience and in a right frame with fear and trembling and with great joy in the presence of our glor of our glorious god as well father for those who've come here this morning that are still dead in their trespasses and sins we pray that today would be the day of salvation we pray that they would hear the voice of the son of god as it comes through the gospel of our lord jesus christ that you would awaken them and show them their own sin before a holy god and show them the altogether sufficiency of jesus christ to save to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto you through him and may that be the case not just here but throughout this country and to the uttermost parts of the earth we have that commission given by the the risen christ when he says go therefore and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit and then to teach them to observe all things that he had commanded and he gives that blessed assurance of his presence with the church in that task of disciple making so god bless the people of god as they gather together bless those who are preaching the gospel of christ and may you cause that word to run swiftly and be glorified and may it not return unto you void but may accomplish that purpose for which you sent it and may it be salvation of sinners from every tribe and tongue and people and nation as well our father as we gather together in the in the lord's house on the lord's day we do so mindful of the the chaos that is going on in this world we see multiple things that cause great concern in our hearts and yet father we are called by the psalmist to be still and to know that you are god to know that you will be exalted among the nations and you will be exalted in the earth and we confess at times lord god our faith is little we don't always see it as we ought so may it be the case today that you would encourage our our our hearts would you build us up in our most holy faith and would you cause us to press onward by your grace and for your glory in this lower world we think of the situation in eastern europe we pray there would be a cease fire there in the ukraine we pray most high god that there would be the the gospel going forth even in the midst of such trial and tragedy that sinners would be saved by grace through faith in our blessed savior as well god we see the governments in our own generation and oftentimes definitely leaning in the direction of tyranny and it gives us great pause great concern and yet we are reminded by solomon that the king's heart is in the hand of yahweh and you turn it wherever you deem so god help us again to be steady under that knowledge that you are sovereign in providence that you are in heaven and you do whatever you please as well our father we see the condition of the church and in many respects it it it does grieve us when there is such an emphasis on sort of a man-centeredness and and on things that ultimately don't matter we do praise you however that there are those faithful churches that are proclaiming christ and him crucified and we pray that you would prosper them we pray that you would bless them and we pray that you'd add to their numbers such as should be saved bless the church in surrey and give grace to pastor mike as he continues to labor in the word and in doctrine be with the church plant in vernon and bless our brother ryan as he is there preaching today may he know the presence and power of the holy spirit as he brings forth your word and god bless the work in dryden we thank you for that that desire on the part of those brethren to plant a confessional church in that part of the world and we pray that it would be used by you for the extension of the kingdom of jesus christ here on earth as well our father we thank you for our sister church in honduras and pray for your blessing upon pastors carlos and luis give those men grace and strength and help and give them continual boldness and courage to proclaim the glory of jesus christ in a god-hating world as well our father we pray for the persecuted church all over the earth we know that the things that we have seen over the last couple of years though they do concern us they're not yet what they could be then we look at china we look at various places in the middle east we look all over the earth and we see the people of god suffering greatly for the cause of god and truth and we commit them to you into the word of your grace and pray that you would sustain them and bless them and cause them to continue to go forward in the fear of the lord and in the comfort of the holy spirit and god may you indeed in our generation do a work of salvation the lord jesus taught us the the the parable of the mustard seed that that kingdom starts off very small and what appears to be insignificant but it grows into a big tree and all the birds of the air find their their nest there and god we find great encouragement in those kingdom parables so help us to to have faith and help us to go forward and to glorify and to honor you in this generation as well god look with favor upon the temporal needs in our in our church for those who are not well physically we just pray that you would bless them that you would sustain and encourage their hearts and just continue to watch over each and every one and lord bless our time as we gather now and help us to sanctify the day help us to call this particular day a delight and may we find the the blessedness of the nearness of god as our good and we pray through jesus christ our lord amen well you can turn with me again in your hymn books to 425 425 will stand as we sing together oh is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is is [Music] yes [Music] archers [Music] foreign well you can turn with me in your bibles to second timothy chapter three for our scripture reading this morning second timothy chapter 3 beginning in verse 1 but know this that in the last days perilous times will come for men will be lovers of themselves lovers of money boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy unloving unforgiving slanderers without self-control brutal despisers of good traitors headstrong haughty lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god having a form of godliness but denying its power and from such people turn away for of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins led away by various lusts always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth it was janus and jamburus resisted moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds disapprove concerning the faith but they will progress no further for their folly will be manifest to all as theirs also was but you have carefully followed my doctrine manner of life purpose faith long-suffering love perseverance persecutions afflictions which happened to me at antioch at iconium at lystra what persecutions i endured and out of them all the lord delivered me yes and all who desire to live godly in christ jesus will suffer persecution but evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse deceiving and being deceived but you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of knowing knowing from whom you have learned them and that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in christ jesus all scripture is given by inspiration of god and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of god may be complete thoroughly equipped for every good work amen well last week i mentioned as we introduced the book two weeks ago i mentioned that this is the last letter that paul the apostle wrote in philippians he understands that he could potentially die but that was his first imprisonment in second timothy his second imprisonment in rome he understands that he is about to die we see that in second timothy chapter four so this is sort of the 11th hour for the apostle and what he instructs uh timothy in is most significant not that it isn't if it was ours one to ten but we see specifically his direction to timothy in this grave situation so not only does he call timothy to suffer along with him in first timothy second timothy one he then gives him a series of commands in chapter two on how timothy is to conduct himself but here at the beginning of chapter three he gives timothy a warning or a caution he tells timothy to be mindful not of the external threat that faces the church but this is an internal threat notice what he says in verse 1. know this that in the last days typically bible readers today think of the last days as being in our future but the last days is an identifier of that time frame between the first and second advent of our lord jesus christ so we're living in the last days presently you'll notice that in verse 5 because after giving a description of these people paul tells timothy from such people turn away so it's not the case that it's something in timothy's future it is something presently upon timothy so back to first verse 1 know this that in the last days perilous times will come and then he gives a description which sounds very similar to romans chapter 1. it's a vice list it's a description of the sinfulness of man well in romans 1 it describes the unconverted pagan it describes the heathen it describes those outside of the covenant community this describes an internal threat so let's look at verse 2. notice men will be lovers of themselves lovers of money boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy unloving unforgiving slanderers without self-control brutal despisers of good traitors headstrong haughty lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god now notice verse 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power these aren't he then these are people that profess to a religion these are people that find themselves in churches and so timothy or paul rather tells timothy to be on guard it's not just the philistines that you have to guard against but it's the internal problems within israel like you see in the old testament israel was beset by problems not only from or foreign invaders and enemies but they had their own domestic issues there was idolatry among the camp there was defection from yahweh and the same obtains in this new covenant setting it's not just the pagan government that we have to be on guard for it's within the context of the church we need to be mindful we need to be watchful we need to make sure that we preach the truth as it is in jesus and demand as far as people becoming members that they are believers in christ it's very easy to destroy the church from within and the apostle says don't let that happen and in verse 10 he sets up a contrast after describing the bad guys verse 10 he commands timothy notice but you have carefully followed my doctrine manner of life purpose faith longsuffering love perseverance persecutions afflictions which happened to me and then he described cities that he visited on his first missionary journey so he notices or observes and he commends timothy for having been a faithful servant a faithful man to the lord jesus christ faithful with reference to the trust that had been given to him by god and by the apostle paul and then dropping down to verse 12 notice evil men or verse 13 evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse deceiving and being deceived that is a sort of a snapshot of what we have to look forward to in this age it's not going to be heaven on earth there's no utopia for the people of god as we live in this present world but notice the the contrast again or notice the remedy so evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse but notice what timothy is supposed to do according to verse 14. but you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of knowing from whom you have learned them and that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures in this context he's talking about the old testament specifically the new testament wasn't completed the way that we have it today and so when paul refers to the sacred scriptures of the holy scriptures he is referring to genesis to malachi and notice what the content of genesis to malachi is you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in christ jesus so with the old testament persons can come to the saving knowledge of god through faith in our lord jesus christ and then of course he ends the chapter with a great commendation of scripture all scripture is given by inspiration of god that means literally it is god breathed paul wrote john wrote james wrote isaiah wrote luke wrote matthew wrote but god moved those men to write his specific words even to the point of a plural use of the of the word seed in the book of galatians so all scripture is given by inspiration of god therefore we're supposed to receive it as the word of god and we are to recognize its utility its usefulness for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that god may through that thoroughly furnish us unto every good deed well let us pray our father in heaven we thank you that you have not left us as orphans in the world as jesus promised in the upper room he would send another comforter one just like him even the holy spirit as well we thank you that you've given us the written word of the living and the true god we thank you for all that we have in the old and the new testament we thank you that the scope of the whole is the glory of god through the salvation of sinners by jesus christ our lord and may you cause us to take this word to internalize it not just in the church of christ as we gather together on the lord's day but each and every day may it be our delight may we say with the psalmist i love the law of god it is my delight day and night and we ask this in the name of the lord jesus christ amen well for our final hymn before the preaching you can turn to 391 391 we'll use a different tune but one that is familiar to us 391 will stand together [Applause] you so foreign foreign well you could turn with me in your bibles to john's gospel we're in chapter 6. john chapter 6 our focus will be on the first section verses 1 to 15. we're in the book of signs or the public ministry of our lord jesus it begins in chapter 1 at verse 19 and continues to chapter 12 at verse 50. so what we find here is specifically in verses 1 to 15 is the feeding of the 5 000 it's one of the only other it's one of the miracles along with the resurrection that is mentioned in all four gospels the parallels are uh similar in nature though with the theological emphases that differ just a little bit but i want to read beginning in verse 1 and we'll read to verse 21 and then focus on verses 1 to 15. so after these things jesus went over the sea of galilee which is the sea of tiberias then a great multitude followed him because they saw his signs which he performed on those who were diseased and jesus went up on the mountain and then he sat with his disciples now the passover a feast of the jews was near then jesus lifted up his eyes and seeing a great multitude coming toward him he said to philip where shall we buy bread that these may eat but this he said to test him for he himself knew what he would do philip answered him two hundred daenery worth of bread is not sufficient for them that every one of them may have a little one of his disciples andrew simon peter's brother said to him there is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish but what are they among so many then jesus said make the people sit down now there was much grass in the place so the men sat down in number about five thousand and jesus took the loaves and when he had given thanks he distributed them to the disciples and the disciples to those sitting down and likewise of the fish as much as they wanted so when they were filled he said to his disciples gather up the fragments that remain so that nothing is lost therefore they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten then those men when they had seen the sign that jesus did said this is truly the prophet who is to come into the world therefore when jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king he departed again to the mountain by himself alone now when evening came his disciples went down to the sea got into the boat and went over the sea toward capernaum and it was already dark and jesus had not come to them then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing so when they had rode about three or four miles they saw jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat and they were afraid but he said to them it is i do not be afraid then they willingly received him into the boat and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going amen well let us pray our father we thank you for your word we pray now for the ministry of the spirit who gave us this word again open our heart hearts and eyes to receive the truth as it is in jesus and may we stand again and marvel at this one who is who is altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand open the eyes of unbelievers such that they may see him as willing and able to save all who come to him in faith forgive us again for our sins supply the holy spirit now illumine our minds and our hearts we pray in jesus name amen well chapter six is similar to chapter 5. both chapters start off with a miracle and then there is discourse and then there is self-disclosure so jesus does the miracle in chapter 5 he then discloses that he is equal with the father and then he has to confirm that when he is called out by the religious leaders here in chapter six he does this miracle and it serves ultimately as the stage or sets the stage rather for the bread of life discourse that will follow in john chapter 6. so we'll look this morning at verses 1-15 under two main considerations first the setting of the sign in verses 1-9 and then secondly the significance of the sign in verses 10 to 15. notice in the first place with reference to the location it says in verse 1 after these things jesus went over the sea of galilee which is the sea of tiberias now these things refer to his time in jerusalem however there's probably been an almost year-long span between chapters 5 and 6. if you go back to chapter 5 at verse 1 you'll notice that i'm sorry back to chapter 2 at verse 13. you'll notice that the passover of the jews was at hand and jesus went up to jerusalem and then in verse 23 of chapter 2 it says now when he was in jerusalem at the passover during the feast the feast mentioned in chapter 5 in verse 1 is likely the feast of pentecost but when we turn back to chapter 6 and verse 4 there is another reference to passover being near so the passover of chapters 2 and 3 had already passed it had already completed and now there's about a year-long span when jesus resumes his ministry actually he doesn't resume his ministry john now resumes his report the other synoptic gospels give us information between that particular time frame so as we go back to the text notice he goes over the sea of galilee which is the sea of tiberias so that means he is presently in galilee he is in the northern part of israel remember judea is in the southern part and that's where jerusalem is and then also we have the identification in luke's gospel that he was in the city of bethsaida so in luke chapter 9 at verse 10 we have a parallel account of the feeding of the 5 000. also when jesus specifically acts asks philip where should we send people to buy bread he asks philip because according to john 1 44 philip is from bethsaida so they're in the city or the region of bethsaida in this particular instance and then in verse 2 it tells us a great multitude followed him and that is what we see throughout the gospel records jesus was a public figure jesus through his uh preaching and his teaching his ministry his miracles his healings all those sorts of things he was quite popular his fame was spreading throughout the earth and so what we find in this particular text however is that the great multitude followed him and then there's a because in verse 2 because they saw his signs which he performed on those who were diseased now john gives us seven signs that the savior did and he does so for theological reasons again matthew mark and luke what we call the synoptic gospels give us other signs that are not recorded in john's gospel and they don't do that because there's contradiction they don't do that because there's paradox they don't do that because they're liars they don't do that because they've conspired together to try to pull the wool over people's eyes they do that because they're theologians they're not simply writers of history but they have theological purposes in view matthew writes to a jewish audience mark writes to a roman audience luke writes to a gentile audience and john writes to both both the pagans and the church so that he can set forth faith in jesus christ as the means by which sinners come to everlasting life and so in the construction of their narrative they are recording history but they are doing theology as well you find that in the prophets of the old testament specifically the former prophets the ones called first and second samuel judges joshua judges first and second samuel and first and second kings we call those men prophets former prophets but we also notice that they do theology as they go through writing history and then the new testament gospel authors do the very same thing so with reference to the signs if you're keeping track at this particular point there's not been a whole lot of signs that jesus has done but if you go back for just a moment to chapter 2 you'll notice an allusion to more signs that john has not given us in his written record notice in verse 23 again now when he was in jerusalem at the passover during the feast many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did and then in john 21 john gives us this information in verse 25 there were are there are also many other things that jesus did which if they were written one by one i suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that could be written so john acknowledges and john knows and john realizes and recognizes that jesus did a multitude of science signs he did more than seven signs but john also tells us why he gave us these particular signs notice in john 20 at verses 30 and 31 and truly jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book and then he gives us the purpose for why he wrote this book and if you're not a christian today listen to what john has to say he says in verse 31 but these are written that that you may believe that you particularly not the pagans out there not the heathen over there not the persons in far removed countries but john wants you to not only know the signs of our lord jesus christ but to see the power of our lord jesus christ who affected these signs and who has the ability to save everybody who comes to him in faith that's what john says in verse 31 these are written that you may believe that jesus is the christ the son of god and that believing you may have life in his name if you're not a christian here this morning you might want to ask yourself when i die where do i think i'm going to go it's a very important question i don't think we give enough attention to in our particular western society we give a lot of attention to tomorrow we give a lot of attention to next week we give a lot of attention to what university or to what job or to what guy or girl i'm going to marry but we don't always give a lot of attention to the 11th hour to that time when we're going to come to die we don't give attention to where will we fly when we depart from this particular world will we go into the presence of god most high and enjoy everlasting life because by grace we believe the gospel or will we be cut off and consigned to hell which was prepared for the devil and his angels this is the most important thing ever notice what the apostle says these are written that you that you specifically and you personally may believe that jesus is the christ the son of god and that believing in him you may have life in his name that's everything where you go to university or who you marry will certainly affect your life for good or for good or ill one way or the other but where you go when you depart from this present world is going to affect you for eternity so it is most important that we understand the christ that we see in john chapter 6. going back the multitudes come to him because they are either curious or because they have a necessity they're curious in this one who's able to heal people they're curious about this one who preaches the kingdom of god but as well there were probably those who had necessity they themselves were diseased they themselves were injured they themselves were hurting they themselves needed some sort of a healing so it doesn't surprise us or it shouldn't surprise us that they drew near to hear him and then notice in verse 3 of chapter 6 it tells us that jesus went up on the mountain and there he sat with his disciples intriguingly in mark's gospel jesus tells the disciples at this place come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while god is pro-rest for his people god is not against persons taking the necessary rest that he gives them the sabbath is a day of rest why is that because our god is a good and gracious master he is not a slave driver he's not an oppressor he's not one who who beats his children but rather he gives us rest and refreshment and blessing so back to the text notice again the reference jesus went up on the mountain and then notice in verse 4 passover clint makes the observation one of the commentators i use edward clink alongside verse 4 he's talking about the mountain jesus going up on the mountain it is very likely that the narrator's setting of the scene is intended to echo the scene at mount sinai with moses who will be alluded to shortly in verses 31-33 i think that's what's happening i think the placement of the feeding of the 5000 such the discourse concerning the bread that came down from heaven is john's theology of a new exodus notice verse four now the passover a feast of the jews was near i've already mentioned in verses or in chapter 2 we see reference to passover you see a reference here and then you'll see a reference later on when we get to the passion narrative it's a structuring device in john's gospel but again the theology is is that christ is bringing a new exodus what happens in the first exodus the children of israel are plagued by an oppressor the children of israel are treated horribly by an oppressor the children of israel have their firstborn murdered by an oppressor so god through power god through might god through glory frees his people from that bondage well the same thing obtains in this new covenant setting only the oppressor isn't pharaoh the oppressor is our sin the bondage is with satan the wretchedness is the effect that sin brings on the hearts and lives of people and so christ in this new exodus brings deliverance through the power of the gospel of christ our lord he brings vindication he brings liberty he brings freedom he breaks the back of the oppressor and lets his people go it is a most blessed theme and john highlights that again the passover as a background jesus going up on the mountain the giving of bread and then the invoking of moses as the one who gave bread that they ate and ultimately died notice what jesus says in chapter 6 at verse 32 most assuredly i say to you moses did not give you the bread from heaven but my father gives you the true bread from heaven for the bread of god is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world and then notice in verse 34 then they said to him lord give us this bread always and jesus said to them i am the bread of life he who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst so passover bread provided miraculously in a wilderness setting it invites the comparison between the old exodus and the new exodus and again what we find in egypt with reference to the children of israel was barbarism brethren when you see civil government pursuing the course of tyranny think pharaoh it is no joke it is not a game it is not a blessedness it is not a good thing we ought to pray against that we ought to be concerned for children and for our grandchildren as persons who are bringing children up in this present evil world we ought to pray to god to restrain the hearts of men such that they don't imbibe the ethics of pharaoh pharaoh was such that he commanded the murder of the firstborn babies in israel it was wretched it was vile and god brings judgment to bear upon him the death of the firstborn son was the lex talionis it was the law of retribution in other words eye for eye tooth for tooth stripe for stripe life for life so when people say oh that's horrific that yahweh would kill the firstborn of egypt why don't they say it was horrific when pharaoh killed the firstborn of israel with reference to civil government brethren pharaoh is a bad model and when our leaders start to ape him we ought to be a prayerful people with reference to god's intervention and god's proverbs 21 oneness in the restraint of these men's hearts so that they don't make life miserable now if it is god's will that they make life miserable then we need to be faithful we need to be persevering we need to be upright we need to be godly we need to maintain our calling and our vocation of shining his lights in a crooked and perverse generation and holding forth the word of truth but there's no crime no sin no rebellion against asking god most high to turn the heart of government officials in the way of leaving the church alone so that we may lead peaceable and quiet lives now back to our particular text it's a structuring device in the gospel of john the theological significance is here uh here is to invite the comparison between old exodus and new exodus and then notice as we look at this situation in verses four to nine we see the compassion of our blessed savior so verse four now the passover of uh passover a feast of the jews was near then jesus lifted up his eyes and seeing a great multitude coming toward him he said to philip where shall we buy bread that these may eat beautiful isn't it compassion jesus isn't so out of touch that he doesn't know that people are hungry civil authorities today tell us well you know higher gas prices mean you should buy electric cars if i can't afford a gallon of gas how do you think i can afford an electric car jesus wasn't that type of an individual jesus knew the needs of people not only because he's god but because he's man that's righteous and holy and has a clue and so he sees these people drawing nigh to him he knows it's time to eat and so he has compassion upon them the other texts tell us about his compassion john doesn't give us that but the fact that he's asking the question where can we send to buy food enough so that we can provide for all these people shows us something concerning our blessed savior but notice what he says so he says to philip because again philip is from bethsaida philip would know where the local 711 was philip would know where the costco was philip would know where to go to walmart in order to get enough supplies so that they could feed these 5 000 people so notice verse 6 tells us this he said to test him for he himself knew what he would do he's testing him concerning his faith it's not just philip but it's all the disciples it's not just philip but it's all the disciples remember chapter 5 and the particular discourse there verse 18 the religious leaders are upset because he being a man made himself equal with god jesus answers that in the affirmative in a lot of verses jesus answers that in the affirmative by saying yes i am equal with god well here we have a particular situation where we need a bunch of food in order to feed a bunch of people and so jesus asks the question is there a place where we can buy food he understands that the answer is going to be no there's not a place where we can buy food and so he is doing this to test philip because jesus knows what he's going to do jesus understands the parameters of his mission jesus knows the contours of his ministry and so jesus does this for the benefit of his disciples so verse 6 tells us as much he said this to test him for he himself knew what he would do so essentially we have two responses from the disciples from philip and then andrew again andrews from bethsaida also notice philip's answer in verse 7. 200 daenery worth of bread which is about a half a year's salary or a half a year's wages for a working man 200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them that everyone may of them may have a little a little so what he's saying is we don't have enough money we don't have enough money to feed all these people you've probably been in this situation before where you've invited people over for sure after church and that that number multiplied and you're hoping that the soup pan doesn't run out you're hoping that god will miraculously supply so that everybody can get a little bit of a little bit of a taste so basically phillip says we don't have enough money there's just too many people now notice what andrew says in verse eight one of his disciples andrew simon peter's brother said to him there is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish but what are they among so many so he says andrew phillips says we don't have enough money and then andrew says we don't have enough food we've got five loaves we've got two fish these probably aren't big salmon they're probably cheap little fish that you make a paste out of they're dried out and then you rub it on the bread and you have a little taste for for lunch but five loaves and two fish that's not nearly enough for what we will find out to be five thousand men and matthew supplies further information in matthew 14 21 besides women and children so it wasn't just the 5 000 men that are present but there's a whole lot of women and children and you know as well as i do children can eat man they can mow down we watch our grandkids and all they ever want is food i think they only come over because of the pantry meatball grandma more food it's like you have to throw it at that so there's a lot of hungry people here this is a serious situation what's jesus going to do is he just faking it with this compassion this is a beautiful illustration of what we have in the gospel jesus not only has compassion he not only has this sort of sympathy toward needy sinners but he actually has the power to save that he doesn't just look at hungry people and say man if it were in my power i'd like to feed every single one of you but it's not in my power no of course it's in his power of course he's able to feed every single one of them just like he's able to save every single one that comes to him in faith there's a beautiful expression here in terms of his ability and in terms of his willingness now let's move to the significance of well before we move to the significance of the sign itself there is an allusion i think to numbers 11. in numbers chapter 11 the children of israel are pretty well fed up with manna they are pretty tired of mana they want meat now i can't say that i blame them honestly i don't want to put myself in the camp of the grumblers to be sure but man i would want meat too and so of course they cry out to moses we're tired of the manna we want some meat we want that protein we want that grease we want that goodness dripping down our throats and in numbers chapter 11 of course moses has consternation moses can't make meat moses isn't you know bill gates moses is moses so moses essentially turns himself to the lord and the lord says i want you to appoint elders i want you to appoint men i want you to point the sanhedrin that it would later become in order to to govern over these people and then god says this to moses in numbers 11 23 the lord said to moses has the lord's arm been shortened now you shall see whether what i say will happen to you or not has the lord's arm been shortened is he incapable of providing meat is it the case that he can't so make it that that quail fall to the earth so that you're able to eat that food the lord god most high has sovereignty over creation it's another sort of a a window by which we approach john chapter 6. so we see in john chapter 5 that he makes himself equal with the father and then in john chapter 6 he is sovereign over nature he can multiply loaves and fishes he can walk on the water he is the living bread that comes down from heaven such that whoever eats this bread will have everlasting life there's a lot of old testament illusion going on here to invite us again to consider who jesus is relative to his father and to the people he's come to seek and to save that which was lost now notice the significance in verses 10 to 15. he feeds them not only has the will not only has the desire not only has the compassion but he has the ability again i couldn't imagine a more miserable so-called gospel which would not be a gospel if we had a savior who wanted to save but it was all up to us to be saved no because as the bible tells us our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked we need a savior who comes to seek and to save that which is lost not only compassion not only sympathy but the power and the ability the competence the the the omnipotence that is enabling him or enables him to save us from our sins so he sees the condition he sees the situation i think we're supposed to interpret that the little kid gave up his five loaves and his fish willfully he didn't get shaken down by the apostles give up give us your food i think i've told you before that that liberals and i don't mean leftists in our own generation i mean the liberals of the the the church theological liberals in the early part of the 20th century that denied the supernatural they denied the miraculous they denied the various things that you see in passages like these one of them one of them explains it this way well you know the crowd was so moved by the generosity and the willingness of this little boy to share his five loaves and two fish that it that it moved each of them to take the the secret stash of food that they had and to produce it into a common sort of a garner and we can all eat together what a horrible way to treat the bible what an absolute rejection of all scripture is given by inspiration of god and profitable for doctrine reproof correction and instruction in righteousness why would we think that we are able to take our unholy hands and deny the power of the savior as it comes to us in the pages of holy writ we are not supposed to do that we're supposed to marvel at the sign we're supposed to stand amazed at the power of the savior we're supposed to love the fact that he's compassionate and that he's able and that he can not only feed sinners but he can save sinners by his grace and for his glory so the little boy coughs up his food and then notice what jesus says in verse 10 he gives them a command make the people sit down now there was much grass in the place to provide the answer as to where will they sit so the men sat down in number about 5000. again matthew 14 21 tells us besides women and children lots of hungry people lots of people licking their chops ready to mow down notice in verse 11 jesus took the loaves and when he had given thanks this was jewish custom it should be christian custom it is the case that god in his mercy doesn't owe us anything but he gives us much he gives us an abundance the psalmist says he blesses the lord because the lord daily loads him with benefits i think we in the western world can acknowledge that i think we in the western world have proven the faithfulness of our god to supply our our wants our our god to supply our needs but our wants as well so jesus does what is typical for people to do in terms of thanking god for their food the typical prayer was blessed are you o lord our god king of the universe who brings forth bread from the earth so notice jesus took the loaves verse 11 when he had given thanks he distributed them to the disciples and the disciples to those sitting down if you're using a non-king james or a non-new king james bible you will not have that reference to the disciples the margin in the new king james tells us that that is a difference in the in the manuscript tradition the other parallel passages all have jesus giving the food to the disciples and then the disciples distributing it among the multitudes so there was this particular order so notice he gave the disciples the food and then they gave the food to those sitting down and then notice at the end of verse 11 and likewise of the fish as much as they wanted as much as they wanted so if all your little kids that were there were saying can i have more yeah you can you can have as much as you want eat as much of this bread eat as much of this fish eat as much of this as you can possibly fit down your gullet into your stomach and enjoy it and in this we have illustration we have analogy we have parallel we have symbolism we have typology we have jesus christ the grand provider in the messianic kingdom we saw it in john chapter 2. you can go back there john chapter 2 the wedding at cana of galilee when there was a problem and the master of the ceremony or the the the leader there saw that they had run out of wine and so in chapter 2 at verse 6 we read now there were set there six water pots of stone according to the manner of purification of the jews containing 20 or 30 gallons of peace jesus said to them fill the water pots with water and they filled them up to the brim and he said to them draw some out now and take it to the master of the feast and they took it when the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine but did not know where it came from but the servants who had drawn the water knew the master of the feast called the bridegroom and he said to him every man at the beginning sets out the good wine and when the guests have well drunk then the inferior you have kept the good wine until now now when we looked at that passage we looked at it not only in terms of a beautiful miracle over you know jesus over nature making water into not just wine but good wine very good wine the best wine that these men had had but it's also anti-typical of the prophets there's going to be a time there's going to be an age it's under messiah it's under jesus where there's great bounty and great blessing and great provision and you see it not only in the wine miracle of chapter two you see it in the food miracle of chapter six this leads ritter boss to make this observation the great theme of the miracle story is the eschatological abundance that jesus supplies and the messianic authority given him by the father yes he's feeding sinners with reference to their physical needs but he's giving us an analogy to the sinner's spiritual needs it is a most beautiful thing notice in chapter 6 at verse 48 i am the bread of life your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead this is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die i am the living bread which came down from heaven if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever and the bread that i shall give is my flesh which i shall give for the life of the world we'll get to that flash statement when we get to that flash statement but the point is is bounty provision uh uh effuseness i think is the word now no well before that notice uh ch spurgeon made this observation he says some would give the poor only the bearish necessities some would give the poor only the bearish necessities i'd differ with spurgeon there a little bit at least and say most if civil government in our generation is anything to judge by yeah they'd only give the barest necessities he says bread only our lord adds fish what a feast was this christ for master of the feast apostles for butlers thousands for numbers and miracles for supplies what a far more glorious feast is that which the gospel spreads for hungry souls what a privilege to be fed by the son of god that's a wonderful take on the passage yes appreciate that jesus being equal with the father has sovereign power and authority over nature he can multiply loaves he can multiply fish he can walk on the water he can still the wind and the waves but he can save your guilty soul from hell he can deliver you from the wrath and fury of god most high he can call you out of darkness into marvelous light to proclaim his praises to glorify his name to extol his majesty and his honor to when you die to end up with him so see the bread but may you see in it the one who gives the bread the one who's able to give life the one who's able to give all things profusely to sinners who stand in need notice the leftovers he not only gives enough so that everybody is filled but he gives enough so that there's 12 baskets of fragments notice in verse 12 so when they were filled he said to his disciples gather up the fragments that remain so that nothing is lost therefore they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten probably that's been a curious statement for you before you've read your bible and you wonder what is the significance in fact when you read older commentators in the history of the church you see a lot of sort of wild speculation about numbers and about different things and the sort of references and all that i i think back to my own days as growing up as a young papist in a catholic school they really emphasized don't waste food don't waste food i think behind their thought was this particular passage don't waste food always seemed a good rule to me you never know when it's going to run out so you shouldn't waste it that's certainly a moralistic interpretation we can derive from this but then notice in verse 13 therefore they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten now this commentator i mentioned he's a modern one edward clank i don't agree with him on everything but i think he's given me the best uh the most satisfactory answer to the significance of verse 13. you may or may not agree with this i mean there's obviously a judgment call to be had but he makes this observation concerning verse 13. he says in light of the disciples mild rebuke of jesus for his initial question go back to verse 5 where shall we buy bread that these may eat philip says we don't have enough money andrew says we don't have enough food so keep that in mind in light of the disciples mild rebuke of jesus for his initial question their remains for each disbelieving disciple their own basket of leftovers to carry i quite like that again it's tough at times to get the absolute meaning of particular tax but that does commend itself in my judgment to being a very helpful interpretation in this case you didn't have the faith that god most high could provide bread and fish enough for 5 000 plus men or plus women and children go ahead and carry that basket while you're eating out of that basket you recall each and every fragment that you munch the power of the savior i think that is a very beneficial way to look at that now let's look finally at the significance of the sign see john doesn't leave us to try to figure it out john tells us what goes on notice in the first place the declaration of the people in verse 14 the declaration of the people then those men when they had seen the sign that jesus did said this is truly the prophet who is to come into the world if you go back to john 5 notice in verse 20 for the father loves the son and shows him all things that he himself does and he will show him greater works than these that you may marvel and then verse 26 when he earned 36 rather he invokes the witnesses to his own equality with the father and the works that he does are one of those witnesses notice in verse 36 but i have a greater witness than john's for the works which the father has given me to finish the very works that i do bear witness of me that the father has sent me turn over to john 10 verses 37 and 38 he underscores the same purpose for the signs in this gospel notice in 10 37 if i do not do the works of my father do not believe me but if i do though you do not believe me believe the works that you may know and believe that the father is in me and i in him so going back to john chapter 6 the sign worked the sign was successful the sign did what it was intended to do it uh evoked from these men this confession or this declaration that this is the prophet now in john's gospel up to this point we've had two other persons ask about the prophet john the baptist is questioned as to whether or not he's the prophet john 1 verse 19. this is the testimony of john when the jews sent priests and levites from jerusalem to ask him who are you he confessed and did not deny but confessed i am not the christ they asked him what then are you elijah he said i am not are you the prophet and he answered no and then in john 4 the woman by the well the samaritan woman specifically at verse 19. after jesus asks her to go call her husband and then says yep you're right you don't have a husband the woman says to him in verse 19 sir i perceive that that you are a prophet now this goes back to ma to deuteronomy chapter 18 there was a promise by god through moses that god would raise up a prophet like moses him you shall hear yesterday in the theology class we talked a little bit about the messianic expectation on the part of the jews it was multifaceted you had those that were looking for the deuteronomy 18 prophet you had those that were looking for uh this figure that would come to to save israel from their from their issues their problems so there was a lot of different sort of ideas concerning the messianic expectation the question specifically was were they expecting one who was divine well there's enough in the old testament to tell us they should have psalm 110 1 yahweh said to my lord sit at my right hand till i make your enemies your footstool all that to say there was this sort of multi-faceted composite with reference to a messianic expectation the fact that they're questioning whether or not he's the prophet or rather they declare that he's the prophet indicates that as far as they were concerned he's the one that's been promised in the old testament so not only moses but the prophets had foretold that this is in fact the one it's a most glorious thing this is truly the prophet who is to come into the world so that's their declaration but then notice in verse 15 their desire based on that and this teaches us something about their expectation and about our lord's instruction notice in verse 15 therefore when jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king he departed again to the mountain by himself alone so the intention of the people was to take him by force the word literally is to grab or see suddenly so as to remove or gain control to snatch or take away they wanted to grab jesus why because a man who can take five loaves and two fish and feed upwards of 10 000 people is a man who can subjugate our enemies namely the roman empire he is a man that can give us geopolitical prestige he is a man that can restore us to what david had and to what solomon had so this drives these men to try to grab jesus by force and to put him on a throne in jerusalem so that he could do all that they had in terms of their expectation so i think we learned from this with reference to jewish expectation of the messiah in the first century it was physical and temporal they wanted what roosevelt promised a chicken in every pot they want what politicians promise low gas prices low bread prices low house prices they wanted the roman ar the roman government to be under that and as a result they want to take jesus by force and put him on a throne that's their expectation but notice what jesus does it says in verse 15 therefore when jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king he departed again to the mountain by himself alone what's jesus teaching what's his message his kingdom is not first and foremost physical it is first and foremost spiritual his kingdom is not first and foremost temporal i say first and foremost because it does affect the physical it does affect the temporal but the primary emphasis of jesus coming in his first coming is on the spiritual element and on the eternal element the bread of life has come down out of heaven such that you may eat it and have what everlasting life they were content with this bread and with this fish and with a subjugated roman army and with a geopolitical power for the space of 60 or 70 years and then off they go no jesus doesn't come to do that in his first coming jesus comes to save his people from their sins to free them from that bondage that no no no other person can jesus comes to bring salvation to sinners not in the first place the bread and the fish and a preeminent kingdom on this earth the kingdom of christ is spiritual and eternal it does encompass the entirety of the cosmos though it does affect us physically it does affect us temporally but in terms of the coming of the lord jesus in that first coming it's eternal and spiritual in its emphases as well with reference to these men now they wanted bread they wanted fish and i'm i'm extending it a bit but i think it's a good extension they wanted the subjugation of the roman empire they didn't want to be sort of a you know under the thumb of the romans they didn't want to have that sort of a polity but with reference to that that's not necessarily wrong okay i just sort of mentioned that about pray that we don't have pharaohs pray that we're not oppressed pray that we're not in slave camps eating cups of bugs every day working in the factories for the master that that's a legit prayer it's not wrong that we want the subjugation of god's enemies but it's wrong when we try to force it it's wrong when we try to bring it in our time frame it's wrong when we try to usher it in it is wrong when we don't respect that god most high has all things under control that even when it looks like it looks like right now even when it is most discouraging brethren it is most discouraging out there if you are not a christian if you don't have god you don't have a christ at the right hand of god most high i don't know how you get out of bed on a daily basis i don't know how you function i don't know how you can flow and move throughout society we are seeing something that is unprecedented in our own generation relative to civil power that should terrify people or cause the people of god to find great comfort and solace and stability in their blessed god we cannot force the kingdom we cannot make the kingdom we cannot usher in the kingdom we need to understand the subjugation of the king's enemies is perfectly legit and lawful but it must come in god's time frame it must be according to his sovereignty first corinthians 15 verses 20 to 28. first corinthians 15 verses 20 to 28 gives us assurance of god's victory over all things it gives us assurance of christ's victory over all enemies and we need to live in light of this blessed promise even in the midst of the chaos first corinthians 15 20. but now christ has risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep for since by man came death by man also came resurrection of the resurrection of the dead for as in adam all die even so in christ all shall be made alive but each one in his own order christ the firstfruits afterward those who are christ that is coming then comes the end so the fundamental difference between the first advent and the second advent the first advent john tells us in john 1 14 the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth we saw that we witnessed that it was a blessing but we saw as it were a man of sorrows a man acquainted with grief there was no form no comeliness about him he didn't have a halo he didn't have you know 19 inch pipes he didn't walk around just you know doing things and always be drawing attention to him the first advent is significantly different in terms of the second the second advent what do we see he comes as king of kings lord of lords he comes not to to be incarnate he is he's always man and god in one person forever but in terms of that second advent here's what you have so verse 23 tells us at his coming and then verse 24 then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to god the father when he puts an end to all rule and authority and power for he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet the last enemy that will be destroyed is death for he has put all things under his fore he has put all things under his feet but when he says all things are put under him it is evident that he who put all things under him is accepted now when all things are made subject to him then the son himself will also be subject to him who put all things under him that god may be all in all so here's the point not wrong that the people of god cry out for the subjugation of the enemies of god but it's wrong when they try to force it it's wrong when they try to take things into their own hands it's wrong when they don't wait upon god christ is coming christ is going to vindicate his bride christ is going to punish his enemies christ is going to right every wrong on wednesday night one of the questions after was about the administration of justice you want to demoralize a body politic you want to break the backs of people in the body politic you want to hurt people is teach them that there are two tiers of justice teach them that there is no justice for a certain group in society what happens to the people of god at that point hopefully we cry out to god most high even so come lord jesus vindicate your bride vindicate your honor and set things in order but we don't do anything to hasten that we pray we faithfully persevere and we do what god has called us in this lower world in conclusion we see the expectation concerning messiah the jews wanted to take him by force and make him a king christians at times today function in a similar manner we are on god's timetable and i confess with everybody i'm an impatient person if god were to say to me when do you want me to vindicate the church and put down the enemies i'd probably say yesterday would be great right it's tough living in a world where babies are aborted it's tough living in a world where youth in is celebrated we're not just at the place of babies aborted we're at the place of people shouting their abortions we're at the place of no notable figures in society saying it was a good thing that i aborted my baby for my career you know it used to be that women saw their babies as primary it used to be that that family was everything there are so many wedges injected today in the family there is so much division being spread today there is so much disunity and fracture there is so much of that and we trace it back to the father of lies we trace it back to the one who's a murderer from the beginning so there is the longing in the people of god even so come lord jesus but to be faithful in the midst of it that's the challenge that's wherein we need grace secondly the demonstration of the glory of christ we see his sovereignty we see his power we see his authority we see his compassion we see him confirm what he says in chapter five you make yourself equal with god yes yes yes yes yes he says so what does he do in chapter six he makes bread he makes fish he walks on the sea he does those things associated with divine prerogative now you say well other prophets did miracles but there are predications concerning yahweh of israel specifically with reference to being ruler over the waves there are predications with reference to yahweh of israel as to be as the supplier of food we sang it or i read it in psalm 146 he executes justice for the oppressed who gives food to the hungry the lord gives freedom to the prisoners what's john telling us john is telling us the one who claims to be equal with his father is equal with his father he is trustworthy he is faithful he is the savior he is the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world look to him in faith and you'll be saved look to him in faith and you'll have everlasting life look to him in faith and you'll pass from death unto life that's john's purpose let us pray father we pray that you would take the word and apply it to hearts today and god not just here but all over the earth today we pray that sinners would be saved it is a wonderful and a glorious miracle that we find in john 6 where jesus multiplies loaves and fish and feeds uh you know upwards to 10 000 people but god it parallels it's an analogy to what he does in terms of being the bread of life those who eat have everlasting life and i pray that you'd open hearts to the truth that you would give the graces of faith and repentance such that sinners may believe and know the joy of being found in him and god bless and encourage our hearts as we stand in awe at our blessed savior and at what he has done for us and the fact that he now ever lives to make intercession for us in the presence of god almighty and we ask this through jesus christ our lord amen well please stand and we'll close by singing the doxology on page 568. so of the lord jesus christ and the love of god and the communion of the holy spirit be with you all amen father thank you for your word thank you for the gospel of our salvation thank you for the lord's day help us to call it a delight help us to enjoy the presence of god and fellowship with your people and we pray through jesus christ our lord amen please be seated for a brief time of meditation you