10250 North Freeway @ West Road
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10250 North Freeway @ West
Road
Houston, Texas 77037
Tel: (281) 447-8484
What
We Believe and Why - Vol. II
Written by Dr.
Lester Hutson
Copyright
- Lester Hutson - 1982
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced
without the express written permission of Dr. Lester Hutson.
Chapter Twenty Seven
Loaves and Fishes
INTRODUCTION: TEXT: John 6:26
I am titling this message simply "LOAVES AND FISHES," and the text verse is John 6:26, "Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat the loaves, and were filled." With this statement, Jesus exposed the shallowness of the multitude that stood before Him. But Jesus Christ had the unique ability to simultaneously address a multitude before Him, as well as speak to multitudes for ages to come. I think that before this message is ended, you will see that is what Jesus was doing here in John 6:26.
I. LET ME BEGIN THIS MESSAGE BY EXPLAINING TO YOU THAT JESUS' LIFE WAS DEDICATED TO SPIRITUAL MATTERS AND ETERNAL AFFAIRS. THE MIRACULOUS THINGS HE DID WERE MERELY DEMONSTRATIONS TO SHOW PEOPLE WHAT WAS ON HIS HEART.
A. He was the long promised Messiah, God in human flesh.
1. Jesus was not just another one of the millions of men who've been born.
2. His name was "God with us," according to Matthew 1:23.
3. Hebrews 1:1-3 speaks of God, then it speaks of "His Son," and calls Him "the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person."
4. Isaiah had prophesied, "unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulders: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6)
5. Nearly every Old Testament prophet gave some prophecy concerning a coming Messiah. Jesus Christ fulfilled every legitimate prediction that was ever made concerning Him according to Luke 24:25.
6. Jesus was not some shallow, useless person. He was the Messiah of the world, the only one who can save and take away sin.
B. His main motive in coming into the world was to save sinners.
1. Listen to His own testimony in Luke 19:10, "for the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."
2. The most beautiful verse in all the Bible declares, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
3. Jesus Christ didn't come into this world to make money, gain fame and popularity, become known as a great miracle worker, or teacher, or to fit in with society. No. He came to save men from eternal ruin, and to cause them to grow in grace and abundant spiritual life. His own words are, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10)
C. The miracles that He performed were designed to prove who He was and why He came.
1. Jesus said, "The same works that I do bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me." (John 5:36)
2. Again Jesus said, "I told you, and ye believed me not: the works that I do in my father's name, they bear witness of me." (John 10:25)
3. Jesus pleaded in John 14:11, "Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake."
4. When Jesus turned the water into wine, the purpose was not just to make His people merry and impress them with His great miracle ability.
5. When He healed sick people and restored blinded eyes and deaf ears, it was not that He was in the healing business. No. The purpose of these healings was to cause men to see something deeper and recognize His true identity.
6. And, when in John 6:5-14 Jesus fed 5,000 men, plus women and children, with five loaves and two fishes, the purpose was not to impress the observers with His supernatural ability, or to establish Himself as a feeder of poor people.
7. All the people Jesus ever healed eventually got sick and died. The 5,000 He fed all got hungry again the very next day. Now, Jesus Christ didn't come into the world to dedicate Himself to such short lived projects as healing sick people and feeding hungry people, paying taxes and the likes, even though these are good pursuits.
a. No sir, the coming of Christ was for a far more lasting purpose than these short lived earthly miracles.
b. Those miracles simply served as a means to an end. They were designed to prove to, and convince men, that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and to cause them to believe on Him as their personal Savior.
c. Once these people recognized Jesus and the Savior of the world, and placed their faith in Him, they received eternal life, which was far more permanent than any miracle He ever performed on anyone.
8. So the miracles of Jesus were designed to prove who He was and to cause men to receive Him as Savior. That is why Jesus spoke of the miracle of feeding 5,000, and said of it, in John 6:29, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." In other words, the purpose of the work was to cause belief.
II. BUT, MOST OF THE PEOPLE NEVER RECOGNIZED THE PURPOSE OF THE MIRACLES JESUS PERFORMED.
A. They were impressed with the physical aspect of the miracle itself, and not with the lesson it was designed to teach.
1. Ten lepers were healed in Luke 17:12-17, and nine of them were so carried away with being cured that they never gave the slightest consideration to who the healer was.
2. Instead of the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 causing these people to bow down and adore Christ as their long awaited Messiah, they simply came back the next day wanting something else to eat. That's why Jesus said to them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat the loaves and were filled." (John 6:26)
B. Jesus went about Galilee, Judea, and Samaria, for three and a half years doing good, and performing miracles which were designed to cause men to recognize Him as the promised Messiah, and therefore, come in faith to Him that they might receive life.
1. But most of the people never got the point of all these miracles. Jesus once asked His disciples, "And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again." (Luke 9:18-19)
2. Once Jesus healed "one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb" in Matthew 12:22. But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of devils." (Matthew 12:24)
3. When finally Jesus was on trial, Pilate asked Him, "Art thou the Christ, the son of the blessed? And Jesus said, I am" (Mark 14:61-62). In spite of all those miracles which they had seen for so long, the Jews responded by saying, "Ye have heard the blasphemy." (Mark 14:64)
4. You see, all of this time, they had seen the miracles but missed the point. They were not interested in the spiritual aspects of Jesus. They didn't care about the point of all those miracles. They were too blind to look beyond the miracle itself. They like the eating, the big thrill of seeing someone healed, the glamour of seeing someone raised from the dead, but they didn't want to hear anything about Jesus being Lord, about separated living for Him, or about suffering ridicule, poverty, and rejection from the group for His cause.
III. NOW, LET ME DRAW THE APPLICATION FOR YOU.
A. God is still providing us with loaves and fishes. I speak specifically of the provision of God today, which are designed to do exactly for us what the loaves and the fishes were designed to do for the multitude.
1. God has given us church attendance. (Hebrews 10:25)
2. Preaching (I Corinthians 1:21, II Timothy 4:1-2, and Romans 10:17)
3. Singing (Colossians 3:16)
4. Praying (I Thessalonians 5:17 and Luke 18:1)
5. Giving (Luke 6:38, I Corinthians 16:2, II Corinthians 9:6-7)
6. The Lord's Supper (I Corinthians 11:23-32)
7. Bible study ( II Timothy 2:15)
8. The scriptures ( II Timothy 3:15-17)
9. A huge variety of good works (Titus 2:14)
10. Soul winning (Matthew 28:19 and Acts 1:8)
11. Every one of these things is good and ought to be faithfully and zealously practiced. Just like food (loaves and fishes) is nourishing to the body, these are nourishing and necessary to the soul.
B. But dear friend, God, who has provided these spiritual loaves and fishes, is not just interested in nourishing your soul.
1. True. He wants your soul to be nourished and flourishing. He said that He came that "you might have life, and have it more abundantly." (John 10:10) He said in Proverbs 28:25, "He that putteth his trust in the LORD shall be made fat."
2. But if you think God is only interested in making you spiritually fat and prosperous, you have missed the whole point, just like the multitude missed the point of the loaves and fishes.
3. Mister, what God wants is your fellowship.
a. David said it in Psalm 51, "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom... Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me... For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." (verses 6, 10-11,16-17)
b. You can hardly miss the same point when you read John 4:23-24, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
c. The apostle Paul establishes the same point in Philippians 3:10, "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death."
d. The apostle John said, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." ( I John 1:1-7)
e. The thing that blessed the Lord about Enoch of Genesis 5:24 was that he "walked with God."
f. The reason God chose Noah as the man by which he'd save mankind from total destruction in the flood is that "Noah walked with God." (Genesis 6:9)
g. Mister, that is exactly what God wants from you. He wants you to walk with Him. (Ephesians 5) It is your fellowship He wants, not your money, your singing, your church going, your good works, or your Bible study period. That is the reason God was so pleased with the Macedonians who "first gave their own selves to the Lord." (II Corinthians 8:5)
h. King David wrote, "Bless the Lord, O my soul." (Psalm 103:1) Mister, the only way you will every bless the heart of God is to walk with Him: come to know and adore Him on a personal basis. David said, "I will bless the Lord at all times." (Psalm 34;1) Brother, He is talking about a daily, personal fellowship with the Lord, which is exactly what our God wants from us.
C. Better than anyone else, God knows the weaknesses you have, and He has given you some spiritual loaves and fishes to keep you healthy and nourished so that you can continuously walk with Him.
1. Your old weak flesh is prone to be selfish, lazy, lustful, greedy, cruel, rebellious, worldly, hateful, covetous, envious and proud. He cannot walk in fellowship with you and your life is dominated with these things. He said in Isaiah 59:1-2, "Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear."
2. So God has given you some spiritual loaves and fishes, designed to help you overcome these weaknesses in your life that hinder your walk and fellowship with Him. There is prayer, Bible study, church attendance, singing, praying, preaching, and much more. Each one is specifically designed to promote your fellowship with the Lord.
a. Preaching is designed to show you the Lord, and the beauty and superiority of His ways.
b. The Lord's Supper is designed to show you His broken body and shed blood, and as a result, to draw you to His side in adoration, appreciation and love.
c. Prayer is designed to humble you before Him and help you see yourself as the servant and receiver, and Him as the Lord and provider.
d. Giving is designed to help you make Him the Lord and controller of your finances. It is designed to cause you to trust Him to provide for you and to strengthen your faith.
e. The scriptures are designed to show you the Lord and draw you humbly to Him.
f. In one way or another, every spiritual loaf and fish is designed to promote fellowship between you and God.
D. But, oh, how much like the multitude of John 6 we are.
1. Every Biblical appeal for our money is regarded as a con trick by the church or preacher to get more money. When we give, we give because we feel obligated. We totally fail to see the Lordship of Christ in it. We refuse to let it establish a financial partnership between us and God. We will not walk or fellowship with Him in this are of our life.
2. Many Biblical appeals in preaching are seen as legalistic straightjackets, with which we refuse to be bound. We fail to see its design to teach us separation, unselfishness, generosity, forgiveness, humility and the like, in order that we might walk with the Master.
3. We sit down at the Lord's table and just go through the motions of eating the bread and drinking the wine. Often times we are far more interested in what is in the cup than we are in the Master of the cup. We are far more interested in the interpretation of a verse, and the number of verses in doctrinal truths we know, than in the application of that verse and those truths in our lives. Romans 10:13 is a good case in point.
4. We are far more interested in praying a verbally correct prayer that will please all the brethren than we are in really communing with the Father who hears our prayers and humbling ourselves to Him.
5. We are far more interested in going to church, meeting with the brethren, hearing a great Sunday School lesson and sermon, than in meeting and touching our hearts with the Lord who meets with us at the church.
6. Brethren, I shudder when I think how much like the multitude of John 6 we are. We think giving, praying, preaching, the Lord's Supper, church going, good works, and such things will really cut it with God. And, by so thinking, we miss the whole point of the Christian faith. It is not our money, our performances, our adherence to a system of ethics, or religious rituals, that God wants. Folks, it is you that God wants. He wants your heart, your fellowship, your attention on Him. He only gives you things like church going, preaching, giving, and the Lord's Supper as tools to help you walk more closely with Him.
7. Dear Christian, does He have to say to you today, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled?" (John 6:26) Listen to Deuteronomy 10:12, "what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul." It is still true. Oh, Christian, I plead with you today. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. You will weary with giving, you will weary with church going, and you will get tired of preaching, if you fail to see the Savior and walk with Him. But, you will never weary of a personal, intimate walk with Him, and that kind of walk with Him will make you love to give, love to sing, love good works and love to go to church.
E. And sinner, God wants you, too, not your good performance, your money, your prayers, your baptism, or your reformation. He wants you to trust Him as your very own. Won't you come to Him today?
"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"