Who Will Feed the Multitudes — Brian Long

Jesus Feeds the Multitudes

Amen, okay, this morning we're going to turn to the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 14. Matthew in chapter 14, and the message this morning is going to be a question, and that question is, who will feed the multitudes?

Who will feed the multitudes? Matthew chapter 14, and we'll begin reading in verse 13. When Jesus heard of it, He departed thence by ship into a desert place apart. And when the people had heard thereof, they followed Him on foot out of the cities.

And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them. And He healed their sick. And when it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past.

Send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals. But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart, give ye them to eat. And they say unto Him, We have here but five loaves and two fishes.

He said, Bring them hither to Me. And He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves and the two fishes. And looking up to heaven, He blessed and break, and gave the loaves to His disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up the fragments that remained, twelve baskets full. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children. Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, we thank You so much for Your living Word. And God, I thank You for everyone who's gathered here this morning. That not a single one of us is here by accident, but You have brought us together on purpose, Father.

And that You want to speak to every single one of our hearts. So I ask You to give us ears to hear what Your Spirit is saying specifically to us today. Each one of us, Lord. I pray that Your Word would go forth with power, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Because apart from the power of Your Spirit, Lord, we can do nothing. We can only proclaim the letter, and the letter kills. But the Spirit gives life. So God, speak today, we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen.

The Hungry Multitude and the Bread of Life

Now, there was a hungry multitude, according to verse 21, five thousand men. That's beside women and children. So how many were really there? Could have been close to ten thousand. When you consider all the women and the children, this vast multitude, and they're hungry.

They've been there with Him all day. When Jesus saw them, He was moved with compassion for them. When the disciples saw this great multitude, they said, send them away. Big difference between Jesus and the disciples at this point.

There was a hungry multitude. They were hungry for bread, something to eat. But I want to talk to you today, brothers and sisters, about another hungry multitude in our day. And I'm not talking about those who are so much hungry for a piece of bread or a bowl of soup.

Although that hunger is there, and we as a church should meet that kind of hunger. But there's an even greater hunger, a far more serious hunger than physical hunger. There's a hungry multitude that have yet to taste the bread of life.

Jesus Christ said of Himself, I am the bread of life. There are multitudes who have never yet met the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. A hungry multitude that are dying without Him. Now, in Amos chapter 8, I want you to notice this verse with me, because this is the days in which we are living.

I was sharing, visiting with the brethren earlier today, and we were talking about just the state of the church throughout this entire nation of ours. And when you think of that, the state of the church today, in light of these two verses, I think you'll agree with me that these are the days in which we're living.

Amos chapter 8, verse 11, listen to this. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.

And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east. They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. There's a famine in the land. There are hungry multitudes who have yet to taste and eat of the bread of life, who have yet to receive Christ.

The Church’s Responsibility to Feed the Multitudes

But the question I have today is, who will feed them? Who will go? Who will feed this hungry multitude? We have the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation. We have the word of God, which is fresh manna from heaven.

And if you're a Christian, you have the living Lord Jesus Christ living on the inside of you. You have the answer for the world today. The question is, will you go feed them? Who will feed the multitudes?

Verse 16, Jesus' disciples said, send them away. Jesus said it's not... I'm sorry, verse 15, the disciples said, send them away. Jesus said unto them in verse 16, they don't need to be sent away. They don't need to part.

You give them something to eat. And the Lord would be saying the same thing to us today when it comes to Ingram, when it comes to Ladysmith, when it comes to this entire area of Wisconsin. Who is responsible to feed the multitudes in your land, in your community?

You are church. And though many would say, send them away, we don't want those kind to come in here. I don't know if there'd be someone say that or not. There are many churches that would say that. I've been told that.

We don't want those kind. What kind? The kind that the Lord Jesus Christ bled and died for and gave his life for? Who will feed them? Whose responsibility is it? Jesus says to his disciples, you go give them something to eat.

And he's saying to us today, you go give them something to eat. You bring to them what they need. And what do they need but the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, in order to feed these multitudes, we have to be willing in a few areas.

Carrying the Compassion of Christ

We talked about this a little bit in Sunday school. The first thing we must be willing to do is we must be willing to carry the compassion of Christ. We must be willing to carry the compassion of Christ.

Notice what it says in verse 14. And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion toward them. He was moved with compassion toward this hungry multitude. Mark chapter 6 verse 34 says that he was moved with compassion for this multitude because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

Did you know I learned this not long ago from reading Charles Spurgeon that before the gospels were written, and even up to this point I think, you cannot find this word compassion that they use in the Greek here.

You cannot find that word in classic Greek. And the reason was when they saw the compassion of Christ, in other words, imagine seeing Jesus as he looked at this multitude and he was moved with compassion for them.

Imagine seeing Jesus as he looked over the city of Jerusalem and literally wept over that city. When his heart was just bursting with love and compassion for people and his eyes, he wept for the lost.

He wept for the destruction of Jerusalem. When the disciples saw that, they didn't even have a suitable word to define it. Because they'd never ever seen that kind of compassion. And they had to come up with a new word in the Greek for this kind of compassion that they witnessed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you have that kind of compassion for people? Do you have that kind of compassion for the lost? This is the kind of compassion Jesus had when he saw the leper, a person that would have stunk. The leper had sores all over him.

You could smell him hundreds of yards away. No one would approach a leper. And yet Jesus, when he saw the leper, was so moved with compassion that he went and even touched the leper. When he saw a widow weeping over her son, the widow of Nain, her son was in a casket.

He had died and she was weeping over him. The Bible says when Jesus saw that, he was moved with compassion. And he raised her son to life. When he saw two blind men that cried out to him, Lord, have mercy on us.

The Bible says he touched them, he healed them because he was moved with compassion. Throughout the Gospels you read this over and over again. Our Savior is a compassionate Savior. Jesus is moved with compassion.

Now when he looks at you and I today, he looks at us through eyes of love and compassion. I want to ask you again, how do you look at people? There's only two ways we can look at people, either through eyes of compassion or eyes of criticism.

The Scripture says of Satan, the devil, Revelation chapter 12, it calls him the accuser of the brethren, and it says that he does something day and night. Do you know what it is? He accuses them before God day and night.

Satan accuses day and night. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25 tells us that something Jesus does day and night. He intercedes. He ever lives to make intercession. And I want to ask you, whose ministry are you joining?

The accuser of the brethren? Where you look at everybody through eyes of criticism and you're quick to accuse. You're joining hands with the devil. Or do you look through people with eyes of compassion and it moves you to pray for them?

Then you're joining the ministry of Jesus. The ministry of intercession. When Jesus looks at people, He looks through eyes of compassion. When the disciples looked at this multitude, they looked through eyes of criticism.

Lord, send them away. Let them buy their own food. We've got to be willing to carry the compassion of Christ. I heard a story one time, a true story, about two people who were in a prison camp, like a concentration camp.

These two men. One was a Christian, the other was not. Both of them were suffering. They were starving to death. They were in filth. They were dying in this camp. The one who was not a Christian was in worse shape, worse health than the other.

And he had sores all over him. He was very ill. He was dying. And every day they would receive one bowl of rice. But the rice was so horrible, they literally had to separate what was rice and what was maggots.

Once they removed the worms, the maggots, they would get the rice and that's all they had to eat once a day. And this Christian who was in the prison camp would take his friend, who was not a Christian, and he would put his arm under his head.

And he would feed him this rice. He would even feed him his own rice. And he would go without. He would wipe his wounds. He demonstrated the love of Christ to this man day in, day out. Never preached to him yet.

But the day came when he saw that his friend was dying. He wasn't going to live long. He said, Sir, I must tell you something. I must tell you about my Jesus. Have you ever heard about Jesus? Has anybody ever told you about Jesus?

And this lost man who was dying looked up and said, No, Sir, I've never heard of Him. But if He's anything like you, I want to know about Him right now. Can people say that of you, dear friends? If your Jesus is anything like you, I want to know Him.

I want to know Him right now. That's what the world needs to see. The true and living God. The true Lord Jesus Christ who lives on the inside of us. Who is a compassionate Savior. He's moved with compassion.

Are you willing to carry the compassion of Christ? That's who will feed the multitudes. Who else will feed the multitudes? It's those who are willing to be inconvenienced. In other words, you're going to have to get over yourself.

Serving Others Despite Inconvenience

You're going to have to get your eyes off of yourself and on to Christ alone. And when you get them on Christ alone, He will then also give you His eyes for others. For those in need of Him. It was not a convenient time for Jesus.

But there's nothing about the Christian life that is selfish. The reason I say it was not a convenient time for Jesus is because of verse 13. Notice this with me. It says, When Jesus heard of it, He departed thence by ship into a desert place apart.

What did He just hear about? His beloved John the Baptist had just been beheaded. Jesus loved John the Baptist. Remember what Jesus said about John the Baptist? He said, I tell you, there's never been one greater born among women.

He loved John the Baptist. He had just received the news that his beloved John the Baptist had had his head cut off. They killed him. Herod had him put to death. When Jesus heard of it, He must have been so grieved.

Don't forget that Jesus was fully man. He's fully God. But He's also fully man. His heart must have been broken to hear what had just happened to John the Baptist. And the Bible says, When He heard about it, He got in a ship and He went to a lonely place.

I'm sure it was to grieve. But when He left, this multitude followed Him. It wasn't a convenient time. Jesus could have said, You know, I know they're hungry, but it's not a good time. I'm grieving over the loss of John the Baptist.

But there was nothing about Jesus that was self-centered. Nothing. Even in the midst of a time of grief, He had eyes to see others in need. He had eyes to lift, to go beyond Himself unto those in need.

The Bible says in Philippians 2, verse 21, the Apostle Paul is basically pouring out his heart for this church at Philippi, and he's saying, I want to send someone to you, but I can't find anyone. I'm paraphrasing, of course.

He says about Timothy, he said, I have no one like Him who will care for your estate. Why? Verse 21. Philippians 2, verse 21. Because all men seek their own. Not the things of Christ. Everybody's concerned about himself.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 5, that love seeketh not her own. When you love Jesus, and His love fills you, you're not concerned about yourself, you're concerned about others. All men seek their own.

I'll tell you about a church that is sure to die. It's a church that is obsessed with themselves and that seeks only their own. Love seeketh not her own. Love seeketh the things of Christ, and what He loves, and what He's passionate about.

And whether you're inconvenienced or not, you remember the parable of the Good Samaritan? There's a man who was jumped on this road from Jericho to Jerusalem. They beat him up. They stripped him. They left him for dead.

And along comes a priest. A priest's got to know God, right? A priest ought to have compassion above everybody else. He's on his way to the temple. What does he do when he sees this poor man, wounded, stripped, beaten, lying for dead, left for dead?

The Bible says he looks at him and passes by on the other side of the road. He walks right on by. A Levite comes. That's the one who's going to lead worship. He's coming along. He sees this poor man. He looks at him and passes right on by.

He's got other things to do. It's not a convenient time. Got to get to church. And the Good Samaritan comes by and he sees this poor man, and the Bible says he had compassion on him. They picked him up, put him on his donkey, led him into the inn, paid his time to stay at the inn.

And he took care of this man. He loved him. Was it a convenient time for him? Probably not. Those who will feed the multitudes are those who are willing to be inconvenienced, to go out of their way. The story is told about a man, I heard one time he had a gift, an anointing upon him.

He would pray for people that were sick and they would be healed. He was leading people to Christ. And it didn't take long for the news to spread. And when people hear that, they say, I want to go and have him pray for me.

I've got a problem. His ministry started expanding, he got very busy, and all of a sudden he started getting calls in the middle of the night. One day he got a call in the middle of the night. He was so tired, but it was someone in need.

He hung up the phone and he said, Oh God, will you please stop these people from calling me in the middle of the night? Stop them so many from coming. And you know what the Lord did? He answered his prayer.

He removed the anointing. And from then on he would pray over people and no one would get well. He would share the Gospel and no one would come to Christ. And it broke that man and he said, Lord, whatever the cost, give it back.

I want to serve you. Brothers and sisters, if you're going to follow Christ, you've got to die to self. It's no longer about me. It's all about Him, because I am no longer my own. That's what the Bible says.

You are not your own. You've been bought with a price. The precious blood of Jesus. Now glorify Him. Live for Him. That's why you were created. Your purpose in life is to bring glory to God. It's not about you.

It is all about Him. Who will feed the multitudes? Those who are willing to get over themselves and love people and carry the compassion. Also, it's those who are willing to become co-workers with Christ.

Becoming Co-Workers with Christ

Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3, he said, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. And he goes on to say, we're just co-laborers with God. We're co-workers with God. Now I want to ask you a question.

Could Jesus Christ have fed this multitude without this little boy's lunch of five loaves and two fish? Could He have done it? Of course He could have. He could have spoken the word and the whole hillside would be covered with fish and bread.

He could have performed a miracle like that. But He chose not to do it that way. Why? Because He's looking for co-laborers, someone who will come along and join Him in the ministry. And all He had at this point was a little boy and His lunch.

And He took that little boy and His lunch of five loaves and two fish, and He performed an absolute miracle of feeding 5 ,000 people beyond men. It's probably closer to 10 ,000. Are you willing to be a co-laborer with Christ?

It's a privilege to serve God. It's a privilege to serve Him. And He's not looking for people that are able. He's looking for people that are available. He doesn't look for someone who's adequate. In fact, He looks for people who are inadequate.

The Bible says in 2 Chronicles 16, 9 that the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole world looking for someone that He can show Himself strong through. Someone whose heart is completely His.

God's looking for someone to join Him as a co-laborer. I love what my friend Edgar Rich says. He says, It's His power and my dependence. It's His will and my obedience. It's His love and my ability. Listen, all God is looking for is for us to surrender all to Him and give Him what we have.

And a lot of us, it's not even five loaves and two fish. Many times I feel, Lord, I don't even have five loaves and two fish. I don't feel like I have anything. And the Lord says, Just give Me yourself.

Surrender all. And He does the hard part. He does the miraculous part. The little boy, all he had to do was give five loaves and two fish. Give his lunch away to Jesus. Jesus would do the hard part. That is the miracle of feeding 5 ,000.

Are you willing to give your whole heart to Christ? Are you willing to surrender all to Him so that He can use you? You know what the beauty of it is? Those who surrender all to God will never lack any good thing.

If this little boy would have kept his five loaves and two fish, how many people would he have fed? One himself. Maybe a few family members. He gave it all to Jesus, and how many were fed? Over 5 ,000.

Matthew 6 .33 says, To seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. You don't have to worry about yourself. If you're sold out to glorifying Christ, your needs will be met.

The Scripture goes on to say in our text in Matthew chapter 14, that after they had all eaten, the disciples had not yet eaten, the disciples were serving. Verse 20 says, They did all eat and were filled and they took up the fragments that remained, twelve baskets full.

How many disciples were there? Twelve. Twelve. How many baskets full did they pick up? Twelve. That's our God. You put others before yourself. You serve others first, and you will go home with the full basket.

Each one of you. Don't worry about putting yourself first. In fact, someone came up with a beautiful acrostic. It's J-O-Y, joy. You want to have joy? J, Jesus first. O, others second. Y, you last. And you will have true joy.

That's our Lord. That's the way of the Lord. Being poured out for others. Now I want you to notice finally, Jesus did two things before He fed this multitude. He took the bread, and the Bible says, look at this in verse 19, He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed, and He break.

Blessed and Broken for Ministry

And He gave the loaves to His disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. He took the bread, He first blessed it, and then He broke it. And if God is going to use you to feed the multitudes, these two things have to happen in your life.

You first must be blessed by God. You secondly must be broken by God and for God. It's only blessed and broken bread that feeds the multitudes. What do you mean, Brother Brian? First of all, blessed. Jesus blessed them.

You know what the greatest blessing to the church today from the Lord Jesus Christ? The greatest gift is this. The gift of His blessed Holy Spirit. That's the blessing. That's what we need to feed the multitudes.

Turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11 is a beautiful example of what I'm wanting to say here. Luke chapter 11 and verse 5. Jesus said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves.

Now, midnight is a crisis hour. And this friend has another friend coming to him. He's hungry. He wants some bread. Lend me three loaves. Verse 6. For a friend of mine in his journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.

Have you ever felt like this? God gave you an opportunity to witness to someone. God brought somebody across your path, but you had nothing to set before them. That's who He's talking about. It's a midnight hour.

A friend has come to me and they're hungry. They're in need. And I'm dry. I have nothing to set before them. What a tragedy! What a tragic thing! You know what happened after 9 -11 when the towers fell?

Many churches were full of people. They came to the church, but they had nothing to set before them. In many churches. They didn't have a message from God, a word from God for the people, and the people left just as dry and empty as they came.

God forbid, brothers and sisters, that when God brings needy people across your path, you have nothing to set before them. Who will feed the multitudes? It's somebody that has something to set before them.

Now you say, what do I do if I don't have anything to set before them? You've got to be blessed. What do you mean blessed? Let's continue reading. Verse 7,. And He from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not.

The door is now shut and My children are with Me in bed. I cannot rise and give Thee. I say unto you, Though He will not rise and give Him because He is His friend, yet because of His importunity, in other words, His persistence, He will rise and give Him as many as He needed.

And I say unto you, Ask and it shall be given you. Now as we read this, answer the question. Ask and it shall be given to you. Ask for what? Seek and you shall find. Find what? Knock and it shall be opened to you.

What shall be opened to me? For everyone that asks receives. He that seeks finds. And to him that knocks it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?

If he asks a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? If he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts under your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?

This is the blessing. How are we going to feed the multitudes? First, we've got to be blessed. What is the blessing? The blessed Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God. And apart from being filled with the Holy Spirit, I have nothing to offer them.

I have nothing to set before them. And who does He give the Holy Spirit to? Those who ask Him. Who are filled with the Holy Spirit? Those who pray. Ask and you shall receive. Receive what? The Holy Spirit.

Seek and you shall find. Find what? The filling of the Holy Spirit. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. What shall be opened? This filling of the Holy Spirit. God says, I will give you everything you need.

He says, My grace is sufficient for you. And His all-sufficient grace, once it's poured out upon us, we will have something to offer a lost and dying, desperate world, brothers and sisters. That's the blessing.

And the blessing comes through prayer. Through asking, seeking, knocking till you find. You're blessed. Now what's the second part? He blessed the bread. Now He's got to break it. And only broken bread.

Only broken people. You know, for years I broke horses for a living. Rode colts. And those of you who have ever experienced that or done that, you take a horse that, you know, somebody's nodding their head, you know what I'm talking about.

You get one that's not broken. What's it like? Stubborn, stiff-necked. They might buck. They might grab the bit and take off running. They're not broken. They're useless to the rider. A horse is not any good to the rider until he's broke.

Broke of what? Broke of his own will. In other words, where his will is totally yielded to the Master, and a good broke horse, my brother is still doing this, and he's one of the most amazing trainers that I know, and you get on one of his horses, and with the slightest command, the slightest cue, that horse is going to do exactly what you want.

You want him to speed up? He'll speed up. You want him to stop and slide? He'll stop and slide. You want him to spin around? He'll spin around. On the slightest touch, he yields to the slightest pressure because he's broken.

Until you and I are broken of our stubbornness, and our stiff-neckedness, and our rebellion, until we yield completely to the Holy Spirit, and we respond to that slightest prompting. When the Holy Spirit says, do this, and you go.

Don't watch that, and you turn it off. Go away from there, and you leave. Stop and visit him, and you do. Spend some time in my presence, and you kneel and pray. That's brokenness. That's when you yield and you obey the Holy Spirit.

Brokenness. Broken bread. John 12, verse 21. Look at this with me, if you will. John 12, verse 21. Actually, I'll back up one verse to verse 20. It says, There were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast.

Verse 21, The same came, therefore, to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. That is, we want to see Jesus. I'm telling you, these lost communities around here are waiting to see Jesus in you.

The real Jesus. We would see Jesus. We want to see Jesus. Verse 22, Philip cometh and telleth Andrew, and again, Andrew and Philip tell Jesus, and Jesus answered them. What is he answering them? He's answering this request.

We want to see Jesus. Here's his answer. Verse 23, The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.

But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. He uses the example of a kernel of wheat.

If you take a grain of wheat and that grain of wheat is planted in the ground, never dies, never breaks apart. You have no fruit. You have no life. You take a grain of wheat and it never be broken, put it up on the shelf, and what is it seven years from now?

A single grain of wheat. Ten years from now, a single grain of wheat. But plant that kernel of wheat in the ground and let it die and let it be broken. And what happens? Life comes forth. It produces more wheat, more fruit.

You take a Christian who dies to himself and denies himself and is broken, what happens? Fruit comes forth. More Christians. But we've got to be broken. Matthew chapter 16. And I'm coming to a close. Matthew 16 verse 24.

Jesus said unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it.

Dying to Self and Living for Christ

Who will feed the multitudes? Those who are willing to die to their selves so that they may live in Christ. Sadhu Sundar Singh was a young man who was born in the late 1800's in northern India. He grew up in a Hindu home with a Hindu father but his mother sent him to a Catholic school.

At the Catholic school he heard about Jesus and he heard about the cross even. When he was 14 years old his mother died and he became so angry with God, so angry and so violent that at 14 years old he began to persecute Christians.

He literally bought a Bible one day, had his friends over and they ripped out every page and burned it. Every page of the Bible. He had no peace. He was tormented inside. One day at 14 years old he said, I can't live like this anymore.

I'm going to commit suicide. He was desperate. He was beside himself. He said, Tomorrow morning I'm going to go out to the railroad tracks and lay my head on the tracks. I'm through living. That night he cried out, Who is the true God?

They worship hundreds of gods as Hindus. Who is the true God? And even in his prayer he said, Jesus if you're the true God, show me. If nobody answered him, he had plans to commit suicide the next day.