If you have your Bibles with you, I invite you
to open them to the 14th chapter of Matthew's
Gospel. I'm going to look at a very familiar
passage of Scripture this morning, beginning
in verse 13. When Jesus heard it, that is the
death of John the Baptist. That's the context.
When Jesus heard it, he departed from there,
that is Capernaum, his hometown, by boat to a
deserted place by himself. Now we know from Mark's
Gospels his disciples are with him. But when
the multitudes heard it, they followed him on
foot from the cities. And when Jesus went out,
he saw a great multitude. And he was moved with
compassion for them, and he healed their sick.
And when it was evening, his disciples came to
him, saying, This is a deserted place, and the
hour is already late. Send the multitudes away,
that they may go into the villages and buy themselves
food. But Jesus said to them, They don't need
to go away. You feed them. You give them something
to eat. And they said to him, well, we have only
here five loaves and two fish. That's it. And
he said, bring them here to me. And then he,
that is Jesus, he commanded the multitudes to
sit down in the grass. And he took the five loaves
and the two fish. And looking up to heaven, he
blessed. And he broke and gave the loaves to
the disciples. And the disciples gave to the
multitudes. So they all ate and were filled.
And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments
that remained. Now those who had eaten were about
five thousand men, besides women and children.
Let's pray. Oh, Father, Lord, would you help
us this morning to behold your Son, who he is,
the Christ, sent from heaven. Lord, I am utterly
incapable and inadequate of preaching the glory
of Christ. Lord, I need you, Lord. God, I pray
for your help. Lord, I pray that you'd anoint
my tongue and my lips and give me help from heaven
to preach Jesus before your people. And I would
ask this in his name. Amen. We've been studying
Matthew's Gospel now for two years. We're right
in the middle. It's important that we remind
ourselves, really, what is his purpose in writing?
You have to keep in mind that Matthew, also known
as Levi, he is a Jew, and he's writing primarily,
not exclusively, to a Jewish audience. He's wanting
to convince all those Jewish readers that Jesus
is the Christ. So he opens his gospel in a unique
way. He opens showing that Jesus is the true
fulfillment of Israel. He's the true Israel succeeding
everywhere the nation Israel failed. Now, how
does he do that? Well, he deliberately traces
the nation's history showing how Christ fulfills
Israel's calling. For example, you don't need
to turn there, but in chapter 2, verse 15, Matthew
quotes Hosea 11 .1, which says, out of Egypt
I've called my son. But he applies that to Jesus
and his escape from Herod when he was just a
child, when they fled into Egypt to escape Herod's
wrath. So just as the nation Israel, which was
called God's son, if you go back to the Old Testament,
Israel was known as the son of God. So Israel
the nation, God's son, was taken out of Egypt
in the Exodus. Jesus, God's true son, was taken
out of Egypt leading to a new and greater Exodus.
Israel, after the Exodus, was tested in the wilderness
for 40 years. Jesus was tested in the wilderness
fasting 40 days. Later, Satan came to him at
the end of that fast and tested him severely.
We go to Matthew 5 in the great sermon on the
mount. Jesus is on a mountainside as Moses was
when he gave the law. Jesus is the new lawgiver,
preaching from that mountainside. He's the new
and greater Moses. And what is he doing in the
sermon on the mount? He is giving. the definitive
interpretation of God's law. You've heard it
be said, but I say to you. So just as Israel
was baptized as they passed through the Red Sea,
the Lord Jesus began his public ministry by being
baptized. Additionally, Matthew opens his gospel
giving Jesus' genealogy. He is the ultimate descendant
of both Abraham, And David. He is called, in
verse 1 of Matthew 1, he is the, not a, the son
of David, the son of Abraham. Jesus is the true
and faithful heir of all God's covenant promises.
But that's not the only reason. Matthew has even
a greater reason. He doesn't want to just show
the Jewish audience that Jesus is the true Israel.
Not only is Jesus the new and greater Moses,
the prophet likened to him but far superior,
but this is what we're going to see today. And
this is where I feel totally incapable of presenting
this. Jesus is Yahweh in the flesh. The Christ
who's been sent from God, he's not just a deliverer.
He's not just a man. He is God. How does Matthew
show that? In chapter 1, he quotes Isaiah. And
he says that Jesus' name, he will be called Emmanuel,
which means God with us. Do you remember how
God, Yahweh of the Old Testament, first dwelt
in the tabernacle? Later, he dwelt in the temple.
And here we see Jesus is Yahweh in the flesh,
dwelling among his people. In chapter 9, Jesus
forgave a paralytics man his sins. Man, the religious
leaders were just dumbfounded. They were so mad.
They were outraged. And they correctly claimed,
who are you? Only God can forgive sins. Jesus
was forgiving sins. In chapter 12, Jesus got
in more trouble with the religious leaders because
he said of himself that he is the Lord of the
Sabbath. What audacity. Jesus claimed authority
over the Sabbath day, which was instituted by
God himself in the law? This would have been
blasphemy had any other individual claimed such
authority. Not even Moses had authority over
the Sabbath. But Jesus said he was Lord of it.
How? He was God in the flesh. In chapter 8, Jesus
calmed a raging storm. Remember the disciples
thought they were going to die. Jesus awakes
and rebukes the wind and the sea, and they immediately
obeyed his voice. But don't forget what the psalmist
said in Psalm 89. O Lord, that's O Yahweh, God
of hosts, who is mighty like you, O Yahweh? Your
faithfulness also surrounds you. Now look at
verse 9. You rule the raging of the sea. When
its waves rise, you still them. Yahweh, God,
rebukes wind and waves. In Matthew 8, Jesus rebukes
wind and waves. This is what we see the Lord
doing. Jesus does what only God can do, and he
has the rights. that only God possesses. See,
Matthew does not come out and immediately say,
Jesus is God in the flesh. Had he done that,
that would have been off -putting to his Jewish
readers immediately. He's showing through his
actions, through these titles, who he is. He's
pointing to the fact that Jesus is no ordinary
man. He is Yahweh in the flesh. Remember back
in Matthew chapter 2, we call him the wise man
or the magi. Remember, they came from the east,
and upon seeing the Christ child, they come into
the house, and they fall down, and what do they
do? They worship him. Matthew 2 .11. And when
they had come, that is the wise men, into the
house, they saw the young child with Mary his
mother, and they fell down and worshipped him.
Friends, worship is reserved only for God. To
worship anyone other than God is idolatry. These
wise men were not idolatrous. They were worshiping
God. Jesus forgives sins. He has authority to
rule over nature. He has authority over the law
of God. He is to be worshiped. What is Matthew
saying? Jesus is God incarnate. And today in
our text, we will see another example proving
that Jesus is the prophet greater than Moses.
Just as Moses gave them bread, so Jesus will
give them bread. But he is no ordinary man like
Moses. He's God in the flesh. Now, we're in chapter
14. If you look at chapter 14, it kind of divides
itself. There are four movements. The last time
I preached, we looked at the beheading of John
the Baptist. Today, we will see what we call
the feeding of the 5 ,000. But it's the feeding
of the 5 ,000 men. And then you see next week,
Lord willing, Jesus walking on the water. And
then the last movement, we'll see Jesus go into
Gentile territory where he will do several healings.
Now the feeding of the 5 ,000, this is interesting.
This is the only miracle that is recorded in
all four Gospels except the resurrection of Jesus.
That's it, just the feeding of the 5 ,000. So
clearly this is very important. It also must
have left some deep impression upon the disciples'
and apostles' minds because they were present
to witness it. It left an extraordinary impact.
Now, when the chapter opens, chapter 14 opens,
you have John the Baptist, the forerunner of
Jesus. He was brutally executed by Herod Antipas.
Now, John's disciples, they take the grim news
to Jesus in verse 13. So Jesus hears about it,
and we pick up our text in verse... or verse
13, excuse me. When Jesus heard it, the news
of John the Baptist dying, he gets out of there.
He goes by boat. Notice it says to a deserted
place. Again, Mark chapter 6, the parallel gospel,
says that Jesus and his disciples got into a
boat. But when the multitudes, the crowds had
been there in Capernaum. Remember, Jesus is popular.
When they heard about it, they know there's not
a lot of places. The Sea of Galilee is not a
large body of water. They know where he went,
and they're going to follow him there. So what
you find here is Jesus wants to get out of Capernaum.
Matthew doesn't tell us why. Perhaps Herod's
already been jealous of John the Baptist. Jesus,
his popularity is rising. Maybe he's going to
garner too much attention. But for whatever reason,
because he knows he has to die in Jerusalem.
So he gets out of Capernaum, gets into a boat,
and he goes on to the northeast side of the Sea
of Galilee. We call it the Sea of Galilee. It's
a lake. It's also known as Lake Gennesaret. If
you read some Gospels, we'll call it that. It's
a big lake. Some of you, I've been there myself.
So now he and his disciples, we know, have been
busily serving the people. They're tired. They
want to rest a while. But when the multitude
who had been around Jesus got word of it, they're
like, ah, wherever he goes, I'm going. So they
decide to walk around the lake to the place where
Jesus was. Why? Well, Jesus is wildly popular
at this point. Wherever he was is where they
wanted to be. He's healing sick people. And everyone
knows someone, and Jesus can do this. You have
someone in your family that's sick or that's
on their deathbed, let's get him over to Jesus.
Now this would not have been a very long walk.
It's probably about four miles away, so it wouldn't
have been too long of a journey. But four miles
is no walk in the park either. Verse 14. And
when Jesus went out, he saw the great multitude.
He went out of the boat. And he was moved with
compassion. And he healed their sick. Now, in
Mark's gospel, later on, if you want to study
this on your own, go to Mark 6. We are told that
Jesus and his disciples didn't even have time
to eat. That's why they left. They wanted to
get away, be by themselves, refresh, and eat.
They'd been so busily serving the people, they
hadn't eaten. So they're tired, Jesus and his
disciples are tired, and they're hungry. You
ever been tired? That's a bad combination, right?
Because you have tired and hunger. That makes
you irritable. At least it makes me irritable.
You're hangry, we call it. You're hungry and
you're angry. You're impatient. Now, had I been
there and seen the people following me, I think
I would have been aggravated. I would have said,
come on, don't you see that I'm tired? I've been
with you people all day. I haven't even had time
to eat. Do you all care about me or do you only
care what you can get from me? That's not Jesus
at all. I mean, Jesus left so he could eat and
rest. But he comes out of the boat and he sees
this multitude. And he's not aggravated at all.
In fact, Matthew and Mark both say that he was
moved with compassion when he saw them. Mark
6, 34. And Jesus, when he came out, he saw a
great multitude, moved with compassion for them.
Why? Because they were like sheep, not having
a shepherd. Now notice what Mark tells us that
Matthew doesn't. So he began to teach them many
things. What had they been doing all day earlier?
Healing and teaching. What's he now doing? Healing
and teaching. But I find this interesting. Jesus
is moved with compassion. He's not bothered.
He's not annoyed by their neediness or their
presence. You ever think God gets tired of hearing
from you? You ever think God's like, oh, not
again. Friends, this isn't our God at all. There's
no even vestige or semblance of annoyance in
Christ. He's their shepherd, and the sheep needed
him. And the good shepherd is always willing
to sacrifice himself and his desires for the
needs of the sheep. The good shepherd will never
put his own needs first. He won't do it. But
you know the religious leaders. They're also
called shepherds, the shepherds of Israel. In
Ezekiel chapter 34, God himself rebukes the religious
leaders, the leaders of Israel, the shepherds.
Why? Because they're derelict. They're not doing
what they're supposed to be doing. They took
care of themselves and neglected the people.
And we see this in Ezekiel 34. Now notice the
contrast. And the word of the Lord, the word
of Yahweh, came to me, Ezekiel, saying, Son of
man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel.
Prophesy and say to them, you go preach this
to them. Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds,
woe. Woe to the shepherds of Israel. Why? They
feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed
the flocks? But you eat the fat and clothe yourselves
with the wool. You slaughter the fatlings, but
you don't feed the flock. The weak you've not
strengthened. Nor have you healed those who were
sick. What's Jesus doing? Healing the sick. Nor
bound up the broken. What's Jesus doing? Binding
up the broken. Nor brought back what was driven
away. You've not sought what was lost. What's
Jesus doing? Seeking the lost. But with force
and cruelty you have ruled them. So they were
scattered because there was no shepherd. And
what does Mark tell us in Mark 6? Jesus was moved
with compassion because he saw them as sheep
having no shepherd. He's going to fill in the
gap. Jesus, the good shepherd, he'll feed those
people. He will feed the sheep before even feeding
himself. What do we see him doing? Well, we know
from Matthew he's healing. We also know that
he's teaching. He's binding up the broken. He's
caring for the weary. He's seeking the lost sheep
of Israel. What's Matthew saying without saying
it directly? Jesus is the good shepherd sent
by God. And friends, this is what I want you
to see, how the Bible ties itself together. You
start to see echoes of Psalm 23, and I hope to
point that out to you today. Psalm 23, verse
1. The Lord. Most of you know this, but some
of you may not. In the Old Testament, when you
see the word Lord, and it's in all caps, L -O
-R -D, all capitalized, that is a special meaning.
That's the covenant name of God for Israel. It's
the word Yahweh, every time. Now, if you see
L, capital, then little O -R -D, that's the word
Adonai, master. But when it's capitalized like
this, this is God's name, Yahweh. They don't
like to pronounce it. So, Yahweh is my shepherd.
I shall not want. Jesus is the shepherd spoken
of in Psalm 23. Now Matthew said Jesus healed
the sick who came to him, but Mark adds a little
bit of a detail saying he also was teaching them.
But Jesus himself, he's already tired, he's already
hungry, and he proceeds to spend the rest of
the day until evening ministering to the people.
Verse 15. And when it was evening, his disciples
came to him saying, as if he didn't know this,
this is a deserted place. It's a remote place.
No villages nearby. And the hour, it's already
late, Jesus. Send the multitudes away that they
may go into the villages and buy themselves food.
You almost get the idea that the disciples are
standing in the wings. Now, I know they don't
have watches, but stay with me. Looking at their
watches, I'm like, hurry it up, Jesus. Listen,
it's getting late. We've not eaten. You've not
eaten. Let them go. A crisis is mounting here.
Sunlight is fading. They're in a remote place.
People are now hungry. They've been there all
day. There's no place nearby where they can even
go buy food, even if they had the money. So you
start to see a little bit of panic in the disciples.
So they're letting Jesus know it's time, Jesus.
Dismiss the crowds. Send them on their way. They
need to get back. They still have a long walk
ahead of them. We know at least four miles. and
evening's already upon us. Makes sense. But to
their surprise, Jesus had another plan. Look
at verse 16. Jesus said, no, they don't need
to go away. You, and in Greek, you is emphatic.
The pronoun's there. You give them something
to eat. You, disciples, feed them. Now, you know,
if you're sitting there, and Peter, it's not
said, Peter, we don't know, I'm sure, what he's
thinking. He's like, what? What do you mean?
You want us, 12, to feed them, the multitude?
Now keep in mind, this is a massive amount of
people. In verse 21, we're told it's 5 ,000 men
apart from women and children. So we call this
the feeding of the 5 ,000. But even conservative
estimates, easily 15 ,000 to 20 ,000 people.
Easily. Now they must have thought, the disciples
must have thought, Jesus is either joking or
he's out of his mind. There's not enough food
for themselves. How do I know that? Because in
just a minute, Andrew, we know, is going to tell
Jesus, all we have here is five loaves, two fish.
That's all they have, verse 17. And they said
to him, they, we know that remember the boy brought
his lunch to Andrew. And they said to him, we
have here only five loaves and two fish. So this
is the little boy's lunch, probably. That is
mom packed for him. And by the way, the five
loaves are not like big loaves like we think
of. This is barley loaves, the bread of the poor.
It's a poor little boy. Two fish, more like sardines.
It's a small pickled fish. So five loaves of
poor bread and two sardines. That's all the food
they could muster. So there's not even food that
they have. So what could this small amount of
food do with such a massive crowd? Now friends,
that's a reasonable thought if you discount the
one with whom they were speaking. You have meager
resources and a large crowd, and they are hungry.
That usually does not produce a good outcome.
It doesn't. Five loaves, two small fish, 15 ,000
people, no matter any way you slice it, it's
insufficient. If you take Jesus out of the equation.
Although that is all the food the disciples had,
it is enough. When you factor Jesus into the
equation. And this is what I'm saying for us,
friends. Your resources, whether they be meager
or massive, your resources plus Jesus is more
than enough every single time. Because he's not
limited. Verse 18, Jesus says, bring them here
to me. Give me what you have. It's an act of
faith. Give it to me. Give me the five loaves.
Give me the two fish. Remember Psalm 23. The
Lord, Yahweh, is my shepherd. I shall not want.
It means I shall not lack. There's no need here.
Why? If God, because God is the one taking care
of me, there is no reason for fear. There's no
reason to panic. There's no reason for worry.
Why? Because God is my shepherd. He's the one
taking care of me. And the good shepherd is always
faithful to provide for his sheep. Look back
at the Old Testament. God fed a couple million
Hebrews in the desert for 40 years with manna.
Every day. For 40 years in a hot desert, God's
people did not have replacement shoes or clothing.
But their shoes did not wear out. Their clothes
did not rip. There was no dry rotting there.
There was no lack. How do you explain that? Who's
your shepherd? It's God. The message that we
need to see over and over again is that God's
hand is not shortened. He is not limited by our
scarce resources. Ever. Scarcity does not mean
insufficiency when we're talking about God. In
2 Kings 6, Pastor Kyle has been going through
the kings in this passage on Sunday nights. In
2 Kings 6, you have the king of Syria. He wants
to kill the prophet Elisha because Elisha keeps
informing the invading army, the opposing army,
of the king of Syria's plans. That's the backdrop.
So he wants this prophet dead. And he tells his
commanders, go get, and they're like, he's like,
who's the traitor? And they're like, there's
no traitor. There's a prophet in Israel whose
name's Elisha, and he always tells about your
plans. And he says, go kill him. So they go.
The army of Syria goes to Dothan, where Elisha
and a servant were. Well, early in the morning,
Elisha's servant, Gehazi, he wakes up and he
sees that they are surrounded by the Syrian army.
And you know what his response is? The same ours
would be. He's afraid. We're dead men. We're
two and there are thousands. Now, he goes and
gets Elisha. And he's like, look, we're vastly
outnumbered. What's Elisha do? And when the servant
and the man of God arose early and went out,
there was an army. the Syrian, surrounding the
city with horses and chariots. And the servant
said to him, alas, my master, what shall we do?
So he, that is Elisha, answered, don't fear.
What? Yeah, that's exactly what I had to do.
No. For those who are with us are more than those
who are with them. Again, are you out of your
mind? Verse 17. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord
Yahweh, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.
Then the Lord, Yahweh, opened the eyes of the
young man and he saw. And behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire all around
Elisha. Elisha wasn't afraid. He had no fear.
Why? Yahweh was his shepherd. I will not fear.
I will fear no evil for thou art with me. Remember
the widow of Zarephath. Do you remember? She
had flour and oil, just a little bit. But Elijah,
this time, told her, it's not going to run out.
What do you see? 1 Kings 17. For thus says the
Lord God of Israel. Now notice, this is God making
a promise to a widow. Just trust me is what he's
saying. The bin of flour shall not be used up,
nor shall the jar of oil run dry until the day
the Lord sends rain on the earth. It's not going
to rain for about three and a half years. Verse
16. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did
the jar of oil run dry, according to the word
of the Lord, according to the word of Yahweh,
which he spoke by Elijah. Do you see what the
scriptures are saying? To God, it matters not
whether we have a little or whether we have a
lot. What matters is whether we have him. This
is what we need to see. God's the deciding factor,
not our resources. Now the disciples should have
known by now, because they've seen lots of miracles
take place, that when Jesus commanded them to
feed the multitudes, he was going to see to it
that they would have enough food. Verse 19 again.
So he, Jesus, commanded the multitudes to sit
down on the grass. We know that they got into
groups of around 50. Now notice here, there's
small little things that we need to pay attention
to. He told the crowd to have a seat on the grass.
If you look at Mark 6 .39, he says, have a seat
in groups on the green grass. Doesn't that seem
redundant? Why does Mark tell us the grass is
green when we know that grass is green? Where
are they? They're on the Sea of Galilee. Water.
Still water, by the way, on the shoreline. And
he's commanded them to sit down in the green
grass by the still waters. What Psalm 23 says.
He makes me to lie in green pastures. He leads
me besides still waters. What's Matthew showing
us? Jesus is the good shepherd, spoken of in
Psalm 23. But who is the shepherd in Psalm 23?
YAHWEH. Who is Jesus? He's Yahweh. We know that
the psalm says, He restores my soul. He nourished
their body with physical food, but he had also
nourished their soul, Mark tells us, teaching
them all day. Okay, so now let's see the miracle
here. The latter part of verse 19. And he took
the five loaves and the two fish. He looks up
to heaven. That's the typical way that they would
have given thanks. He blessed. He gave thanks.
He broke and he gave the loaves to the disciples
and the disciples to the multitudes. Does that
language sound familiar to you at all? Many commentators,
and I think they're right on, they see a foreshadowing
here of the Lord's Supper. In Matthew 14, he
took the loaves. In 1 Corinthians 11, he takes
the bread. In Matthew, he looks up to heaven
and bless. He's given thanks. In 1 Corinthians
11, he gives thanks. In Matthew, he broke the
bread. At the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians
11, we read he broke the bread. In Matthew, he
gave to the disciples. 1 Corinthians 11, he gave
to the disciples. The miracle. of providing bread
points forward to Jesus, who gives himself as
the bread of life. Now, I told you this miracle
was mentioned in all four Gospels. John's Gospel,
as soon as this miracle is finished, he goes
into what's known as the bread of life discourse.
John 6, 33. For the bread of God is he who comes
down from heaven. and gives life to the world.
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. Look down
at verse 40. And this is the will of him who
sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, who
is that? That's Jesus, and believes in him may
have everlasting life. And I'm going to raise
him up at the last day. See, Jesus' miracles
were never designed to be sensational. They're
not there to satisfy any intellectual curiosity.
Rather, they are signs that point to him as the
promised Christ who had come to save his people.
Can you get a sense of what Matthew's doing here?
My friends, I love it. He is showing that Jesus
is Yahweh. He's the good shepherd of Psalm 23.
He's the one who provides for his people. But
God doesn't just provide for his people by giving
them bread. He provides for his people by giving
himself as the bread. He's the food. As he says
in John 6, 33, he's the bread of life. When the
nation of Israel... Remember when they were wandering
in the wilderness, they were always tempted to
complain, and that's understandable. And they
complained against God. And they asked this question
in Psalm 78. Yes, they spoke against God, and
they said, now notice the question that they
asked. Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
We're in a desolate place. Can God give us food
here? Verse 20. Can he give bread also? So Israel,
the nation, is questioning, can God provide food
for them in a remote wilderness place? What's
Jesus doing in Matthew 14? Providing food for
his people in a remote wilderness place. Can
God provide a table in the wilderness? What's
Jesus doing there? He's providing a table of
bread in the wilderness. What does Psalm 23?
You prepare a table before me. Whoever has God
as their shepherd will not lack. And I love this.
We're almost finished here. Jesus didn't just
provide a paltry dinner. He didn't provide just
a little bit, some snack to hold them over. This
is a meal of abundance. Look at verse 20 and
21. So they all ate and were filled, all 15 to
20 ,000. And they took up 12 baskets full of
the fragments that remained. No waste. Now those
who had eaten were about 5 ,000 men besides women
and children. Now notice, they all ate and were
filled. Liberal people, liberal commentators
said, they all just got a little bit. That's
so dumb. What do you mean? They ate and were
filled. 20 ,000 people here filled to the brim
because our Lord multiplied five loaves and two
fish. In fact, there was such abundance. People
could eat all they wanted, and there's still
some left over. How much? Twelve basketfuls.
Now, twelve, why? Because the apostles, each
one of the twelve would have been carrying a
basket. Twelve baskets, twelve apostles. Each
one carrying a full basket. Now, why? Those full
baskets foreshadowed their future mission, or
they're going to go throughout the nation, distributing
spiritual bread to the world. These baskets show
us something. That our good shepherd, he's not
selfish, friends. He's not begrudging. He is
abundantly generous. Abundantly, exceedingly
abundant above all we could ever ask or think.
God. is generous with his people. And this miracle
here, it's just a glimpse, it's just a preview,
just a small, tiny view of the generosity that
our Lord is going to show his people. Now listen,
when we feast with him at the marriage supper
of the Lamb, when the kingdom of God arrives
in its fullness, there will be a lavish banquet
then. And today, if you leave simply being amazed
that Jesus can multiply fish and bread, you've
missed the point. We've missed the point altogether.
Matthew is not so much focusing on what Jesus
can do, but rather who he is. He's the Savior
sent from God. Here's the point. The Jesus, the
carpenter from Nazareth, is God. He's Yahweh.
He is the one that you must trust if you're going
to enter the kingdom of God. Every one of those
people who ate that day later hungered. They
got hungry again. Yet Jesus tells us in John
6, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me
shall never hunger. And he who believes in me
shall never thirst. This same Jesus who broke
the bread to feed the people would soon give
his own body to be broken to save his people.
This is what we celebrate every Lord's Day. Every
time we gather, it's to see something of the
glory of God in Christ. See, the Lord Jesus,
he doesn't only satisfy physical hunger, he also
satisfies the deepest longings of the human soul.
You're never going to hunger or thirst again.
Not physically, friend. Spiritually. Through
his broken body and his shed blood, Jesus provides
forgiveness for our sins, reconciliation with
our God, and eternal life in the kingdom that
is to come. What's the psalm say? Yahweh is my
shepherd. I shall not want. I won't want. So
the question is, and this is for every single
person in here, is Jesus, Yahweh in the flesh,
your shepherd? Whoever believes upon him is what
he says. Most assuredly I say to you, he who
believes in me, only him has everlasting life.
Why? Verse 48, I am the bread of life. You must
come to him. He is the one who can save. Not
one among many who can save. The only one sent
by God, the Christ, the son of the living God.
Trust in him today. And for all those of us in
this room who have. Jesus is not a dead Savior.
He's a living Savior. He's risen. He's ascended.
He's at the right hand of the Father. And we
get to commune with him. He says, come, my people,
come to me. I'm the good shepherd. I'm still
providing bread. It's my flesh and my blood.
Come. I'll feed you. I'll feed you with myself.
Come and let's feast with him, remembering what
he did, anticipating the kingdom to come, and
rejoicing with our God presently through this
meal that he's given to us. Father, we thank
you. God, you are so rich, so generous. Lord,
we are so poor, so undeserving. Lord, would you
open our hearts and our minds to receive your
word as it is, to believe it, to profit by it,
to grow in our understanding of it. Lord, we
can never mind the depths of sacred scripture.
The more we look at it, the more rich it is,
the more glorious it becomes. Because, Lord,
it is a living word testifying to the living
Christ, the embodied word. God, we need you.
We're weak. All of us in here are weak, Lord.
None of us have had a perfect week. None of us
can come to the table of the Lord in our own
merit. We come and, Lord, we desire to be fed
with manna from on high. You're the true bread,
Jesus, who has given your flesh for our life.
Lord, we thank you for that. Let us commune with
you now, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.