17/12/23 AM
Well most of you won’t make it out tonight I realiz the service is quite late um for you so I thought I’d give you a mini sermon from this evening how about that now uh I used to do a paper round once I had a couple of paper
Rounds actually um but eventually I got a paper round I used to have to do one on foot every single house and I I went up in the world and I got a bicycle and I had a I had a paper which involved just doing few houses here and there that subscribe
To the Daily Mail or the Daily Telegraph so D my bike now have You’ ever seen some of the old American films it’s great isn’t it because they just loved them yeah they just loved them into the into the garden but I didn’t have that
Luxury I had to actually walk up to the door and contend with a very angry dog perhaps um who would grab the paper at the other end there was one morning I was particularly tired when I was tired every morning it was an early start for
A teenage boy about halfast 5 6:00 I was on my bicycle cycling and I can’t can’t remember what it was but something caught my eye on the other side of the road so I was cycling away and looking at this and bang I went straight into a
Lamp poost would you believe it came off my bike and my wheel was um completely bent I wasn’t looking the right way it’s very hard isn’t it to keep a straight line when you’re not looking ahead of you now that reminded me as I was thinking about this verse I was reminded
Of that instant in my life because Paul says here he says forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead what’s Paul saying there but he say I’m no longer looking back anymore you couldn’t run very well looking back could You’ be
Very difficult you’d end up hitting hitting something hurting yourself Paul saying I’m no longer living as I want youed to live I’m no longer loving this world more than Jesus Christ I’m no longer living in sin I’m seeking to live a holy life he says I’m I’m looking ahead I’m following the Lord
Now there was a lady had who was married to a man that had three letters in his name beginning with L to guess in the Old Testament lot lot good man lot we don’t know her name I don’t think do we just Lot’s wife she was called and there
Was a day when God was coming to judge Sodom Sodom was a very evil place where they completely rejected God’s laws and did terrible things and you see lot was a silly man really he went to take his whole family to live in Sodom and what that meant is Lot’s wife she
She fell in love with sin and the world and one day the Lord Jesus Christ came to rescue them out of Sodom and he said don’t look back don’t look back don’t go back to the world but you know what Lot’s wife did when they were leaving the city she looked back
And she turned to a pillar of salt you cannot follow the the Lord Jesus Christ and love the Lord Jesus Christ whilst loving other things more it’s impossible you you you cannot want to please God if you’re also wanting to please people you can’t do it you have to be
Wholeheartedly looking towards the Lord Jesus Christ now 20123 2023 is coming to a close and we’re moving into 2024 another year and I wonder what year are you going to live next year you’re going to be looking in two directions are you going to be coming to church on Sunday
Looking there but then Monday to Saturday be looking elsewhere are you going to wholeheartedly live for the Lord Jesus Christ give Jesus the best years CU you know something when you’re young you can run faster can’t you you can work you can run harder and that’s true in spiritual things when you’re
Younger you have bigger you can give God the best days because there will be difficult days that will come and it’ll be harder to follow don’t waste these years so Paul says forgetting those things which are behind Reaching Forward those things which are ahead yeah every time you someone on the now remember
What I told you you don’t look in a straight line you don’t look to the Lord your crash your crash and eventually you’ll stand before God and be judged and that be the greatest crash of all let’s pray father we thank you for these dear children pray you bless them with
The knowledge of thyself we pray that even while they’re young their hearts would be changed we recognize this is the work of the spirit alone hear the prayers of parents and grandparents we ask and Grant that these dear ones here would one day raise Godly families themselves should you and
Spread the ARA of Christ to all that they know and me we ask this in Jesus name amen well I’m always very reluctant to say this is the most important of Jesus’s signs and miracles um we’re not taught to grade them in categories of importance but I
Do think that we can make inferences as to the weight or the degree of importance to which God places upon a particular incident or Miracle of Our Lord by the fact that this particular Miracle is mentioned by all four of the gospels Matthew Mark Luke and John it is given considerable treatment furthermore
In John’s gospel in John 6 it forms the bulk of some very very vital teaching where Jesus makes that amazing pronouncement I am the bread of life furthermore consider how many were the beneficiaries of this miracle I think we can say that this was the miracle that
Occurred on the greatest scale to the greatest number of people you see it’s misleading feeding the 5,000 very very very misleading it says 5,000 men doesn’t it verse 44 and in other accounts in Matthew’s gospel it says beside women and children now let’s just do some maths here not
That I’m a mathematician you didn’t come here to have mathematician but let’s just assume there were as many women as there were men now we’re up to 10,000 now let’s assume then there were as many children as there were men and women my instinct would be there were
More children than there were men and women people had large families in those days we’re probably looking then at a feeding on the scale of 20 to 25,000 that is a substantial miracle that is like feeding a football stadium in Brighton and so it’s it’s a vital Miracle merely just by the repetition
Then and the scale of the miracle but secondly consider its location the Wilderness ring any bells who was fed from Mana from heaven in the wilderness and so this is Rich with Old Testament symbolism God made Provisions for Israel in the wilderness where there was no provision to be made
Sitting in groups you see how they were organized don’t you in verse 39 to 40 and that has Echoes of when jeffro advised Moses who was Israel’s Shepherd to organize them into groups and to lead them and guide them in groups and of course as I said when
You read John 6 and you see that this miracle had tremendous implications that by feeding the multitudes when there was no provision to be found in men or in this world and Jesus then stood up and said I am the bread of life you must eat and
Feed on me you must drink of me we see then that this miracle is therefore Central to conveying to us the nature and purpose of his work as one ancient Divine says this miracle is a symbol in the material region of his work in the spiritual as all his
Miracles were he is the bread of the world he gives himself still and yet in a more wonderful sense than he gave he gave his life for the Flesh of the world furthermore this was a miracle that Jesus would refer his disciples to so in
Matthew 16 and verse 9 he says do you not remember the feeding of the five fows and the five fish and the two loaves then there’s the beauty of this miracle the Lord called himself in Genesis 22 Jehovah Gyra which means the Lord our provider and of course you know
When that in that name was given to God it was in the incident of when Abraham was called to sacrifice Isaac his one and only son and you can imagine the agony in in Abraham’s mind God has promised that through Isaac the world will be blessed
And now he’s offer asking me to offering him up surely surely God’s going to do something surely God’s going to provide so that my son can be spared and the Lord provided a lamb didn’t he and then Abra said on the Mount of Mariah on this mountain the Lord will provide and so
Here we see the Lord our provider in Jesus Christ that Jesus Christ is God’s provision to a hungry and needy and weary world and then also we see that God is a host isn’t that a tremendous fault God is a host God is hospitable God sees the World in great
Want and weariness and need and he prepares a feast before all peoples and invites all to come and eat of his provision and then we see the power of God all many modern commentators say this and they’re wrong they say none of the signs are to prove the Divinity of Christ how
Wrong this is a miracle which confirms to us the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ why because the scriptures say that God will give his glory to no one else and God’s glory is his attributes and so his infinite power is one of his glor his attributes now you know Elijah
And Elisha and all the prophets of old they didn’t do things inherently with power they had to cry out to God and ask God to give them power but Jesus merely broke the bread and created bread and fed the crowns this was a work of creation he is God In the Flesh it’s
Funny because J us or Mormons they can cut out if they want verses which are explicit about his divinity they can they can put words like a god in there where it says the god they can do all of that but they fundamentally cannot change the narrative which tells us by
His works and his deeds that he is God In the Flesh and so we come to worship the one who is God and man the god man this morning and what a glorious God he is we’re going to see a number of things uh this morning we may not get through
Them more and I’m fine with that we’ll see how we go it may do be the only point but the first point will be the Lord’s rest the Lord gives rest to his beloved the Lord gives rest to the weary and then we’re going to see after
That uh the Lord’s compassion and then after that the Lord’s disciples but we’ll see how we go because I have a number of points on the Lord’s rest look at verse 30 32 with me then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told him all things now that’s referring to he’d sent
Them out if you turn back in Mark 6 to vers 7- 13 He sent them out two by two and gave them power over unclean spirits they went and preached the kingdom of God and healed all who were sick telling the world that the that the coming of
Christ into this world is not to condemn you he didn’t come to condemn the world if he wanted to do that he wouldn’t have needed to have been born born of a woman to be born under the law if he came to condemn the world he could have done
That as the Son of God in his very nature the very Incarnation itself proves that God is a god of Grace and God is a god of Mercy and so the kingdom of God has come and it’s Healing The Sick it’s casting out demons to show that Christ’s coming into this world is
A coming of mercy and of Grace and to Spring life and joy to our miserable and weary lives and they report back all that that they did the demons submitted to us Lord they said and we laid our hands on people as you said and people were healed and wiid
Hands grew and and the lepers were cleansed the blinds could see and some people even believe our message they they’re coming to hear you even now now what we see here straight away in verses 30 to 31 is that our Lord is no Taskmaster remember again let me stress
When we read of the works and deeds of the Lord Jesus Christ you are seeing a window into the very nature of God he is the expressed brightness of the father Glory Glory or the radiance as espv says of the father’s glory and they come and tell him what he’s
Done and does he say good I’ve got another job for you here’s another list more towns to go to more work more work no no no no no he says come aside yourselves see this to a deserted place and rest and rest for there were many coming and
Going that they did not even have time to eat they just love the Lord Jesus he’s so unlike men isn’t he you know I’m sure in this world you’ve known what it’s like to work for people who want to squeeze you of every drop that you can give
Them this was the culture in primary education in the primary schools it’s the L the culture Sly there was a day when Primary School teachers could they teach the they teach a group of people then they would teach their children then they would teach their grandchildren I remember the the teacher
That I trained under on one of my uh placements she’d been at the school for 50 years and she was teaching the grandkids of the first class that she had isn’t that lovely that that’s dying out now they they get nqts in cuz nqts are fresh moldable impressionable
They’re cheap and they burn them out get two years out of them on to the next the average turnout the average turnover of teachers this year and I’m sure this is matching other professions is five years because as the world departs as our nation moves away from love your
Neighbor as you love yourself as our world moves away from the Christ revealed in scripture we will live in a more ruthless cold and clinical world where it’s each man for himself and if you have other men to work for you you use them to serve your own ends the Lord
Jesus Christ said this is he you know that the rulers of the Gentiles Lord it over them and those who are great exercise authority over them there are many in the world who feel used ever felt used who feel exhausted feel weary believing that their employers uh
Don’t have their interest at heart but their own now do you know there’s something demonic about this or satanic about this do you know who the greatest user is Satan himself Satan is a user of users why is the world weary and troubled and vexed because of Satan and
Sin because see Satan has a mission Satan’s At War With God Satan’s on a collision called of God Satan has one aim to fundamentally desecrate and destroy everything that God has said is good but do you know what God Said is very good men and women man made in the image
Of God when he made man he said ah very good man is the Pinnacle of God’s creation and so Satan says Ah I’m going to destroy him and he comes for Adam and he comes for all Adam’s Offspring and so he’s on a mission then to ruin corrupt pervert and Destroy and
Contaminate men and women and the tragedy is the Bible says that we are born slaves of sin servants to sin that we are willing Servants of Satan and so we are used by him in his Rebellion not realizing that he does not care about us and when he’s got what he
Wants out of us he’ll finish us and will be destroyed with him on the Judgment Day to serve sin is to serve Satan you see youngsters and people think this that when they’ve grown up in a Christian home oh I can’t wait to break
Free oh I can’t wait to go out into the world and to live how I want to live little do they know they’re being used they’re being used and one day Satan will fundamentally have his moment when God’s patience has run out and God will say have him
And they be ushered into the Judgment what a what a cruel task master Satan is and every man or women who rules a CEO of a company they fear not God if they have not the love of God they have the love of sin and of self they will treat their employees like
This see how different the savior is with his own people he sends them out on this Mission they work very hard they give it all that they’ve got he looks at them they’ve not even had time to eat he can see that they’re weary he can see the
Emotional toll this has taken on them he you know let’s not let’s not forget how difficult a mandate this was right to for them to do in Matthew’s gospel in Matthew 10 we learned something of what they were being sent out to do he uh Matthew 10:1 16 I send you out
A sheep in the midst of wolves that’s pretty daunting therefore be as wise as serpants harmless as doves beware of men they will deliver you up to counsels this is straight after the commissioning and sending them out that we’ve just spoken of verse 21 there’s going to be family Strife verse 22
You’re going to be hated be persecuted verse 23 there are going to be towns that aren’t going to receive you he says in in Mark’s gospel but they went they did what their Master told them to do despite all the the warnings and the difficulties in the
Road they went you know and that’s what being a Christian is isn’t it it’s not being without fear Christians get scared Paul said to the Corinthians I came to you with wobbly needes he said I came with fear and with trembling he was scared stiff of going to
Corinth in fact he was quite willing to leave that it took an angel to appear to him and said do not leave for I have many people in this city who are mine he’s like every preach and every Christian has ever been faithful to the commission the temptation to give up and
Yet these disciples did it and it took that it took its toll on them the rejection of people takes its toll on you betrayal takes its toll on you these things take their toll and yet you see how different is the savior come aside and rest for a
While because it’s actually one of God’s attributes he’s a god of rest you know that he doesn’t grow tired or weary as we do doesn’t get he doesn’t struggle running the universe it’s easy he expends no effort at all of his fullness he he does everything and his fullness is
Infinite and uh it’s no no no hardship and he gave a creation even even think about this even before men and women fell into sin Adam’s fall he still gave men and women a Sabbath teaching us that rest is essential to what it is to be human because I think there’s many
Things to say on this but one of the reasons he gave us Sabbath was to teach us we are not God the Sabbath is many things but it’s fundamentally to practice it a right and to keep it is fundamentally it’s it’s a spiritual issue isn’t it it’s it’s being
Willing to say I’m not God I can’t control my work I can’t control the outcome of my life this day me practicing this day is fundamentally an expression of trust and faith that he is governing the universe when I’m not fact I never was I can rest so even
Before sin we needed to rest but how much more now when in six days in this world as we live in this world as we work in this world we get affected by the curse of this world and it wearies us this was a difficult task for these
Men it reminded me actually of another king a lesser King than Christ who sent out men to people who didn’t want to hear in 2 Chronicles 30 and verse 5 we read that Hezekiah resolved to make a Proclamation through all Israel from be B Sheba to
Dan so this is to the northern tribes that have already gone into Exile that they should keep the Passover and it says Runners went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the King and his leaders and spoke according to the command of the king here it is children of Israel
Return to the Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Israel then he will return to the remnant of you who have escaped do not be like your fathers your brethren who tresp passed against the Lord now do not be stiff necked yield yourselves to the Lord for if you return to the Lord your
Brethren your children will be treated by compassion the Lord is gracious and merciful and it says here the runners passed from City to city but some laughed at them and mocked them that’s just like the disciples some laughed some mocked and it’s like God’s people today when we go and tell people repent
Some laugh and some mock and yet they did it and they were weary and God In the Flesh here says you need rest you need to come aside you know it’s not like some people is it you know some I can think of a few parts that I know God blessed them they
Have a tremendous work ethic like I mean work ethic was the wrong word sorry they have a tremendous capacity for work that’s a better choice of words they are men that have the same work EIC but not the same capacity and sometimes when other pastors in the room share their
They look at you like what’s wrong with you mate but that’s our lord Jesus is not like that he is not like that he doesn’t say try being like me I mean you think the difficulties you face on the road I’m going to be hung on a cross to die
And burn up in the Roth of God he doesn’t do that he doesn’t say try being the Son of God try carrying my burdens no actually he says come to me all ye he labor on a heavy laden and I will give give you rest for I of lowly
Heart isn’t it amazing that the god the son who has infinite power and infinite resources is lowly that means he doesn’t have high thoughts of himself he he feels the fragility of human collection you can see if I feel how tired I get and I I haven’t been born with a sinful
Nature if I oh if I feel as weary as I do and hungry and thirsty what must it be like to be human to but a sinner with guilty consciences with a broken past to not do things perfectly to feel regrets beloved I want you to see
Here the nature of the Son of God the nature of God is a god of rest and I want to also apply this to the church and say are we do we have a church culture here in this church which seeks to give rest to one another to relieve one
Another you you know one of the reasons Israel went into to Exile one of the many reasons all boils down to sin was their neglect of the sabbaths and and and one of the things that the Lord said was in particular the land needed a Sabbath and the land had to
Recover and so the the years 70 years was a mathematic calculation based upon the amount of years they neglected the sabbaths are we a church that say to people have suppose we do become more active and as we grow and more more things I think it’s very important for
Churches to build in systematic sabatical for their Church workers where we say come aside and rest nothing is expected of you for a season otherwise we’re more like the evil one than we are like the Lord Jesus Christ we expect more of one another than we expect of the son than the Son
Of God expects of us he expects us to give our best doesn’t he in the Law’s work but he also says come aside and rest Alexander McLaren who was was a tremendous preacher in his day May by Spurgeon even says it is not wasted time which the busiest worker confronted with
The most imperative cuse for service gives to Fellowship in secret with God Rest from labor is a duty providing you’ve labored now there’s a issue in that maybe some of us don’t labor to the extent that we deserve this kind of rest um but actually rest is productive sometimes the most
Unproductive thing you can do is keep working do you know that sometimes just rest is productive because when you go back you do more in a shorter space of time than you would have done if you just kept at it God gives rest to those who are weary with a
Guilty conscience those who are weary with the curse of sin in this world and our effect the effect it’s had in our relationships God gives rest to those who are weary with the slow death of the body God gives rest to those who are spending all their lives panicking
Trying to avoid every possible thing they fear he says rest your times are in my hands your days are numbered he gives rest for those striving for riches that have wings and fly away seek first the kingdom of God in his righteousness and the rest will
Be given unto you just calm down rest it’s all in hand God gives rest to those who live for man’s fickle praise he says do not fear men the fear of man is a great snare there only one whom you should fear Him who has power to destroy both
The body and the hell in Hell fear me don’t worry about puny men I’ll take care of you Christ came into this world to give rest find in Christ a way of peace peace unspeakable known by his pain he gives you ear Life by his expiring groan rise
Excited exalted by his fall find in Christ your all in all rest from the guilt of sin rest from the fear of death rest from the futility of life and actually this is what the Law’s day is about isn’t it it’s not just about see some people they say I can’t come to
Services or I I can’t be active on the Law’s day it’s a day of rest I need but it misses the point of real rest rest for our souls is finding rest in the Great accomplishments of the Son of God and so you’ve um you’ve been diagnosed with a terminable illness this week
And you’re terrified and then you come to church and you’re reminded that he conquered the grave the grave didn’t keep him he came out the other side and he appeared to his disciples and he says I go to prepare a place for you oh you sin you sin in an awful way
You fall like David’s and you come and you hear he saves to the uttermost the uttermost is the uttermost point of Despair what did David say even if I Ascend to the depths of the ocean there you are if I Ascend to the heights of Heaven there you are think about that in
Terms of your sin the think of the furthest possible degree of sin you could commit and the furthest distance you could go you still haven’t reached the uttermost and he saves to the uttermost he saves and this brings rest doesn’t it to our troubled hearts you you’re weary of just trying
To solve things in your own mind and in your own strength and you’re mess and you’re confused you don’t know what the will of God is you don’t know what to do next you don’t know what decisions to make and then you come and you hear the
Word of God tells you that Christ says he will lead you and guide you and he will cause you to walk in Paths of righteousness for his name’s sake don’t lean on your own understanding but trust in the Lord rest now let’s be clear this wasn’t merely a physical
Rest because if you think about it Jesus knew all things Jesus must have known their rest was going to they get interrupted by the crowds don’t you think he he he must have known what was coming he must have known this was going to be very shortlived but you see the rest here
Wasn’t merely physical rest the rest that they needed was encountering the bread of life because actually we are body and soul and to the degree to which our souls Prosper are body Prosper there we we’ve lost this we’ve been so influenced by by secular therapeutic psychology
There is a there is a need to take care of the body don’t get me wrong that also impacts our souls it works both ways I’m not denying that Elijah needed sleep he needed food before he could get back at it again but the the corresponding truth
Is also true when our souls are are guilty when we feel guilty consciences when we’re not in a good place with the Lord it will have a corresponding effect on our physical Health David said when he didn’t confess his sins before he was exposed by Nathan
The prophet he said my bones wasted away when I kept my sins from you the bones you have crushed he he even uses is it we can become physically sick sometimes now I’m not saying every physical sickness is caused by sin that would be a wrong conclusion to make but
Let’s we have to be balanced in all of these things when at Communion in one Corinthians when there were those who were who were dis ating the Lord’s table and and getting drunk at the table Paul said some of you have got sick some of you have even
Died because their souls were not healthy with the Lord the rest we need more than physical rest not the expensive physical rest but the rest that we really need is not to sit at home and put our feet up more it is to be with God’s people it is to rest in
Christ so tempting isn’t it to when you’re struggling to just think I’ll stay away from church I can tell you this from my own experience I’m sure it’s true if you’re honest with yourself I have never regretted going to church but I have regretted staying away every amount of times I’ve been
Tempted to stay at home I can’t do that now well I could but um I probably lose my job wouldn’t I um but you know before I was a passor amount of times I was tempted to just miss church but when I went I found rest to face Monday with that
Was better than any physical rest I could have got because my soul was energized my soul was encouraged in the Lord a Christian rest then is not merely inactivity is it it’s holy activity I know this from my holidays I can think of a few holidays of mine
Where you know it was your ideal holiday for physical rest you know I don’t have these holidays anymore but before children you know a few ofro ones you’re sitting there you got your Hawaii shorts on and your your your drink and your your your umbrella in it and you’re just
Enjoying the world pass by but sometimes I came back from those holidays CU there was no church there were no Believers and but casual it’s too hot to read I came back absolutely exhausted spiritually baren it’s true isn’t it if you if you’re the Lord’s people you’ll
Know what I’m talking about you need for rest and that’s what he gives us he gives us rest I’m nervous to show hands you want me to go on should we do the next Point see the Lord’s compassion see the Lord’s compassion they departed themselves but the multitude saw them depart verse 33
This is a poor translation here um I don’t know why they’ve put him there it says many knew in other words many not many knew him that’s not what it’s saying many knew that he departed with the disciples and they ran on foot from all the cities and they arrived before
Them and came together to him maybe some commentators spend a lot of Incan Pages just debating how it was possible for the crowds to beat them to it and you just think use your imagination I mean maybe they maybe they got held up in a
Bit of wind at Sea maybe they just put the boat out to see and just ploted a little you know a little bit and chatted for a bit before they got to the shore there’s all sorts of reasons it’s amazing isn’t it how unbelievers can liberal Scholars can sort of try and
Find ways to discredit the scriptures I have no problem believing that the crowds were so eager that they beat them to it and they pulled ashore and then the Lord saw these crowds now we know from John 6:2 that these crowds were not coming for the right reasons it’s when theyve seen and
Heard the signs that he’s done you see they thought they needed a political savior they they thought that they knew what their problems were it was the Romans it was the political systems it was the education systems it was the lack of provision for the poor this is
What they thought and they thought that Jesus could could could deal with all all of their problems if only they could see the real needs that they had the needs of the soul the guilt of sin the judgment to come the life that they needed from God the separation from God
They were blind they were lost sheep that’s what sheep are they’re ignorant they’re lost they don’t know what to do they don’t know where they’re going and that’s what Jesus saw he saw sheep without a Shepherd what an image what an image it’s is Rich with Biblical imagery
We could turn to Isaiah 34 speaking of Israel who were scattered because of the poor Shepherds they had the leadership they had at the time there was no Shepherd they became beasts food for the beasts sorry of the field they were vulnerable to predators and prey they
Were lost my sheep wandered for all the mountains they were aimless they didn’t know where they were going they didn’t know what life where life was heading they had no sense of purpose or meaning or understanding and they had no one seeking for them or searching for them
They were eating unhealthy food because a shepherd’s job is to lead them beside Still Waters for Co refreshing streams to bring them to good pasture they were eating whatever they could whatever scraps they could find what a picture of men and women by Nature it’s what you were Christian and that’s what eastborn
Is if only we had eyes like Christ to see eastborn the way he does a lost sheep vulnerable to every Predator every false teacher every ideology which leads people to Hell blind leading the blind malnourished with lies and deception and the impact that has on their well-being and their souls and
Unloved no one looking for them except the Good Shepherd Of course who searches for lost sheep notice how personal this site is he sees he says he saw them as sheep not as a flock as sheep he discerned IND individual sheep within the crowds and our Lord looks on us this
Morning and he looks at each one of you as sheep are you a lost sheep or are you a found sheep and then see his pity it said he was moved with compassion moved moved in his inner being what compassion this have out in Christ he remembers Adam he walked with
Adam when he said God walked with Adam in the garden do you know that was Christ do you know that that was the pre-incarnate Christ because there is only one mediator between Heaven and Earth Christ Jesus no man hath seen God nor can any man see God as to his invisible Essence
And so whenever you read of God dwelling with men walking with men even in the Old Testament you substitute the Lord for Christ Christ Jesus who is the Lord he remembers what it was when Adam was with God and Walking with God and to see these lost lost
People in danger of death and of judgment we might say he was moved with innermost yearning he saw more than people but the plight of these people so what did he do what would you do what would the world want us to do do you ask the average east east bonian or whatever
They call whatever we would call our population if you ask the average East borner is that a better word I don’t know um what are the great problems the eastborn has they I’ll tell you what I would say potholes pot I’ve hit this week there’s all sorts of things wrong
With eastborn and with England and Scotland and Ireland and Wales what would we say educ better education let’s get rid of woke ideology let’s get rid of all the politicians let’s sink the plug out let’s have a new lot in that’s what the world would say that won’t fix things that won’t fix
Things the great need men and women have is God to be taught of God so what did Jesus do he was moved with compassion because they were sheep not having a shepherd and you can be sure they were coming for the wrong reasons so he began
To teach them many things you see that Jesus sees that fundamentally then all all the needs of men and women whether they’re rich or poor whether they’re hungry or filled whether they’re educated or uneducated is to be taught taught the nature of God the nature of man the promises of God the
Fulfillment in Christ that was Israel’s Shepherd’s job they didn’t do that that is what it is to be you know our funerals even secular funerals even at West romish albian it says the Lord is my shepherd around the stadium but the shepherd’s job is to lead his people beside Still Waters
Refreshing streams to find joy and nourishment in the truth about God and his salvation Isaiah 48 says thus says the Lord your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel I am the Lord your God who teaches you to profit isn’t that a lovely phrase he teaches you to profit
Who leads you in the way that you should go oh that you heeded my Commandments then your peace would have been like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea what Jesus is doing here is fulfilling scripture all your children Isaiah says shall be taught by
The Lord and great shall be the Peace of your children he’s bringing peace he’s bringing nourishment to malnourished Souls thirdly then see with me the Lord’s disciples we’ll move swiftly now let’s finish the section the Lord’s disciples so they’re coming and the disciples have had it they’ve had enough
It’s the day fast spent it’s evening now and the people haven’t eaten they’re hungry they’re starving and we know that this was a problem that was eating away at them all day because in John’s account it’s interesting Jesus was actually the first one to make the observation they’d had nothing to eat at
The start of the day and he says to Phillip what shall we feed them Phillip and again he begins to teach the crowds and you can imagine Philip and the disciples s say what are we going to do what are we going to do at some point
He’s going to he’s going to ask us to deal with this problem and so before it gets too late before it gets too dark raised the issue with Jesus they say right right Lord we love your enthusiasm to teach we love it you’ve been teaching
All day it’s great we don’t deny this is wonderful but you you need to send them away send them away because there’s no food for them here and we haven’t got the means to give them any food send them away they looked within their own scanty resources and thought what what
Possible way could we solve this problem you know I think this attitude exists in many churches today don’t know if it exists here in any of our hearts maybe it does we pray for our seats to be filled we pray for people to come in and then they start coming and they’re
Different or they’ve got problems or they’ve got baggage oh we say send them away CER for such a crowd which we were much more comfortable as we were no it’s too difficult what was the Lord say to his disciples see the puzzling reply here ye give them something to eat I said ye
Because it’s plural ye give them something to eat you cater for them you do it in fact in Matthew’s account it’s even more Vivid it says they have no need to go away and you the disciples you mean what do you mean they they have no need I
Mean look at us look at them they’re tired and weary they haven’t eaten all day Jesus Jesus isn’t asking them to do the impossible Jesus doesn’t it’s not that Jesus is naive of the situation so then he say well what do you have what do you have they said Five
Loaves and two fish and if you wrot back before that they make it very clear the scope of the situation they say shall we go and buy a 200 dinari worth of bread a dinari was one day’s wage so that works out as eight months wage to feed all these people it’s quite
Clear they didn’t have it he say so what do you have and and we know from John’s account that there’s a little boy who has Five Loaves and two and Philip mention this to the Lord Jesus Christ and then Jesus goes on to show them the sufficiency that is
In him you see whenever the Lord Jesus Christ ask his people to do the impossible and it might not be literally like this it could just be your Walk of Life your path is a difficult path for you it’s an impossible path and he says you do
It you got to understand that when he asks us to count what we have it’s not that we would despair when they count the Five Loaves and two fish when he when they when they make that assessment it’s not to despair it’s that they would depend and cast themselves on him who is
The bread of life just as Israel could see no provision in the wilderness they were taught to depend upon the word of God man shall not live by bread alone but on the word of God by the promises of God God had promised to keep them God had
Promised to provide them that was the the guarantee of their provision the word is as good as the answer and so he says to them then give me what you have he took their limited resources now I don’t believe here you to have an image of the Lord Jesus
Christ just breaking it and giving it breaking it and giving it commentators probably right suggest that would have taken a number of days for such a multitude what you most likely have is the disciples and again interestingly it says Apostles in verse um verse 30 but now it’s shift to the
Disciples remember there was the 12 the apostles there was the disciples which had included Mary Magdalene and the females as well as the males there was 120 we know the upper room so I think the shift is deliberate here Jesus isn’t merely using the disciples here for an important point
Feeding the world with the bread of life satisfying the hunger of a lost world is not to be met by God in the sense that he just bypasses us no we can’t do it of ourselves we have Five Loaves and two fishes but we are to be
The means through which God feeds the world with his good news and so what he does here is I believe he disperses it to them and it’s as they hand it out that the multiplication happens now that would have been Eerie if you the disciples you’ve got this
Basket you know and it’s just just not emptying because he’s just creating new bread new fish as he goes what a tremendous picture this is and as I said this is this is preparing them for their work because the the gospel is to go forth to the ends of the Earth through the
Apostles and through the church and the apostles spoke the word audibly that Christ spoke and we have the apostles Doctrine and so we are to feed the world you know Christmas time Feed the World let them know it’s Christmas time we feed the world with Christ we give Christ as he’s revealed
In scripture and people are truly fed and saved eternally and we look at our own stock we look at the the need around us just even in Old Town let alone the whole of these born every preacher feels this this weakness but Jesus Jesus as Alexander
McLaren said would have us count our own resources not that we may fling up his work in despair but that we may realize our dependence on him and conscious of our own insufficiency we may not lose one sense of Our obligation to feed the multitude now what’s lovely here is that
After they all ate and were filled verse 42 and that word filled really means satisfied they were satisfied you know Christ can’t give you more than himself he can’t there’s nothing better than Christ can give you than himself not even peace riches it compares to knowing
Him every person has died with a guilty conscience which you know imagine someone someone is destined to be hung it’s irreversible the sentence has been passed and then someone comes up to this individual and says um I’d like to give you my estate is that going to
Comfort them they say well what Good’s in the state to me now I’m dying tomorrow so so someone El comes and says I’m leaving you all my inheritance I’m going to die tomorrow there’s nothing the world can give us cuz we are all guilty condemned men and women that will
Suffice but Christ is everything Christ saved from Death from Despair and he saves eternally Body and Soul he saves completely Those whom he predestined he called Those whom he called he justified Those whom he justified he will glorify he who began a good work in you will
Complete a good work in you he is the author and the finisher of our salvation and this is satisfying to us isn’t it who’ve had our hearts and Minds awakened to the reality of things but notice to finish they took up 12 baskets full of fragments that is
Significant how many apostles were there 12 12 tribes of Israel this was like the little church you could say the complete Church the 12 tribes Apostles disciples and what what he’s saying there is as I send you out into the world to serve me among sheep among walles if I send you
Out you can be sure that you’ll be provided for whatever you give out you’ll receive more in return is that not true Christian is that not being a testimony every time you think if I spend one more drop in the Lord’s service he is no man’s de to is he like
Israel they came out with Egypt more than they went in with the Lord’s good the Lord’s great