Wonder Bread - [Mark 6:30-44]

What do you want? What desires fuel the engine that makes you go? What would it take for you to be completely satisfied? These are no-shock, common questions. Article after article is written. I used the Tim Peirce-approved Google to look at this question on the Internet, which surely is where everything is true.

And there are so many articles about trying to understand what you truly want out of life. Methods for self-examination, procedures to winnow out the chaff, ignore the noise, focus on what you really, really want.

Some so-called preachers, I've been there, not here, even preach on Sunday morning how to simplify your life, how to clear out the clutter, how to declutter, how to find your purpose. Survey after survey shows us what Americans want.

We want better jobs. We want more money. We want better relationships. We want more stability. And these things are secondary. These things are consequences. These things are results. So frequently we feel lost or unable to move the right levers or even find the right levers that we would want to move to orchestrate our events, to achieve our goals.

And so unsurprisingly, what do we do? We end up turning to God to provide for our physical needs. But we must be careful. Our desire for satisfaction makes us prone to wander. The fortunes of prosperity gospel preachers were built on the backs of those who were desperate for security.

They were desperate for miraculous healing, right? And most certainly in these times, in these uncertain times, these feelings of desperation are not going anywhere. When you're focused on the things of this world, you will miss what God has done and what God is doing.

You run the risk of shaping God into an idol of your own fashion. You threaten to make him as God, as Goff once said, into a cosmic bellhop attending to the needs and desires of his creation. Do you really expect God to serve you and provide what you want?

What if you really, really want it? What if you want it like really bad, like a pink Cadillac or whatever that thing might be? What if you really want it? Do you expect God to react to the world the way you do?

The Crowd’s Physical Expectations of Jesus

Today, we're going to look at a passage where exactly this disconnect happens. In our passage, we will see four fundamental misunderstandings of Jesus Christ and his ministry, two from the disciples and two from the crowd.

We'll see everyone in this passage save Jesus Christ himself, look at the world around them and forget about the world to come. And then we'll see how we are to act instead. If you'll turn with me in the book of Mark to chapter 6, we'll read our entire passage to begin starting in verse 30.

A couple of weeks ago. Pastor Steve told us that as he was wrapping up the gospel of John, that it took him almost a decade to get through the gospel of John. Right. Well, literally almost three years ago to the day, I preached the preceding passage here.

So if we extrapolate out, it's going to take me a little bit more than 10 years, but I'm doing the best that I can. Mark, chapter six, starting in verse 30. The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.

And he said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. For many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat. Anybody ever skip lunch at work because they had too much to do?

That's what's happening right here. And they went away in a boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now, many saw them going and recognize them. And they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.

When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. Verse 35. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, this is a desolate place and the hour is now late.

Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat. But he answered them, you give them something to eat. And they said to him, shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?

And he said to them, how many loaves do you have? Go and see. And when they had found out, they said five and two fish. Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties.

And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all.

They all ate and were satisfied. And they took up 12 baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were 5000 men. Now, other than the resurrection of Jesus Christ, this is the only miracle that is recorded in all four gospels.

I would suggest to us that it's important, right? In the context of all of the ways in which the gospels look at Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the servant in Mark. Jesus Christ, the king in Matthew. Jesus as God, the book of John.

And Jesus as man, the book of Luke. And as such, we will see his need for rest, his need for food, his compassion and his leadership. As I mentioned, it's been a little while. So I'm going to give you a little bit of context what's going on here.

Chapter 6 of the book of Mark opens with Jesus returning to his hometown of Nazareth and beginning to teach with his disciples in the synagogue. But they didn't want him there. He wasn't welcome because the people he was teaching with authority knew him as a child.

They said, who is he? His father was a carpenter. What is he doing in the synagogue teaching us with authority? What is happening here? And so they rejected him. Verse 5. And so in verse 6, he went to the surrounding villages and he taught there.

And he called the 12, verse 7, and began to send them out two by two and gave them the authority over the unclean spirits. So, verse 12 now. They went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

This is the great Galilean ministry of Jesus Christ and his disciples. Most likely, Jesus kind of remained in this area and continued to teach and to preach in this area and around Nazareth while his disciples spread out throughout this probably 400 to 500 square miles of land that they were traveling around and doing these things.

Now, commentators are not split, but the rough estimate here is that they were doing this for about a year, 6 to 12 months. They were traveling around this area, again, 400 to 500 square miles. That's a lot of land.

And walking around and preaching the gospel and healing the sick, casting out demons. Weeks and weeks of hard work. Maybe being threatened with violence as we see in many of the narratives in Acts. We see the kind of response that Paul would get.

It wasn't exactly like, hey, buddy, how you doing? They were serving poor people. They were preaching to them repentance until finally they came back to Jesus. It was probably at this point in Capernaum, in this area.

And they probably didn't come back at the same time either. They didn't have cell phones. It was a little harder to communicate with each other. It's like everybody synchronized watches, synchronized sundials.

I don't know how that works. But they probably didn't all come back at the same time. So they're coming in. People would notice them because they were getting their own crowds as they went out and they preached and they taught and they healed and they did all these miraculous things.

People were starting to follow them. And so as they all started to come together, as they started to come together, people noticed. They said, oh, what's going on? I mean, think about it right now. We still have Brady Watch, right?

It's like, oh, Tom Brady's getting together with, I don't know who the receivers are in Tampa Bay anymore. But, oh, he's on some field throwing a ball without a mask on. Oh, my goodness. What's going on?

He's been gone for a while, guys. Get over it. But we still notice these things, right? Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are in town. There's probably another Boston-based movie coming out. We notice these things.

It happens. And the same thing was happening here. They noticed the disciples coming together. And now they've all come back. They've all returned to Capernaum. And that's where we pick up our narrative in verse 30.

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. And he said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. For many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat.

They had no time to themselves. They were exhausted. They're tired. They're worn out. They need to recharge. So Jesus does what any proper Christian leader would do. He schedules a retreat. Go. Just us.

Me and 12 of my closest friends. We're going to go on a retreat. The 13 of us will go somewhere else to recharge our batteries, minister to one another. We see that in verse 32. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.

Away. Far away from other people. So desperate for a respite, these men took away by boat. This is like David Ortiz going out to the back of Fenway Park trying to not be seen. To just get out of town.

I guess it was Theo Epstein who left in the gorilla suit. Who remembers the gorilla suit? Just trying to get out of town, right? Not be seen. Obviously I'm a Boston sports guy. Sorry. I repent in dust and ashes.

But they're seen. They're seen leaving Capernaum. The people didn't want Jesus and his disciples to go. They probably were following the disciples as they were returning back. They're not going to let them kneel down.

This is a gold mine. These guys are healing the sick. They're doing all this. They resurrected Jairus' daughter from the dead. I mean, why would you want these people to go? Right? You would want to be with them.

Look at the stuff that they're doing. The early chapters of the gospel tell of the crowds following Jesus Christ as he wrought these miracles. And now they're following the disciples too. These people were curious about the miracles that they had seen or heard about.

These people wanted to be with Jesus and the disciples. Yes, to hear his teaching. But also because of all these other ancillary benefits. They had this kind of crowd mentality. We always hear about, you've got to remember, these people are humans too.

They have feelings, all this stuff. But that's not what they were thinking about. They didn't give much thought to the needs of these men. And so, verse 33, they saw them leave of their own accord and they followed.

Now many saw them going and recognized them and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. I could just imagine, come on, really? That's the feeling in the boat from the disciples.

So remember, we're looking at four misunderstandings of Jesus Christ and his ministry. How the people around Christ misunderstood him and responded to him wrongly. And here we see the very first one of these.

These people, these crowds longing to be physically satisfied with the miraculous acts of Jesus Christ. If we look at the harmony of this, remember I said this miracle is in all four Gospels. If we look at the harmony of this in John chapter 6, we see this.

After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. Verse 2, and a large crowd was following him. Why? Because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.

Not because he's a great spiritual teacher. Not because he's opening the eyes of the unbelievers. Not because of this miraculous conversion event. Because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.

We've seen it so many times before. The crowds form around Jesus Christ and follow him because of their desire for physical relief and healing and satisfaction. Crowds saw the ministry of Jesus Christ as a physical ministry only, serving the needs of the sick and the needy.

Now, did he do these things? Yes. Absolutely. He did serve the sick. He did heal the sick. He did serve the needy. He did these things. But, question, is that why Jesus came? No, it's not. We see from his own lips the reason for his ministry.

Listen to Mark chapter 1. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, Everyone is looking for you.

Why? Because they wanted this physical healing, right? Everyone is looking for you. And he said to them, Let us go on to the next town, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out. And, of course, we see the truth of the purpose of Jesus Christ coming to earth throughout the New Testament.

John 18. For this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. Perhaps one of my favorite narrative passages in scripture, Mark chapter 2.

Jesus healing the paralytic. All wrapped up nicely in two verses. Listen. But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. He said to the paralytic, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.

Jesus is in this crowd of people, in his own house, that is so thick that men climb on the roof, rip the roof open, and lower this man down to be near Jesus Christ. And he doesn't continue teaching, heal this guy, continue teaching.

No. He links these two things together. Right? Because he announces that the paralytic sins are forgiven, and the scribes that are there are like, I mean, you could say that, but what does it really mean?

Who is this man who has the authority to forgive sins? And so, Mark 2, that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins. I will perform this miracle. What's the reason that he performed the miracle?

To prove his power. Luke 19, for the Son of Man came to do what? To seek and to save the lost. And then later, in the epistles, 1 Timothy 1, the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.

Now, I could go on and on, but I need to move on in my notes. Over and over, Scripture testifies to the purpose of Jesus Christ's ministry, preaching and teaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins, but this crowd missed it.

Number one, the crowd saw Jesus as just a physical provider. That's our first misunderstanding. And as we look further into our narrative, we'll see the second. Starting in verse 33,. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.

And when he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Even though Jesus knew why they were following him, he still had compassion.

And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.

How dramatic is this contrast between the disciples and Jesus Christ? The text says that Jesus had compassion on them. MacArthur says here,. The crowds followed not out of belief, but out of curiosity concerning the miracles that he performed.

However, in spite of the crowd's crass motivations, Jesus, having compassion on them, healed their sick and fed them. On the flip side, look at these disciples. First, where did they go? If you have a group of people, and you go somewhere, and then they just kind of all disappear.

Like, hey guys, what's up? And we look at what happened here. Jesus had compassion. And where are the disciples? I have no idea. You know why? Because the text doesn't tell us where they are. They melted into the background.

It's not until later that they show up to complain. Who has a team at work where the only time you ever hear someone talk is when they're complaining? Don't raise your hands. I'm sorry. They show up, and their responses are hardly compassionate.

It's late. Send these people away. Let them deal with their own problems. It's so different from Jesus. The disciples would not yet have heard the good shepherd discourse of John chapter 10. But this idea of sheep without a shepherd, this is a common Old Testament description.

It's used to describe people who are without a purpose, just like these people are. Jesus saw these people without a leader, without a guide, and his heart went out to them. He began to teach them. And as we see in the harmonies, to heal them.

Hendrickson said, in his mind, in Jesus' mind, he probes their sorrows. He understands them. On his heart, he takes their burdens. He loves them. With his will, he removes their affliction. He heals them.

With his sympathy, with him, sympathy is not just a feeling. It is a tender feeling transformed into helpful action. It is, as far as is possible, an identification. It is not just an emotion, but a deed.

Better still, a whole series of deeds. He teaches them, heals them, and feeds them. And this perspective couldn't be really any different from the disciples. A shepherd provides for his sheep. He watches them.

He keeps them safe. He leads them, and he brings them to food. We see Jesus Christ providing them with spiritual food, with his words. And yet, when it comes to physical sustenance, the disciples would have him send the crowds away to fend for themselves.

Now, just think for a minute. What's going on with these people? They saw the disciples returning to Capernaum. They traveled to Capernaum. And then, they see the disciples leaving. They're like, we've got to go.

If we're going to follow these people, we've got to go. We've got to go right now. So, most likely, it's not like they loaded up their hiking backpack with food and provisions and bedrolls and all this inflatable air mattresses.

I was camping last weekend. I'm not sleeping on bedrolls ever again. Whatever it is, they didn't have time to load up their provisions for this day's journey. They saw him leave on a boat, and they went after him.

So now, at the end of the day, there they are, leaderless, with no supplies. And the disciples' response is, send them away. We're done. We're done here. You did your teaching. Let's move on. This isn't the only time the disciples would respond like this.

We saw this with the Syrophoenician woman. We saw this with the little children in Mark chapter 10. Send the children away. Don't bother the teacher. This very callous perspective that they seem to have.

And this is our second example. First, we saw the crowds saw Jesus as a physical provider. They saw miracles and healing, not the words of life that he spoke. And now, second, the disciples have erred, failing to see the unending compassion of Jesus on the crowds and emulate him as disciples should.

The Disciples’ Failure to See Jesus’ Compassion

Back in our text, verse 35, we see the third example. This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.

But he, Jesus, answered them, you give them something to eat. And they said to him, shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread? That's a lot of money in those times. And give it to them to eat. And he said to them, how many loaves do you have?

Go and see. And when they found out, they said five and two fish. Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties and taking the five loaves and two fish.

He looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all, and they all ate and were satisfied.

And they took up 12 baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were 5000 men. Oh, you disciples. Once more, they are unable to grasp the power wielded by their master.

Even though they saw him raise people from the dead. Even though they saw him heal the sick. Even though they knew ostensibly that he was the Messiah. Even though they had been given the authority to heal and cast out demons themselves.

And they saw the power of Jesus Christ through their own hands. Surely these men knew of Moses, who through God called forth manna from heaven for 40 years for the Jewish people. And still, despite all of this, they could not see past the physical problem.

Sometimes. It blows my mind. To see what the disciples do and how the disciples react. I know. That we in the same situation would also be unable to see the forest of the trees, but. Man alive. These these disciples are standing in the presence of the God of the universe.

The best they can muster is how are we going to afford it? Right. That's what they that's what they said. Think about it. Go ahead in your own time. Flip back one chapter to where they're all in a boat and they're freaking out.

And Jesus comes out and says, why are you afraid? Have you no faith? And calms the waters and the winds. They were there. They saw this happen. And yet here we see their faith depart from them again. One commentator said Jesus looked at this situation, not as a problem, but as an opportunity to trust the father and glorify his name.

An effective leader is someone who sees potential in problems and is willing to act by faith. Acting on the basis of human wisdom, his disciples saw the problem, but not the potential. How many times God's people have complained, if only we had enough money, we could do something.

Two hundred denarii would have been the equivalent of a year's wages for the average laborer. The first step is not to measure our resources, but to determine God's will and trust him to meet the need.

The disciples were fixated on the physical difficulties, whether enough money and they couldn't see past that. That's all they could see. Jesus knew that he as God had the power to create and to provide when needed.

The Miracle of Feeding the Five Thousand

So. We've seen the crowd only seeing Jesus as a physical provider. We've seen the disciples fail to see the unending compassion of Jesus Christ. And now we've seen the disciples fail to have faith in Christ's miraculous provision.

Finally, our fourth example comes from the book of John. I mentioned the parallels and in John six, and we see the end of this event and our fourth example. Let me turn there, if you want to starting in verse 14 of John, chapter six, when the people saw the sign he had done.

They said this is indeed the prophet capital P. In the English. Who is to come into the world. Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain himself.

The crowd followed Jesus because they heard something or saw something about the miracles that he was performing. But this. This was something new. Ten thousand people. Making bread out of nothing. Literal wonder bread.

Actually, my notes here say I think Steve might have been editing this. It says Fry Hoffer's ex nihilo in my notes right there. This had meaning to the Jews. This was the testimony of the ultimate shepherd in the wilderness.

This is what God did for the nation of Israel for 40 years. Jesus provides for the body and souls of the people on that hillside that day. He showed them that he was a complete savior spiritually, physically.

They responded by referring to him as the prophet. Right. The illusion here. I've kind of mentioned what's happened, what happened in in the Old Testament. Right. With Israel and wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.

The illusion here to Moses is direct. This is Moses speaking in Deuteronomy 18. Listen to what he says. And this is exactly where we get this reference. This is indeed the prophet Deuteronomy, 18, starting in verse 15.

The Lord, your God, will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you. From your brothers. It is to him you shall listen. Just as you desired of the Lord, your God, at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, let me not hear again the voice of the Lord, my God, or see this great fire anymore, lest I die.

And the Lord said to me, they are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. And so. They saw the miracles of Jesus Christ. This is the first time they saw something like this, this Moses like provision.

And so this assumption that they would assume that he is the prophet. It's not really that surprising if we know our Old Testament. But Jesus knows the heart of mankind. He knows what their intentions are.

MacArthur says this. Sadly, these comments coming right after Jesus healed and fed them indicated that the people desired a Messiah who met their physical rather than their spiritual needs. Apparently, no recognition existed for the need of spiritual repentance and preparation for the kingdom.

They wanted an earthly political Messiah to meet their needs and to deliver them from Roman oppression. Their reaction typifies many who want a Christ that makes no demands of them. But of whom they can make their selfish personal requests.

And so. Perceiving that they desire to make him this king, Jesus retreats and sends the disciples away by boat. In this passage, these are our four fundamental misunderstandings. Two from the disciples, two from the crowds.

Number one, Jesus saw the crowd. The crowd saw Jesus as just a physical provider. Number two, the disciples fail to see the unending compassion of Jesus Christ and emulate it. Number three, the disciples fail to have faith in Christ's miraculous provision.

And number four, the crowd sought to make Jesus a political king, not recognizing him as a spiritual Messiah. Hindsight is 20, 20, right? Literally. We can look back at this passage and we can kind of render it through our 21st century understanding of the epistles and all of the super smart theologians and all this stuff.

And we can look down our noses at the disciples and at the crowds for failing to see that the son of God was in their midst and kind of deride them and be like, oh, right. And I even said it myself, like sometimes I look at these disciples.

I'm like, what? What? Right. I mean, think about how amazing that actually was. Right. But to do that and to stop there ultimately would be fruitless. These narratives that we see here are to show us the miraculous work of Jesus Christ and the incredible plan of God.

We can learn from scripture the right way to respond to the work of Christ in us. We look at this passage, we consider how this passage applies to our lives. Jesus is not going to walk through that door and supply all of the food for our next pot providence.

It's not going to happen, although if it did, it would be the best green bean casserole and corn dogs and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that you've ever had. I guarantee it. But he does continue to provide for us spiritually every single day.

He has opened our eyes to the truth. Jesus provides for his people. We see it here. He recognizes they were lost and he gave them spiritual food. He recognized they needed sustenance and he provided for their needs.

He provides for us. He is a physical and a spiritual provider. And we must know that in the end, the disciples humanity won out. They were wearied by ministry. They just wanted to get away. They wanted a break.

They wanted a desolate place. They allowed that to overcome their compassion. They didn't trust in the power of Christ to sustain them in ministry. They allowed their indifference to the condition of the crowds to cause them to be selfish.

Send them away, they said right after the teaching. What would the epistle of James say to that? What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you said to them, go in peace, be warm, be filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

So also by faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But this is exactly what the disciples wanted to do. Okay, you have been taught, you got what you came for. Be warm, be filled. We must not be like that.

We cannot be like this. It is so easy. The disciples failed to watch Jesus and recognize that their ministry, and thus our ministry, is not a hands-off ministry. It is a hands-on ministry. And I've seen it here.

We do come alongside one another. We do help. And I will borrow Pastor Mike's phrase, right? Excel still more as we do these things. It is a noble and wonderful way to serve the Lord by providing for his flock.

But there are times when all seems lost, when hopelessness is oppressive, when everyone is sick. That was the case with the disciples. They couldn't fathom how it would be that 10 ,000 people would be fed.

They threw their arms in the air. Instead, they should have thrown their knees to the ground. When we don't have answers, we can't give up. We must seek them. Now, that might be from the elders, or from the deacons, or our more seasoned saints.

It can be studying scripture, or it can be in direct prayer and supplication to our Father. We must remember that the soul of our covenant with Christ is a continued ministry of faith. Hebrews 10 and 11 are treatises to us on the importance of faith and how with faith we can do anything Christ calls us to do as we keep our eyes fixed on him.

We must preach the gospel and minister to those in need. And finally, Jesus Christ is our king. He is the king. He is the prophet. But his kingdom, John 18, is not the physical kingdom of Israel. His kingdom is not of this world.

If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world. We are members of his kingdom. Our king Jesus came to preach repentance to the lost.

In the Great Commission, he charged us to do the same thing. Our ministry is not telling people they can have better jobs. Telling people they can have more money. Telling people they can have better relationships.

Our ministry is not the healing of the sick or any of the other miracles we saw Jesus and his disciples perform. Our ministry is to preach the gospel. We preach Jesus Christ and him crucified and resurrected.

That's it. That is what we see as the primary focus of Jesus' ministry. And that is what we have been called to do, to minister to the spiritual state of man. Because he does work miracles. God can accomplish things we could never fathom.

And what greater miracle is there, really, than God completely transforming someone's heart? There is no surprise that the truths of this passage align with the truths of the gospel. The entire body of scripture exists to bring glory to God.

Every single letter of every single book was written to glorify our maker. And there is no better way for us to glorify him than to preach his truth. These men, women, and children following Jesus around looking for physical support and healing and food, they didn't know Jesus.

They were sinners. And they didn't even understand they needed a savior. They didn't get it. But so are we. We are sinners. You are sinners. You are sinners. Whether it is curiosity that drew you to Christ, or fear of death that drew you to him, or satisfaction for your earthly needs, your reason does not matter.

Jesus didn't go around and take a survey of 10 ,000 people and, why are you following me today? Family Feud, you're at the top. He didn't take that survey. He didn't care. What does matter is that now, in this place, you are hearing the words of Jesus Christ calling you to repent.

The perfect God-man came, as he said, to seek and save the lost. But, of course, we have to ask this question, what does that even mean? Okay, cool. I'm here. I'm standing on this stage. I'm not lost.

What does that mean? God made you. God made me. He is our creator. He can do whatever he wants with us. His perfection, he is perfect, demands perfection. And we are not perfect. I think of Romans 3 .23.

That's the go-to verse, right? For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 100 accurate. But I'm going to say this. 1 John, the wonderful, warm, pastoral hand of John, as he writes this epistle, says this.

1 John 1 .8. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and the word is not in us. Romans 3 .23. 100 accurate. This doesn't hurt quite as much. Jesus Christ, wrongly convicted, wrongly accused, betrayed but not broken, perfectly fulfilling the will of the Father.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was crucified to pay for sin. To pay for imperfection. Not his imperfection, because he was perfect, but ours. In light of this, our sin and Christ's sacrifice, I think of Paul in 2 Corinthians.

Verse 20, when he says, We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin. He's talking about Jesus. So that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

You will die and stand before God someday. It will happen. Survey says 100 of people born this year will die. It could be today. It could be in 30 years. I think of the young man who died last week.