John pt. 29 | John 6:1-15

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April 2, 2023 Covenant Reformed Baptist Church Tullahoma TN Pastor Jeff Rice

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If you will open your copy of the scriptures, we will be in John chapter 6.
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We've made it. John chapter 6. This is our 29th message in the gospel of John.
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We will be considering verses 1 through 15.
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John chapter 6, verses 1 through 15.
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And let me pray to open us up. Oh God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Lord, this wonderful gospel that you have put on our hearts to walk through has been a tremendous blessing.
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I know for me, and I pray it has been for those who are under it,
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Lord, we ask as we enter in to this narrative session,
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Lord, that you will speak to us. Lord, it is too much pressure for me to just think of something clever to say.
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I beg you in Jesus name to speak forth through me and not let me speak presumptuously.
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Amen. I'm going to begin reading the text. So beginning in verse 1, after these things,
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Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee or Tiberias.
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Now a large crowd was following him because they were seeking the signs which he was doing on those who were sick.
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Then Jesus went up on a mountain and there he was sitting down with his disciples.
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Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews was near.
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Therefore Jesus, lifting his eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, where should we buy bread so that these people may eat?
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And this he was saying to test him for he himself knew what he was going to do.
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Philip answered him, 200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.
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One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, there is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.
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But what are these for so many people? Jesus said, have the people to sit down.
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Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down and number about 5 ,000.
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Jesus then took the loaves and having given thanks to them, he distributed them to those who were seated.
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Likewise, also the fish as much as they wanted. And when they were filled, he said to his disciples, gather up the leftovers, the leftover pieces so that nothing was lost.
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Nothing will be lost. So they gathered them up and fed and filled 12 baskets with pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
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Therefore, when the people saw the sign which he had done, they were saying, this is truly the prophet who is to come into the world.
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So Jesus knowing that they were going to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone.
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Our theme for this Lord's Day is simply Jesus multiplies the bread and the fish, right?
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Like, it's pretty simple. But my proposition is this, a miraculous work such as this can only be performed by God.
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No mere man can feed thousands of people with a sack lunch.
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This once again showing the divinity of Jesus. This is, this sign is one of many signs that Jesus has done, but this sign is one of many that points to Jesus being the prophet like Moses, which we spoke about last week.
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It was Moses who prophesied about a coming prophet among the Jews who would be like him.
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Jesus fulfills this prophecy. We looked at, remember we looked at this last week, so I'm just going to kind of brush over not getting into details.
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He fulfills this prophecy being that he is one of the three persons in the Godhead, the
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Trinity. And so since he is one of the three persons in the Godhead, he is face to face with God the
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Father. And the other, and the other way was through signs.
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Exodus chapter 33 verse 11 says this, thus Yahweh used to speak to Moses face to face just as a man speaks to his friend, right?
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We looked at John chapter one, basically explained it to us perfectly, that Jesus and the
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Father, as in the strongest language the Greek can produce, were face to face.
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They were together, always together, never been apart. Even when Jesus takes on flesh, the divinity of Jesus, because Jesus is
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God, is with the Father. And one of the signs done by Moses was feeding the bread to the
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Israelites, right? God used Moses to feed the Israelites manna, right?
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The Israelite people would wake up day after day after day and there would be bread, there would be manna laid out for them to gather.
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This sign in our text, the feeding of thousands of people with a sack lunch, correlates to the manna in the wilderness, meaning
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Jesus is the prophet. That's what we see taking place in verse 14.
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They recognize it, right? The people recognize the sign and how it correlates with Moses.
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In our outline we're going to, in our outline our paragraph gives three sections to the sign.
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Please pray for me because I have a small headache that I haven't been able to get rid of.
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Our paragraph lays out three sections. In our first section we're going to see the purpose of the sign, the purpose of the sign.
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In our second section we're going to see the sign, and in our third section we're going to see the response to the sign.
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And before I begin, if I could have someone, again forgive me, to bring me my water.
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Forgive me. Thank you. I got up here and was caught and I looked over and saw it sitting.
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Now as we transition, there are only two events, now this is important so please listen.
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There are only two events in all four Gospels recorded, that all four
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Gospels recorded. Two events. Each Gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all record the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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Pretty important event, right? Of course each Gospel is going to record this, but also each
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Gospel records this event, the feeding of the 5 ,000. That alone, that alone, being that it's only those two events, this event is recorded along with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, should show us how important this event was in the mind of the disciples.
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Matthew and Mark add more information to the event that we read here in John.
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They add the story in both Matthew and Mark, we find out the event of the death of John the
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Baptist, right? Our Gospel, the Gospel of John, does not record the event of the death of John the
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Baptist, but as you're reading this same story in Matthew and Mark, before it, it tells you that this takes place after the death of John the
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Baptist. So in our first section, the purpose of the sign, we're going to look at verses 1 through 9.
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Now because this is a narrative portion, and how things are laid out, as I read each verse,
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I will make proper connection to the other Gospel. I'm going to read verse 1, but I'm going to come back to verse 1 later.
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So let's start with verse 1, and it reads, after these things,
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I think that's something that we're going to touch back here later, the after these things.
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Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also Tiberias.
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Herod, Amphitheus, who was supposedly king at the time, was no king at all.
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He was basically sold out to the empire of Rome. Herod renamed the
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Sea of Galilee after the emperor Tiberias. The emperor Tiberias, so this would have been 20
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AD. The emperor ruled from 14 AD to 37
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AD. So when you read here, the Sea of Galilee or Tiberias, this is just pointing out that it was renamed the
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Sea of Galilee. Verses 2 and 3, now a large crowd was following him, the him here is
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Jesus, because they were seeing the signs which he was doing on those who were sick.
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Then Jesus went up on a mountain, and there he was sitting down with his disciples.
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So as we enter into this story, this is where we see differences take place between the
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Gospels. So Matthew chapter 14, verses 13 and 14, you do not have to turn there,
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I'm going to read it real quick, says this, now when Jesus heard about John, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.
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And when the crowds heard this, they followed him on foot from the cities.
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And he went ashore, and when he went ashore, he saw a large crowd, and he felt compassion for them and healed their sick.
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The book of Mark chapter 6, verses 33 and 34 says this, and the people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities and got ahead of them.
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And when Jesus went ashore, he saw a large crowd, and he felt compassion for them because they were like a sheep without a shepherd.
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And he began to teach them many things. Now according to theologians, as you're studying this, no one is exactly sure of the timeline here in John, outside of the fact that it takes place after the death of John the
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Baptist. Now I have an opinion, and I'm going to give my opinion, and maybe
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I should have gave it as we began chapter 5, but I was, again, I'm still trying to wrestle with the theologians on the time here, and I had this opinion then, but I didn't voice it.
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So the crowd here could be Jews who overheard the discussion.
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So the crowd that left, that saw the signs and are following him, this could be the Jews that overheard the discussion that Jesus was having with the religious
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Jews. It could even be the religious Jews, people who saw
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Jesus heal that lame man, right? Who were arguing with Jesus, who heard Jesus preaching that, that you look to the
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Scriptures for eternal life, and it is these that speak against you.
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Like this could be the crowd that's following him. If you look back at chapter 5, verse 1, speaking after Jesus healed the royal official sons, it says after these things, after what things?
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After Jesus healed the official sons, it says that there was a feast of the
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Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. So the theologians was arguing, we don't know for sure which feast this is speaking about.
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And then after Jesus heals this lame man on the Sabbath, and he's talking to these
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Jews about himself being prophesied from the Scripture, immediately in chapter 6, it says after these things.
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And so I don't think that it's separate, but when you're reading the commentary and you hear the theologians arguing,
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I'm just, I want to kind of explain what I see versus what they're saying, and you can side with me or not, it doesn't really hinder what takes place in the
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Scriptures, right? But it's the how after these things.
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Again, or it could mean several months have passed from that time, and that they were, that he was there.
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Like this could be a separate event that the Scriptures don't tell us about, a separate event where Jesus is healing the sick and performing miracles.
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The last, John chapter 20 tells us that he healed, like there's not enough books to record all the miraculous works that Jesus was doing.
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So you read each gospel, they're telling you things that Jesus has done, but they're not giving us every event, every story, every encounter, every miracle that Jesus did, right?
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They're just telling us things that he did. They don't give us everything that he's done.
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So this could, in fact, be a separate event, and this is what most theologians argue for. Again, I believe that this story in chapter six takes place immediately after chapter five, because I believe that the feast in chapter five is the same feast that takes place in chapter six, because it mentions a feast, but it never gives us the feast.
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And chapter six gives us the feast. So if you just follow the nearest antecedent of feast,
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I think it's hard to argue that it's not the feast speaking about in chapter six. But again, who am
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I to argue with theologians, right? I'm just a guy that reads his
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Bible. Now what we know for sure, what we know for sure, we know for sure that after he was performing miraculous signs, whatever it was, he withdrew and a crowd followed him.
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That's what we know for sure. That's what we can say for sure, plant a flag and say for sure. Now I don't believe that this crowd that was following him makes up the totality of the crowd of the number of people that get fed here, right?
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I don't believe that the large, excuse me, I believe that the large crowd that is following him that saw these miracles and began to follow him combines itself with a larger group that were already on the land.
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And we read why they were on the land in verses four and five A. So just look at verse four and five
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A. It's going to name the feast. Now the Passover, first time it names the feast.
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The feast of the Jews was near. Go back to chapter five.
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It says that there was a feast of the Jews. Chapter six, we see the feast,
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I believe, named the Passover. The feast of the Jews was near. Therefore, Jesus lifting his eyes and seeing that a large crowd.
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So there was, I believe that there's a crowd following him who saw miraculous signs, but also there was a crowd previously there that Jesus stumbles upon.
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And it's the hoe after these things that leads me to believe that.
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We all know what the Passover is, right? We've been breaking it down. Jews from all over the known world were gathering together for this feast.
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This Passover feast was a shadow that had found its substance in Christ.
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Remember John sees Jesus and he says, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
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John recognized that he was the fulfillment. And this crowd of Jews come, are coming to Jerusalem to celebrate the event, to celebrate the shadow, which is why
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I believe the Gospel of Mark, when it speaks of this account, says this. He, Jesus, felt compassion for them because they were like a sheep without a shepherd.
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Jesus sees this large group of Jews coming to celebrate a shadow, knowing that he was the fulfillment.
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They're not receiving him. They're still worshiping. They're still grasping. They're still looking to shadows.
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Jesus feels compassion on them for that and says that they are like a sheep without a shepherd.
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They were the blind leading the blind. They were a kingdom without a king.
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Sheep can only lead other sheep astray. Sheep need a shepherd.
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We'll find out later on in this Gospel that Jesus is this good shepherd. Jesus has compassion on them because they were a sheep without a shepherd.
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They were gathering together to worship something that has already been fulfilled, to celebrate something that was already fulfilled.
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Look at verses five through nine. Therefore, Jesus lifted up his eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, where should we buy bread so that these people may eat?
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And this he was saying to test him for he himself knew what he was going to do.
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Philip answered, two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.
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One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, there is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?
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This large crowd of Jews, they saw the signs that he was doing previously.
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They combined it together with a larger group of Jews that were traveling for the
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Passover. This event shows the reason why Jesus crosses over the
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Sea of Galilee. He was there previously. He left, then he comes back.
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Jesus heals their sick. He ministers to them through teaching, according to Matthew and Mark and Jesus, and they've been with him all day.
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So he's healing their sick. He's ministering to them through teachings, according to the other Gospels.
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They've been with him all day, and now Jesus plans to feed them. He doesn't just feed them spiritually, he plans to feed them physically.
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And when you read the other accounts, we won't go through all of them, the disciples were trying to get
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Jesus to tell them to go away. You know, they've been with us all day, they're hungry, we don't have anything to feed them, have them to leave.
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But that's not what was Jesus' plan, right? His disciple in verse 7 speaks about Philip, Philip answered, 200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient.
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A denarii is a day's wage. So this is him kind of hyperbole speaking, 200 days of wages is not enough to feed these people.
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200 days of wages is not enough to feed this large group of people, right?
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He could have said 300, he could have said 400, right? He just kind of, he just put a large number on what it would cost, saying that it's impossible for us to have 20 denarii of bread, right?
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We're all poor, you know, people, we don't have jobs, we're following you, we don't have the means by which to feed these people.
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Basically, it's kind of like a hyperbole. But Jesus has a purpose in what's about to take place.
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And I believe the purpose of the sign was to show this large group of Jews that he is the prophet, like Moses.
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And according to verse 14, that purpose is accomplished. Look at verse 14, therefore, when the people saw the sign which he had done, they were saying, this is truly the prophet who is to come into the world.
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They recognize the shadow, right? John the Baptist sees
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Jesus, and he recognized the shadow of the Paschal Lamb. He saw it lead into his feet.
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This group of Jews probably heard Jesus speaking to these Jewish leaders, and he's telling them that Moses wrote about him.
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And they see him perform a miracle that correlates with the miracle done by Moses.
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And they said, that's him. That's him. Look at it. It's leading to his feet.
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He is the prophet. But as we transition, the fulfillment of the feast that they are partaking in, right?
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The feast of the Jews. Jesus is the fulfillment of the feast that they have traveled to partake in, fills compassion on them, heals their sick, and he's about to fill their bellies.
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Now let's look at our second section. Our second section is the sign itself, and we see this in verses 10 through 13.
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Jesus said, have the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down and numbered about 5 ,000.
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Jesus took the loaves, and having given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated.
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Likewise, also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they were filled, he said to his disciples, gather up the leftover pieces so that nothing will be lost.
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So they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves leftover by those who had eaten.
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That right there tells you that they're not Baptists, right? Have that much leftovers? Come on, man.
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They're not in the kingdom yet, right? In John's gospel, it says, so the men sat down and numbered about 5 ,000.
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This is where Matthew kind of tells us, it adds to it. It helps us to have a fuller picture of the story.
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Matthew 14, 21, and there were about 5 ,000 men who ate besides women and children.
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Some theologians, again, you know that I have my arguments with these theologians, right?
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But some theologians believe that the number could have been as large as 20 ,000 people or more who took part in this sign, who saw, who had gathered together, right?
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So I don't believe that every man, I don't think that every man had a wife, right?
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But if you just think, you know, a majority of the men had wives and, you know, a bunch of kids running around, like, this could have been a large, very, very large gathering of people.
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I don't think there's no way to actually give it a number, but it's believed to be 20 ,000 or more. Some even said 25 ,000.
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So when I said 20, I'm taking the low number that was given. I think a miraculous sign that's overlooked here in the text and that people are not speaking about is that that many people sat down, right?
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Like, given a command for 20 ,000 maybe plus people to sit down and for them to actually sit down, right?
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Sometimes it's hard and just getting ready to have church for people to sit down and get ready to have church, right?
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The churches can be so large, most people don't even start finding their seat until someone gets up there and starts doing the announcements.
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I've seen this several times in large churches. Jesus has set them down and he takes five loaves of bread, which were probably the size of biscuits, like, don't think a loaf of bread, right?
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Don't think a loaf of bread. Like, this was probably the size of a biscuit, five loaves.
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It was a sack lunch. The boy wasn't carrying around a big giant grocery bag full of bread, right?
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Five loaves of bread that were probably the size of a biscuit and two fish, which were probably pickled to preserve it.
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Jesus gives thanks over this meal. The food is distributed.
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Everyone is filled and there are 12 baskets left over, again, showing that they're not
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Baptists, right? Like, there's no way we're going to have that much leftovers.
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They might have been Presbyterians. Ladies and gentlemen, that's the sign.
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Like, it's nothing more than that, but it's nothing less than that.
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Jesus feeds probably upwards to 20 ,000 people with a sack lunch that belongs to a little boy.
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That's the sign. Now, what makes this sign particularly significant?
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Why would all the gospel writers include it in their gospel, along with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, right?
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What makes this sign particularly special? And I believe what makes this sign different from all the other signs is that not only was it visual, but it was also something that everyone partook in.
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Let me explain. While Jesus is healing the sick, remember, he shows up, he begins to heal the sick.
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While he's healing the sick, only the sick partake in the sign. Rather, it's casting out a demon, causing a lame man to walk, giving sight to the blind, causing a shriveled arm to grow, or raising the dead.
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Jesus and the one who he's doing the sign to partake in what's taking place. Only the ones who are the recipient partake in what's taking place.
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That means it's only a visual for you or whoever saw it.
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They didn't take place in what was taking place. They didn't partake in what was taking place.
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That's a better way to say it. They didn't partake in what was taking place. It was only something they saw happen.
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And as we transition, this sign is significant. It's different because all who partook, all who were there partook in the sign.
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So all who saw Jesus give thanks over the sack lunch and distribute it, and just they partook in it.
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They consumed the blessing, right? And I would say that's the same thing is true about the death, burial, and resurrection.
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And we'll get into that. Jesus did a sign, blessed it.
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Those who saw him bless it, saw it multiply, partook in it.
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Section number three, the purpose of, no, excuse me, the response to the sign.
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This is taken in verses 14 through 15. We read this earlier.
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Therefore, when the people saw the sign, right, they saw it.
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It was visual. They saw him do this, which he had done.
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They were saying, this is truly the prophet who is to come into the world.
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So Jesus, knowing that they were going to come and take him by force, to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone.
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Jesus, in his omniscience, not only anticipates what's about to happen, right?
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He's not just thinking it's going to happen. He knows what's about to happen.
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He knows that if he does not hide himself, they're going to come and take him by force and crown him king.
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If the crowd was to take him by force and make him king, listen church, if the crowd was to come and take him by force and make him king, that would mean
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Jesus was a king of an earthly kingdom. And Jesus did not come to be the king of an earthly kingdom.
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He came to be the king of the heavenly kingdom people, not an earthly kingdom.
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He didn't come to sit physically on the throne that they provide for him.
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He sits at the right hand of the father, ruling and reigning, putting all of his enemies under his feet.
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Not the king of the old covenant, but the king of the new covenant. Not one king among many kings, but king of kings.
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To be king of kings means your kingdom has to transcend earthly kingdoms.
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Meaning, there has to be a kingdom outside the earth. And that kingdom has to have always been and is interrupting time and space.
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You'll hear some people talk about this is what's called kingdom intrusion. Jesus is forcing the heavenly kingdom on earthly people.
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He did not come to sit on your earthly throne that you provide for him.
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In time, he came and it was inaugurated at the first coming of Jesus. And in the future, it will be consummated at the second coming of Jesus.
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This is marital language. When a man would patrol his wife, we would see this like an engagement when the person would be engaged.
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At this time, the engagement was called a patrol. And guess what? They were married. They were married.
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If we now get engaged, we don't have to get a certificate of divorce to depart in the engagement.
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The patrol, the engagement in Scripture is the patrol and it was marriage.
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When that happened, they were married. But the consummation, the wedding and what takes place after the wedding doesn't happen at the moment of the patrols.
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The husband would go to his father's house and he would add on to the father's house and he would collect wine.
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The family would collect wine. We walked through the story of the first miracle of turning the water into wine.
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We walked through this. The husband would go and he would build on to his father's house and his family would collect the wine.
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And once the house was finished, he would go to receive his wife unto himself and there would be a celebration for three to seven days.
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And then the consummation would take place. And ladies and gentlemen, when
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Jesus came, he interrupted time and he inaugurated a kingdom, a kingdom intrusion where he is king in heaven and on earth.
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But we can't see that with our eyes. We can't say, hey, look, there it is.
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Hey, let's enter into it until the second coming. When the marriage, when the kingdom is consummated.
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And that'll be at the second coming of Jesus. Which means if Jesus would have allowed them to crown him as an earthly king, he would have settled for something other than his rightful position.
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This miraculous sign caused the crowd to recognize Jesus as the prophet like Moses.
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They recognized it. They wanted to crown him king. Therefore, they wanted to crown him king so that they could listen to him.
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The people are to listen to the king. The problem wasn't they didn't recognize him.
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The problem was, is that they were thinking too small. Ladies and gentlemen, we're guilty of this.
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Right? I know I'm guilty of this. You're guilty of this. Anytime you or I, when we're thinking of the kingdom of God, when we're thinking of the new covenant, the kingdom of God, and our thoughts are earthly, we're thinking too small.
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We're being just like them. We're thinking too small. If you would turn with me to 1
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Corinthians, I'll show you how small we're thinking. Chapter 2.
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I'm going to read verses 1 through 10. 1
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Corinthians 2, verses 1 through 10. This is
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Paul speaking. And when I come to you, brothers, and when
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I came to you, brothers, I did not come with superiority of word or wisdom, proclaiming to you the witness of God.
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For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
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I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.
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And my word and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the
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Spirit and power, so that your faith would not be in the wisdom of man, but rather in the power of God.
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Yet, listen right here. So this is when he came to them speaking. Now listen to the tone.
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Yet we do speak wisdom. I did not come speaking wisdom. I came preaching the gospel.
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And now that you are gospel believers, listen to this. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature.
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Who is he speaking about? Christians. We speak to those who are mature.
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A wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are being abolished.
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They're being taken away. They're being put under the feet of Jesus. But we speak
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God's wisdom in a mystery. Listen, church, in a mystery.
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The wisdom which has been hidden, which God predestined before the ages, right?
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This kingdom had to have always been. There was an intrusion to our glory, which none of the rulers of this age has understood.
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For if they had understood it, they would have not crucified the
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Lord of glory. But just as it is written, things which the eye, notice the eye has not seen, and ear has not heard.
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Things which have not entered the hearts of men, all that God has prepared for those who love him.
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Verse 10. But to us, Christians, but to us,
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God revealed them. How did he reveal them? Through the
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Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
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John 3, 3 and 5. Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
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Unless a man is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
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It's not visual to the unbelievers. They cannot see it.
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You and I, not only do we see it, we partake in it.
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We are in this invisible kingdom where Jesus Christ is crowned and he sits at the right hand of the
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Father and he's putting all of his enemies under his feet. Jesus came down to do the will of the
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Father and it was the will of the Father for Jesus to be crucified.
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In his resurrection, God the Father shows us who is the one who transcends time, who transcends space, and who is the transcendent
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King of heaven and earth, who has always been. God promised
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David that the offspring of his fruit who was able to keep the law would sit on the throne forever.
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And I know we've read this before, but I think it's particularly a time for us to do so again, being what's coming next week.
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If you will turn to the book of Acts 2.
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Acts 2. Look at verse 22.
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Peter is speaking. Jews from all over have gathered for Pentecost, another feast that's taken place.
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The Holy Spirit has fallen. Different Jews from all over the known world who speak different languages hear these
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Galileans speaking, preaching the gospel in their native tongue.
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Peter stands up before them. He says, Man of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the
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Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which
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God did through him in your midst. Just as you yourselves know, this man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put him to death.
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But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death since it was impossible for him to be held in its power.
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Again, speaking of Hebrews 2, 5. Beginning in verse 5. Verse 25.
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For David says of him... Who's the him here? Jesus. I saw the
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Lord continually before me because he is at my right hand. So that I will not be shaken.
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Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue exalted. Moreover, my flesh also will live in hope because you will not forsake my soul to Hades, nor give your
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Holy One over to corruption. You have made him known... I mean, excuse me.
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You have made known to me the way of life and you will make me full of gladness with your presence.
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Verse 29. Man and brothers, I may confidently say to you in regards to the patriarch
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David that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day.
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Right here he's saying that David did not rise from the dead. And so because he was a prophet and knew that God has sworn to him with an oath to set one of the fruit of his bodies on the throne, he looked ahead and spoke about the resurrection of the
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Christ. That he was neither forsaken to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
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This Jesus God raised up again to which we all are witnesses.
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Ladies and gentlemen, this week all over the world, Christians are going to gather to celebrate the gospel.
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Not only that, but people who are not Christians are going to be meeting in churches as Christians celebrate the gospel.
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The death, the burial, and the resurrection. For some reason, and I believe that I know the reason, that this story that we've been looking at is mentioned with it.
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Because both of them, Jesus feeding the 5 ,000 with a sack lunch and the death, burial, and resurrection, it's a miraculous work such as can only be performed by God.
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And you cannot make him king, he is king. And you cannot make him
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Lord, he is Lord. What we are called to do is two things, and that is to repent and believe.
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We are called to repent, to turn from trusting in ourselves and to trust in Jesus Christ.
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We're called to believe, and that believing is putting our faith and trusting him.
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So repent, we stop trusting ourselves, and believing, we trust in Jesus Christ.
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And here's how the two, I believe, correlate. Because only Christians have both the visual and the partaking.
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This sign that we're reading about has to do with someone who is able to see and they partake in the sign.
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When only Christians truly see and partake in the sign.
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Those who are born again see the kingdom of God, and only those who have entered that kingdom by faith are recipients of that blessing and partake in baptism and the
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Lord's Supper. Our text is pointing to something that we are a part of.
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It's a shadow of something that we're living in every day, and that when we gather together on the
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Lord's Day, there's a bird in the building, when we gather together on the
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Lord's Day, we are partaking in a greater feast that this is pointing us to.
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And that is the body and blood of Jesus Christ. If you're not a Christian, ladies and gentlemen, all you're doing is you're there, you're seeing it, but you're not partaking in it.
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You're seeing a miracle take place every Lord's Day. You're seeing those who are filthy sinners, but saints at the same time.
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We're both sinner and we're both saints. So if you're not a
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Christian, I beg you in Jesus' name to repent and to believe the gospel and be one who not only partakes in seeing, but partakes in the blessing.
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I'm available to anyone who wants to talk. So is the leadership.
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Let's pray. Father, Lord, we come to you in Jesus' name.
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We thank you for all that you are doing in this church. And Lord, we pray that you will use us in this area to further your name.
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And also, Lord, we pray that if you're doing something, a lot of times you're doing something and we're not aware of.
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Lord, please open our eyes. Help us to not see what it is that we are a part of so that we can give you glory in the midst of it.
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And now, Lord, we pray over the supper. Lord, we pray that you will use it this day to conform us to the image of Christ.