In the sermon 'Feeding Of The Five Thousand' by Scott Brown, the primary focus is on the miracle of Jesus feeding a multitude with five barley loaves and two fish, as recounted in John 6:1-15. This miracle is seen as a demonstration of Jesus' divine glory and is recorded in all four Gospels, underscoring its significance. The speaker emphasizes that the miracle is not just about providing physical nourishment but is a profound symbol of spiritual sustenance offered by Jesus. The sermon explores the distinction between true and false disciples, noting that true disciples seek Jesus himself, while false disciples are drawn by earthly benefits. The speaker highlights that the Gospel of John is unique in its portrayal of Jesus' glory, focusing on the deep spiritual implications rather than just the historical events. The sermon concludes with a call to seek Jesus for who he is, rather than merely for the benefits he provides, urging listeners to find true nourishment in Christ's spiritual provision.

The sermon text is from John 6 verses 1 through 15. After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs, which He performed on those who were diseased. And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.

Then Jesus lifted up his eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward him, he said to Philip, Where shall we buy bread that these may eat? But this he said to test him, for he himself knew that he would do what he would do. Philip answered him, two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little." One of his disciples, Andrew Simon Peter's brother, said to him, "'There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, But what are they among so many?' Then Jesus said, Make the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down, and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.

So when they were filled, he said to his disciples, gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost. Therefore they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, This is truly the prophet who has come into the world. Therefore, when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him King, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone. Let's pray.

O Heavenly Father, even as we just sang and my brother prayed that you would give us ears to hear. Lord, we spend so much of our energy seeking food from this world, seeking physical food. O Lord, now turn our hearts and tune our ears so that we may receive food for our souls, food that would last us even unto eternity. Lord speak to us, help us, for we are needy. We need the manna from heaven, so feed us now our Lord.

In Jesus' name, amen. As we find ourselves in John chapter 6, We're entering into one of the best-known scenes in all of the Gospels. Ten to maybe 25, 000 people are fed and this miracle is recorded in all of the four Gospels, and so it's covered quite comprehensively. John speaks of very particular things that the other Gospel writers don't mention and vice versa. And all of this is the beholding of the glory of Jesus Christ and you know earlier in John we read we beheld his glory glory as if the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth And so everything that John writes is a beholding of the glory of Jesus Christ.

And remember, John was an eyewitness. John was there. He beheld his glory. And we have had the privilege to see these multifaceted manifestations of the glory of Jesus Christ. And so this is what John 6 really displays.

Now, I want to make some comments about the context and about what really is the interpretive key to this passage of Scripture. And First of all, I think we need to recognize that we're seeing the works of God. We're seeing the works of the Spirit of God. And in John chapter 3, verse 34, John says that he whom God sent speaks the words of God, and he gives him his spirit without measure. We're seeing a measureless manifestation of the love and the truth of God as we go through the gospel of John.

Now there was no there was no miracle that was that involved so many people second to maybe the feeding of the 4, 000, or however many people who were actually there. No other miracle was recorded in all four of the Gospels. John's Gospel is different. Now, you recall we've spoken briefly about the structure and the nature of the gospels. You have the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

These gospels focus on the historical matters of Jesus Christ. They really have a tremendous focus on Jesus' Galilean ministry. John is very different. John is speaking about the glory of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Everything that he says is to draw you to the glory of Jesus Christ.

And so these gospels are very different. And you have to, in order to understand the message of the gospel writers, you have to look at what their intent is, because the different gospel writers have different intents and you can see it in the structure of those Gospels but with the Gospel of John he's displaying the glory of Jesus Christ. Remember what is said at the end of the Gospel of John in chapter 20 where John says there were many other signs that Jesus Did that aren't recorded in this book later on? He says if everything he did was recorded in books you the world couldn't even contain the books but he says these things were written, these signs were given, these miracles were performed by Jesus Christ that you might believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that you might have life in his name. That's the purpose of all the miracles.

The miracles aren't really designed to say, you know, Jesus provides bread, or Jesus, you know, Jesus will give you a drink. They're far deeper, they're far more profound than that. And we also recognize that this is the third miracle in the Gospel of John. We have recognized before that there are only nine miracles listed in the Gospel of John. Now, if you go to Matthew or Mark or Luke, it's a miracle a second, you know, figuratively.

But not so in John, and there are only nine. The first miracle, of course, was performed at a wedding when Jesus Christ turned the water into wine. The second miracle was a miracle performed over a distance of a nobleman's son who was going to die. Then there's the third miracle, the man at the pool of Bethesda. And then now we come to the feeding of the 5, 000, or the 10, 000, or the 15, 000, or the 25, 000.

You pick the number, but it was the feeding of many thousands of people. Now, it's very important that we grasp the context of this passage of Scripture. You've noticed already that it's a very long chapter, and I don't want us to consider these first 15 verses without understanding what John is doing and what John is saying and what Jesus is trying to communicate through this miracle. It's one section. You see that at the very first verse, after these things.

And then this section continues all the way to verse 71. Now, we encounter the same language in chapter 5. After these things, 5-1. And then if you go to chapter 7, you find the same language. After these things.

So in chapter 5, in chapter 6, in chapter 7, it's after these things. I want us to understand the flow of the gospel, but this is one unit in chapter six and we have to think about it in terms of one unit. Now whenever you're reading the Bible it's always very important not just to dial in on your favorite verse or your favorite section or to get lost maybe in the details of a particular scene. Those things are important and there's much that we can gather by doing such a thing But it's very critical in terms of understanding the Bible, because this is what our desire is, is to understand what the main message of the passage is. And I really want us to do this at the beginning of John chapter 6 so that we don't find ourselves too captivated with this detail or that detail, this nuance or that nuance, because there's a greater message that is being communicated here, and it's so easy to get lost in the nuances particularly when you're in a narrative as astonishing as this with so many remarkable things happening to lose the real message.

Now I want to propose that the heart and the soul of this chapter is what it looks like to be a false disciple. And there are many who profess but are not true disciples. Jesus said it like this, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, done many wonders in your name, and then He'll say to him, I never knew you, Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness." So there are many who will be part of the crowd of Christianity, but they won't actually be true disciples. Now the word disciple appears in this passage in several places, but you'll recognize that the use of disciple in this passage has a dual meaning because some of the disciples are true disciples and some of them are proven not to be true disciples And they are part of this crowd that is gathering around the Lord Jesus Christ. It's always important that we recognize who we are in a crowd.

We might have attached ourselves to the crowd of Christianity for different reasons, And that's what we find here in this passage. It's really a prototype of how often crowds of people gather together in the name of Jesus Christ. And some of them are looking for something that will never satisfy. Some are looking for some earthly benefit that God is not really providing. And there are others who want Him.

It's not the earthly benefit that they look for. They want Him. They want Him alone. They want to pray to him. They want to read about him.

They want to hide his word in their hearts. They want to sing with his people. They want to serve him. And so this is presented here in this passage of Scripture. Now in verses 1 through 15 it's very clear that there are these great multitudes, crowds, flowing around the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thousands are following Him. We know that crowds attract crowds, don't they? And people will fall into a crowd when there's something remarkable taking place. If you see a large crowd, you think something remarkable is taking place. You think something good is taking place, and you want to be a part of it.

And you have to be very careful when you're following your crowd for that reason. What we find about this crowd is that they were drawn by earthly benefits. Their main concern was their bellies and their bodies and their connections and the amazing things that were happening and perhaps some benefit they could get by being healed or by being fed the most amazing food they'd ever eaten for free and it was distributed to everybody that was there. They want to see an exciting spectacle. That's another manifestation of a false disciple.

Another manifestation is that they tell God what to do, and that's what they do with Jesus Christ here. They start telling Jesus what to do. These are marks of false disciples. They follow a crowd. They are looking for help for their bellies and their relationships and whatever will shine their life up, and they end up telling God what to do.

And this has direct application for our churches, you know, I believe. You know, there are many things that you can do to lure people into your church. And if you want to lure them in with diet classes or exercise or sports, you'll end up with a crowd of unbelievers gathering around those kinds of things that you're offering. Now, all this to take us to what I am going to propose is the interpretive key to this passage of scripture. You'll need to jump forward to verse 26.

So please look at verse 26, and you'll see exactly what's happening here. It's very important that we don't get too obsessed with this bread that Jesus gives the 5, 000, because there is something greater here that Jesus Christ is intending to communicate. So Jesus answered them and said, Most assuredly I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. So Jesus is exposing their true spiritual condition. They were there because of food.

This is a mark of a false disciple. A false disciple wants some physical benefit, and that's what he's primarily looking for. Verse 27, and then Jesus instructs them, do not labor for the food which perishes. They came a long distance to be with Jesus. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal on him.

And Then verse 28, then they said to him, what shall we do that we may work the works of God? They wanted to work the works of God. I believe what he's saying, what is being revealed here, is that they wanted to make bread too, just like Simon, Simon the sorcerer. He wanted power too. It's this desire for power.

It's this desire to do amazing things like Jesus did. And Jesus answered to them and said, this is the work of God that you believe in Him who He has sent. In other words, His kingdom is not about your belly and about satisfying your desires. It's far deeper. While God in his loving kindness and his mercy, the goodnesses of his kingdom, he does satisfy our desires.

But what he is saying is that these people are seeking for some physical, temporal, earthly benefit from Jesus Christ. And then in verse 30, they said to him, what sign will you perform then that we may see it and believe you what work will you do here they're commanding Jesus Our fathers ate manna in the desert as it is written, and He gave them bread from heaven to eat. In other words, Jesus, who are you anyway? Moses gave bread for forty years, you just did this one time. Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Now, as a result of this, we find out later on that all these people abandon him, they leave him, so much so that when you get to near the end of chapter six, the Lord Jesus looks at his own disciples because everyone is left because they're realizing that he's offering himself not bread, not political power, not earthly gain. He's not offering them that. He's not offering them a prosperity gospel. And so they depart from him and this remarkable moment where Jesus says, are you going to leave also?

And his true disciples say, where else would we go? And they were saying, we want you. We want you. And so I believe this is the interpretive key to this passage of Scripture. And the message of this miracle isn't, Jesus is going to provide your needs.

It's not Jesus will give you bread. And the message isn't, see what happens when a little boy shares his lunch. Go share your lunch. Go give to the food bank. That's not what the message of this passage of Scripture is.

The message is to have him is to have food from heaven. It's him. It's not the food. It's not the miracle. It's him.

He's promoting himself. He's declaring his glory. The food is just a way to say how profoundly nourishing he is, not how profoundly you need food. He's already promised He'll give you food. He promised that in Matthew chapter 5.

He said, don't worry about food. Don't worry about clothing. Your Father will give these things to you. And he says, I'm going to give you myself. That's what you need.

You know, it's very much like Psalm 27 where David, He says, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? And then he said, one thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek, that I may behold the beauty of the Lord and do inquire in his temple. That's what Jesus is teaching. He's teaching that he is enough.

So it's important that we don't get too wrapped up around the miracle, because the miracle actually is designed to say something far, far greater. And also, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ is revealing his glory as the Son of God. We also should notice that the first I Am statement appears here. The I Am statements in John are designed to explain the glory of Jesus Christ. I am the bread of life.

I am the light of the world. I am living water. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the door. Jesus Christ seven times declares himself with this terminology, I am.

It's the tetragrammaton. It's ego in me. I am. It's perhaps one of the most pivotal statements in all of the Bible. And the Lord Jesus Christ is proclaiming himself the fulfillment of Exodus chapter 3 when the Lord said to Moses, I am that I am.

Jesus Christ in this miracle is claiming that he is God and he has control over everything and he is the only true source of nourishment. It's not the bread. And it's by the way and it's not the wine and it's not the healing that he has been performing in people's lives. And so He's already told them that he's living water and that if you're thirsty, come to him. And now he's saying that he is the living bread and if you're hungry, then go to him.

And He's saying, if you're hungry, don't look for delicious food if your soul is hungry. If you're thirsty, don't look to the things of this world. Look at me. And we're going to reenact this soon at the Lord's Supper this morning. And we'll read the words of the Lord Jesus, take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you.

It's a symbol to remind us of how nourishing He is. So I wanted to take some time to speak of the context and the interpretive grid before we walk through this text, because I realize There are so many details in this text to get lost in. There are remarkable things that happen, but we can't forget what's really happening here in this passage of scripture. So I'd like for us now to walk through this passage, and then I want to bring some applications and some principles to us. You'll see that I've divided this into six sections, and first of all you see the multitudes are following Jesus to the Sea of Galilee there in the first three verses.

And so after these things, Jesus went over to the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. Then a great multitude followed him because they saw his signs, which he performed on those who were diseased. And Jesus went up to the mountain, and there he sat by his disciples. Now, with these verses, we find a turning point in the public ministry of Jesus Christ. After these things, when is this?

If you read the other gospels, it's very clear that after these things is specifically the time right after the beheading of John the Baptist. And after John the Baptist was beheaded, the Lord Jesus Christ wanted to be alone with his disciples. And so he went off by himself with his disciples and with his disciples to this mountain. They went up to this lonely place, to this mountain and he wanted to be alone but he but he found himself being you know surrounded again by these multitudes and and so and then they were then the people were hungry you know Herod had his feast and now the Lord Jesus Christ is going to have his feast. It's possible that Jesus is avoiding Herod, But he cannot avoid the crowds or ever get away from them.

So the multitude is joining him on the mountain. And this is a turning point which seems to be marked by the execution of John the Baptist as he withdrew. It was interesting when we were at the Museum of the Bible on Saturday, at the very end of the day, we went in and we saw a profile of the beheading of John the Baptist. It was a dramatic representation of that of Herod, who took off his head, and Salome, who was dancing there. We went from there, and then we went into this, you know, Judean village, probably Jerusalem.

And in one of the rooms, there was a large relief of the Sea of Galilee. It was perhaps as wide as this building here. And it showed the Sea of Galilee and the various places that Jesus ministered to. It was interesting that we went from the beheading of John the Baptist to the Sea of Galilee. And that's exactly what we're doing this morning here in this passage.

And it was the spectacles that drew them, specifically the healings and the provisions that Jesus was performing. And so he is now in Galilee, he's departed Jerusalem. Now this is at the very end of Jesus Christ's Galilean ministry. He's been involved in his ministry in Galilee for over a year. This is documented in the Synoptic Gospels.

John doesn't say very much about Jesus' Galilean ministry. And so now he's on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. This flow of humanity is coming. He's near the Golan Heights. He's actually near the place where the Six-Day War took place in 1967.

But he's retired to this mountain and we also, there's a time marker here, the Feast of the Passover. Do you see that in verse 4? Now the Feast of the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near and then Jesus lifts up his eyes and he sees these multitudes coming. Perhaps they were traveling along the roads. There were many people either headed or already in Jerusalem, and they came out here to the Sea of Galilee.

And this crowd, they wanted something. They wanted to get their Medes net, and they wanted to get their needs met now. And they're looking for a better life for themselves, and so they're flocking to Him. In Matthew 14, He tells us that He was there all day. In Luke chapter 9 verse 11, Jesus tells us that he was speaking of salvation this is what was going on in Mark chapter 6 verse 34 mark tells us that he was moved with compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd by the way it says he was moved with compassion because they were hungry they were he was moved with compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

By the way, it says he was moved with compassion because they were hungry. He was moved with compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He had promised to supply their needs. But he had compassion for them. I don't doubt that he had some compassion for them because they were hungry.

That would be very strange. But his primary compassion was over the fact that they were lost, that they didn't have a shepherd, they didn't have a guidance system, they didn't have someone with them to take them where they needed to go, they didn't have a shepherd staff, they didn't have a lamp in front of their feet, they didn't have him, they didn't have his counsels, They didn't have one to whom they could say, where else could we go but to you? They didn't have anyone to whom they could say, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?" They didn't have him.

They didn't have him. They wanted things, and that's the issue. And then after this scene is presented, Then Jesus has a conversation with Philip. Do you see that in verse five? Jesus lifted up his eyes, he sees the multitude coming, and he turns to Philip, and he says, and he said to Philip, where shall we buy bread that these may eat?

But he said that this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do." Jesus was testing Philip in a moment of need and of need. How about that? Has that ever happened to you? You've entered into a time of need or privation or fear or difficulty. And what was really happening?

Jesus was teaching you. He wanted you to grow. He wanted you to trust him more. So he took something from you. Maybe he took the desire of your heart from you because he wanted you to trust him.

Because he wanted you to rely on him and not this world. Maybe you endured a tremendous loss or a grave disappointment. Why? Why did that happen? Well, I think what was happening to Philip is often what happens to us.

There are trials and tribulations that come, which James speaks of, they're the testings of your faith, that you might be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. And God does that to his people. He did it to Philip. John reports this, that Jesus knew. Jesus knew what he was going to do and say.

And Philip answered him, 200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little. So the disciples have different personalities. They're different kinds of people among the apostolic band, and they're different kinds of people in the church. Some people have various quirks, strengths, weaknesses, and things like that. And Philip, you know, Philip is, someone once called Philip a statistical pessimist.

He was a business analyst. He wasn't going to do anything unless he could somehow make it work with the cash flow and the balance sheets and everything like that. Now, of course, his concern was legitimate. You know, there were thousands of people here. And he says that it would take, you know, 200 denarii, which was equivalent to 200 days of working.

That's a lot of cash. You do the calculation for your own. It's either 20, 40, 60, 80, it might be $100, 000 for you. 200 days wages. And with holidays and all, it's about a year's wages around here.

But the scale of the need was so significant. And Philip wanted to make sure that Jesus understood that we don't have enough money to do this. And so the Lord is testing him here in this situation. And then there's the conversation, It shifts to Andrew in verses 8 and 9. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, there is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, But what are they among so many?

Now, this is a very interesting thing to include. Was Andrew joking? Was this irony? You know, I think he must have been joking. Absurdity is one of the primary tools for humor.

Oh, well here's a little boy, he has these five loaves. Ha ha ha ha. It could have been like that. I think that's what it was like. We weren't there.

But he has these barley loaves. Literally, they're like crackers. They aren't really loaves, necessarily. But it was the food of the poor. You know, when you don't have any money, you eat differently than everyone else, and this boy ate that way.

You know, We, you know, our interns often, we find that they have boxes of top ramen that they're eating, you know, because they're skimping, you know, they're trying to get by. And so you have this one poor kid's lunch. And Andrew is exposing the problem. I heard that Vance Habner said, we don't need a budget, we need a boy. We don't need a budget, we need a boy.

Now then Jesus feeds the multitude And we see this in verses 10 and 11. Then Jesus said, make the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place, So the men sat down in number about 5, 000. Now it says the men sat down and this is the terminology that's used here is specifically the word for men, males. And remember you know these families were going to the feasts, There were families that were gathered here.

And that's why people say there were somewhere between 10, 000 and 25, 000 people who were being fed. And Jesus asks his disciples to do something that they couldn't do. And this is often the case. The Lord Jesus Christ asks individual disciples and even His church to do things that they cannot do. They don't have the resources for them.

They don't have the capacity for them. But they are things that Jesus Christ intends to do and he's looking for people who have faith to do those things. And you know, when the Lord Jesus Christ does this, we turn to him and we realize that we're hopeless to fulfill the need. And someone in Bible study said that we turn to Him who can do what we can't do. I think that's what you see here.

And that God never gives us more than he can handle. And so the message here isn't Jesus is generous. The message here isn't donate your food like that little boy donated food, so something big can really happen. This isn't the message of social justice. Jesus was not a social justice warrior in this passage of Scripture.

He's presenting himself as the focus of the needs of the people. Now, it says that they broke the bread. In Luke 9 16, it's the same word used in the Lord's Supper. He broke bread. This is also symbolic of the Lord's Supper, where we take the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

When it says, He gave thanks, this is the same as the Lord's Supper in Luke chapter 9 and of course in verse 11 you see this thing. He broke the bread and gave thanks and distributed it. By the way, in 1 Corinthians 11, that's the exact same sequence of the words of institution for the Lord's Supper. That this same sequence is there. And then in this next scene here, the people were filled, and the leftovers were gathered up in verses 12 and 13.

So when they were filled, so they had a lot to eat, they didn't just get their hunger satisfied, they were filled. You know what I'm talking about. You live in America, there's always more food than you need to survive on. Go to a restaurant. You know, I've ended up concluding, you know, when I go to a restaurant, my body's really only worthy about half the food on that plate that they serve me.

But they were filled. And so Jesus said to his disciples, gather up the fragments that remained. There were fragments that remained, and there was leftover. And they filled up 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who'd eaten. There was just enough left over for the 12 disciples.

It's possible that this is figurative of there's enough bread for all the 12 tribes of Israel. The text doesn't say that, but why is that here? 12 actually does mean something in Scripture. And then there's the response here in verse 14, then those men when they had seen the sign that Jesus did said, so 5, 000 men rise up and they say this is truly the prophet who has come into the world and so they recognize him as a prophet they like what he's doing and They're not paying attention to what he's saying but they like what he does and they recognize him as a prophet perhaps they're thinking of Moses in Deuteronomy 18 where Moses says that there's a prophet like me coming. They were looking for that prophet.

And then verse 15, Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he departed again to the mountain by himself alone." So they wanted to make him king. That was what was happening here. They wanted the earthly success that Jesus Christ could bring. Think about it for a minute. If you want to overthrow the Romans, what do you need the most?

You need your men healed and you need your armies well fed. That's what you need. And when you're struck in battle, if there's somebody to put their his hand on them and heal them or heal the army, heal the whole army from a distance, just like the nobleman's son. Or to turn water into wine or do anything. If you wanted to overthrow the Romans as Jews, what would you want?

You would definitely want someone who rules the wind and the waves and controls nature, who can make bread and can heal the lame. That's what you want. And that's what they wanted. They wanted power. They wanted prosperity.

They wanted health and wealth. You know, they wanted what everyone wants from the government, food and power. And they weren't seeking the favor of God or the fellowship of God. They were seeking food and power. They wanted something for themselves, a freedom, of independence, of safety, of success, or whatever it might be.

And Jesus was offering something different, which is why in Isaiah 55, Jesus says, come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. You have no money, come, buy, and eat of him. So that's how the narrative works out. Now, I'd like to back up and just spend some time applying some of these things here. And the first thing that I want to mention, and I know this may be an obvious matter but I want to lean on it for a few minutes.

This was written by an eyewitness and his name is John And one of the reasons that we believe that the Bible is the Word of God is because it was written by eyewitnesses. And John lived in the area, walked with Jesus, and he saw these miracles firsthand. And he was an eyewitness. But John was also a young eyewitness as well. It's possible that he was the youngest of the disciples.

We don't know exactly how old he was when he was started to follow Jesus, perhaps in his late teens or his early 20s. But John was one of those young men who saw Jesus when he was young and he never forgot what he saw. Has that happened to you? You were young and Jesus Christ revealed himself to you. And you've never forgotten it.

You go back to those days when you first saw Jesus Christ. But John was an eyewitness. And now he's writing when he's about 80 years old. Remember John is the last gospel writer to write, which is probably why he leaves out a lot of the details of the history that the Synoptic writers include. But he's now 80 years old and he's writing about the glory of Jesus Christ and he's in his 80s and he's recounting what he saw when he was in his teens and in his 20s and he's looking back at that amazing time in his life when he was with Jesus.

And, you know, John is one of the many young people in the Bible whose hearts were turned to him in their youth and they followed Jesus. There's nothing more precious to happen to a person than that. It's a huge blessing to the person and it's a huge blessing to the church when young people's hearts turn to the Lord and are inclined toward the Lord. Now, if you've read accounts of revivals in history, I'm pretty sure every account of a revival I've read about, there was a massive revival of youth during that time. There may be some exceptions, maybe you can come and instruct me.

But I haven't encountered one where there wasn't a tremendous outpouring of the Holy Spirit on people just like John in their youth. When there is a revival among the youth in a church, it's such a marvelous thing. I was in another church last week and I talked to a young man who had just been saved he was 18 years old and he he reminded me of so many young people I've seen in their teens where their hearts are beginning to burn and they want to be faithful they want to walk with God they don't want this world anymore they're struggling They're getting pulled and pushed and things like that. But they really, they want Jesus more than anything else. And I think We have some of the markings of that in our church now.

I encounter young people in our church, and it's very clear they want the Lord Jesus. It's such a sweet thing. But I pray that God would just pour out a spirit of revival among youth, just like He did with John. So when you're 80 years old and you're writing you have tears dripping on the page recounting those days those sweet days when Jesus Christ revealed himself to you And you loved him and you realized you wanted to follow him and you realized you didn't want the world anymore and it's even sweeter when you see this and then and Then and then couples form and marriages are actually formed for the glory of God. I've seen that.

That's happened in this church as well. There are marriages here right now that happened as a result of that. Even a kind of an awakening that took place about 10 years ago, there are marriages in this room from that. So this was written by an eyewitness, John, who was a young man. Now I also want to just mention the historical accuracy that we see in the Bible, because you see it in this passage and other places.

The Bible describes the geography and the political scenes as they were. And the Bible isn't just another book. And there are many...this is one of the rational reasons to believe the Bible, because the Bible isn't like mythology. It's not like a lot of other writings where they get an enormous amount of geographical and political information wrong. But the Bible actually gets it right.

And there are, you know, there are many sound evidences for the Word of God. And many of us just recently listened to a message by Stephen Lawson about why we should believe the Bible. He gives nine reasons for why we should believe the Bible. The first was the direct claims of the Bible. The Bible in thousands of places claims to be God's Word.

It claims to be that. It's either a complete bunch of junk lies, or it is the Word of God. Those are the only two alternatives the Bible leaves you with. There's an extraordinary unity of the Bible, written over thousands of years and hundreds of people. And then there's thirdly, the reliable transmission of the Bible, and fourthly, the historical accuracy of the Bible, fifthly, the scientific accuracy of the Bible, sixth, the fulfilled prophecy in the Bible, Seventh, the Lord Jesus testimony of the Bible.

Number eight, the ethical superiority of the Bible. Number nine, the transforming power of the Bible. Now, I think embedded in this story is this backdrop of the authority and the clarity and the accuracy of the Word of God. He's describing the actual political leaders and the real places that Jesus Christ walked and the actual names of people who were there, who actually wrote about it, one man when he was over 80 years old. So I think this just forms another pillar, you know, in the case for the Bible.

You know, many people believe that the Bible was written, you know, through verbal transmission, and, you know, that it was a little bit like the telephone game, where you whisper something into one person's ear and then another person's ear and another person's ear, that's not how the Bible was written. The Bible actually was written down and it was spoken to multitudes of people. That's different than the telephone game. So the biblical writers didn't write on hearsay. They were eye witnesses.

Now also, they were eye witnesses of miracles, the works of Jesus Christ. And that's why in John chapter 10, we'll get there in a few months, where John says, If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me. But if I do, though you do not believe me, believe the works that you may know and believe the Father is in me and I in him." Believe the works. These miracles really, they've not really been contradicted in history. You can't find historical records of these miracles being false.

There were just too many people involved. There were thousands, in this one occasion, 10 to 25, 000 people saw this. People weren't running around saying Jesus is a fake healer. They weren't saying that at all. They were saying Jesus is a healer, and they came, and they actually got healed.

They were real healings. They weren't plants in the audience with fake healings. And so, you know, there's this statement that Bodhi Bakkam is famous for saying, the Bible is a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They report supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claim that their writings are divine not from human origin. So I think that in this in this narrative is is part of part of the case For why we believe the Bible is the Word of God They were eyewitnesses that were testified by history and various other historical matters You know there are there have been thousands over over 20, 000 archeological digs just related to the Bible None of them really contradict the Bible.

And the world will shame you if you say the Bible is the word of God. And they'll say, how gullible can you be? Do you really believe that Jesus fed 20, 000 people? Do you really believe that? Well, if there's a good reason to believe that God exists, and if there's a good reason to believe that God exists, and if there's a good reason to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, then if the miracles really happened, then it really matters.

It really matters if they happened. And if the resurrection really happened, it matters. If the Bible claims to be true, it matters. If Jesus turns water into wine, it matters. If he heals a nobleman's son, it matters.

And if he feeds thousands of people, it matters. And you have to decide about that. You see, the Word of God always drives people to a crossroads to make a decision, to say, okay, what do I believe? Do I believe that Jesus is who He said He was? So That's one sort of swath that I think exists underneath this narrative.

Now there's another matter that really speaks to some things we've already alluded to in this message, but what does the feeding of the 5, 000 really mean? And don't forget the interpretive key, and it's in verse 26. Jesus answered and said, Most assuredly I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. The reason the crowds were following Jesus is that they wanted to be successful. They wanted really good bread, and they wanted it every day, and they wanted somebody to give it to them.

That's what they wanted. And There are many people that end up in churches and that's what they want, some social benefit. They want to get their hurts healed. They want to have relationships. They might want to become famous.

They might want to become a really good communicator. They might want to become known for being theologically astute. And that's sort of their identity. Or they might want to just be known as like a really loving, kind person. But they're not wanting what Jesus is actually providing and calling them to.

They're calling Him, they're calling us to Him, Jesus is calling us to Himself. And so the whole point of this narrative is that Jesus himself is bread from heaven. He is the fulfillment of the feeding of the 5, 000 and the manna in the wilderness. Now look at verse 47 and you'll see what I mean. Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life.

I am the bread of life. Forget about the bread. Forget about those loaves. Forget about those fish. Forget about that.

That's not what I'm giving you. I promise those to you. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

If anyone eats of this bread, He will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. The bread is His flesh. The bread is himself. It's not the benefit.

It's him that we need. And so what happens to us in this life, we're so dialed in on benefits and all these other things that when we hit difficult times and benefits are taken away from us, we're completely discombobulated and we might be like the disciples and say this religion is ridiculous because you didn't want him. It wasn't him that was satisfying to you. It was the social value. It was the psychological help.

It was other things. It was the esteem that you got in the community. Maybe it was the business. There are a lot of churches you can go to. If you go to and pass around your card and you're in the service business, you're gonna do really well, really well.

I've known men who've done that for that purpose. And the question is, why are we here? Why am I here? Why am I preaching? Why are you sitting in this auditorium today?

Is it because you want Him? Or is it some social, economic, or medical, or psychological, or social benefit? Why? Why do you have family worship? Is it because you want Him?

That's the whole point of this. So in chapter 6, you see what is really a prototype of a very consistent pattern of the miracles. They are eyewitnesses. And there's the miracle, and then there's the explanation of the miracle. Now if you just stop in verse 15, you don't get the explanation of this miracle.

And that's why we couldn't stop in verse 15. We have to understand what is going on here. We're going to be several weeks in John chapter 6, but I wanted us to understand the whole context of this passage of scripture. And so God has called us together to know Him, to seek Him with all of our hearts. And to be people like David who said, when you said, seek my face, My heart said, your face, Lord, I will seek." And so this chapter ought to serve as sort of a test for us.

Is it just the benefits? Is it just the social standing that we might want? Or is it him that we're looking for? Remember Job? Job was the richest man in the East.

He was one of the wisest men of his time. He had a great family. He had a bunch of children and his children were doing really, really well. They loved each other, they cared for one another. Job was, Job cared about the souls of his children and he would go before the Lord early in the morning, every day to pray for his children.

And then Satan shows up and says, you know, you know why Job loves you? Because you've given him so much. That's why. And so Satan said, I'll, how about if we take some of that away? See what he does.

Does he really love you? And God says, you're on. And he lost everything. Everything. And what did Job, what did Job say?

His response to his calamity was, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. He said, though he slay me, still will I serve him. Because Job really did love God. Job didn't love all of his camels and possessions and his international trade and his family and his councils, his esteem in the gates.

That wasn't what made him tick. He wanted God. And the devil was belittled. Because there really are people who love Jesus, not just the benefits. There really are people.

Now in this narrative, there are not very many, because almost all of them flee. But who are you? Who are you in this story? Are you the person in this story that says, Lord, where else would we go? Or are you the person who says, you've not done enough for me.

I want more. I want some esteem out of this. I want some success out of this. And everything you say and everything you do in this church is because of esteem or success. So I've been praying that the Lord would just help us to see who we are.

Jesus is declaring to those who only want the benefits that He is the food, He is the treasure, He is the supply that never runs out, He is the widow's oil that never runs dry, He is the living water that is an ever flowing spring, He is the vine that always keeps nourishing. He is the living bread. You know, it's a very sweet thing to know that you're a disciple because you love his glory, not because of what he does for you. And so this chapter is about what false disciples look like and what true disciples look like. Would you pray with me?

Lord, your word is remarkably deep and helpful, and it does reveal the thoughts and the intentions of our hearts. Lord, that you in our church, that You would bless us with hearts longing for You, pouring out Your Holy Spirit, a people beholding Your glory, old people, young people who desire Your glory. Lord, I pray that You would fulfill that, and I thank you for the many ways that we can see it. We can see it right here, Lord, and we praise you that you have done it here in many places. We pray that you would do it even more.

We're thankful, Lord, for the old people in this church who are still hungry for you, and for the young ones who have begun to be hungry. Lord, we praise you for that. Lord, give us this bread. Amen.