Come, Be Fully Filled with Jesus!

[0:00] please take your Bibles and go to John's Gospel. John chapter 6. Oh, thanks. John chapter 6 and that black Bible in the chair in front of you go towards the back and you'll find page 75.

[0:18] Page 75. Look for page 75 in that black Bible. Do you hear that? It's like mice.

[0:30] Or birds. John chapter 6 page 75 in that black Bible. John chapter 6 and we're gonna study the first 15 verses we'll embark on this journey which should take us to excuse me, as I mentioned earlier the end of June chapter 6.

[0:52] Oh, excuse me. There'll be one more week in chapter 6 and the first Sunday of July. It's just, it's a long chapter, one of the longest chapters in John. It's so momentous though.

[1:05] Probably one of my favorite chapters in John's Gospel is John 6. But today we'll do verses 1 through 15 passage you're very much familiar with, the feeding of the 5,000. John chapter 6 verses 1 through 15.

[1:20] After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee of Tiberias and a great crowd was following him because they saw the signs which he was doing upon those who were sick.

[1:33] And Jesus went up on the mountain and there he sat with his disciples. And the Passover, the feast of the Jews was near. Therefore Jesus, lifting up his eyes and seeing that a great crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, Where are we to buy bread that these may eat?

[1:51] And this he was saying to test him for he himself knew what he was intending to do. Philip answered him, Two hundred denarii bread is not enough for them for everyone to receive a little.

[2:02] One of his disciples, Andrew Simon, Peter's brother, said to him, There's a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are, these are so many.

[2:14] Jesus said, Have the people sit down. And there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down and numbered about five thousand. Therefore Jesus took the loaves and give you thanks.

[2:26] He distributed to those who were seated, likewise also of the fish, fish as much as they desired. Verse 12, And when they were fully satisfied, he said to the disciples, Gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost.

[2:43] And so they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who ate. Therefore when the people saw the sign which he had done, they said, This truly is the prophet who comes into the world.

[2:59] Therefore Jesus, knowing that they were intending to take him, making him king, withdrew again to the mountain himself alone.

[3:18] Isn't it interesting that when we get so full from a huge, massive, yummy meal, like a dinner or lunch, we end up being hungry again.

[3:35] Isn't that weird? I mean, then at the moment you're like, Oh, I can't eat another bite, right? Oh, I can be able to eat for a week.

[3:46] That's kind of the words, the verbiage that we use. It's just hyperbole, right? But at the moment it's hard to imagine. You just filled your belly, you're going to end up emptying it.

[3:57] It's going to empty itself and you're going to need, you're going to want more. A juicy hamburger at Colt Grill. Mmm. 30 individual rolls of sushi.

[4:12] Mmm. Mmm. Uh. Tamales from Vicente. Oh. Viva la Vicente.

[4:25] Steak and lobster. Mmm. Chocolate cake. Where's Susanna? Mmm. A huge burrito. A snack.

[4:36] Mommy, give me a snack. Cheesecake. Carolyn's favorite. Mmm. She's crying for you.

[4:50] So that's what we think about, that's what happens when you have this yummy meal and yet we have to get filled up again. Imagine though being full and never to eat again.

[5:04] Imagine being so filled that you're forever satisfied. that's the message of our passage and really you're going to see the message not from these 15 verses but really the driving force of this whole chapter in chapter 6.

[5:25] And today as we continue on in John's gospel come receive Jesus, come believe Jesus, know Jesus. here we'll see these 15 verses come be fully filled with Jesus.

[5:42] Come be fully filled with Jesus. Come be fully filled with Jesus who will satisfy all the needs that are according to God's plan and purposes not according to our selfish ends.

[6:04] And I'm going to present to you a contrast which you'll see unfold as well within the chapter between what we think we need and what God says we need.

[6:21] That's why I wrote down according to God's plan and purposes not according to our selfish ends because we think we have needs but maybe God doesn't think you need that.

[6:34] need. You ever thought about that? Come be fully filled with Jesus who will satisfy all the needs that are according to God's plan and purposes not according to your selfish ends.

[6:50] There's another way to say it. Come and Jesus will satisfy you meeting all the needs that God is determined to be your true needs not what you think. You may think these are your needs you may think God you need to do this and he doesn't do it because he doesn't think that's what you need he actually thinks you really need this you see you can't you can't see this unfold and really as I said from the whole chapter come Jesus will satisfy you meeting all the needs that God has determined to be your needs some other ways to say this we're going to unfold the passage before us because Jesus is the true bread from heaven the true Passover lamb and the magnanimous giver we will be totally satisfied and once we get this right the only right response is to humbly trust him love him worship him desire him this is who

[8:06] Jesus is and it shouldn't matter to us it shouldn't matter to us you see here Jesus showed his identity not just by his words but by his deed the sign of feeding thousands of people and in providing food he showed he is humanity's true food and God's kind magnanimous hospitality in his son the Lord Jesus God provides true food that satisfies the world he is the living display Jesus is the living display of God's magnanimous hospitality so lost in our hunger only Jesus can fully satisfy every desire only Jesus can satisfy every desire this is the only sign miracle that is in all four gospels so every gospel

[9:10] Matthew Mark Luke and John all four of them have this but this is the only gospel here in John that connects Moses and Passover to Jesus from the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus physical provision connects it to himself as God's provision for us you'll see that unfold so let's start with how the people are described and I describe the people like this they are scant people or lacking people needy people verse 1 and 2 after these things after chapter 5 which could be a short long period of time John didn't tell us after this he went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee of Tiberias and look at this a huge crowd follow him why because they were seeing the signs he was doing immediately this display the shallow superficial lacking nature of these followers it's an important point to remember once we come to the later verses of this chapter make a note of that they followed him not because he understood who he was but because he saw the signs he was doing well actually they understood who he was in a sense but they wanted to apply it to their own benefit you'll see that this needy people they didn't understand their true need which was

[11:03] Jesus they didn't understand that they were lacking in that scant people and this is the danger for us wanting or following Jesus in so far that he will give us what we want they followed Jesus but it was a shallow following they did not know what they truly lacked but now what unfolds for us is Jesus identity remember he's going to tell us who Jesus is and why it should matter to you Jesus knows he's the true bread look at verse three wait what how does that show he's the true bread he went up on a mountain he sat down he didn't say anything about him being the true bread why is why is described as

[12:04] Jesus the true bread ah this is important this is what John is doing for his readers this is what he's doing for us notice John intentionally mirrored the scene at Mount Sinai with Moses who provided manna for the nation of Israel he intentionally did this Moses on Mount Sinai Moses from the mountain and Jesus now up on the mountain and Jesus is going to provide he's intentionally doing this well it wasn't actually Moses who provided the manna it was actually the father who provided the manna you see that next is chapter 16 Yahweh will provide manna for you but the people thought it was Moses who did it that was their problem one of their problems at least so he's connecting already Jesus as the true bread or as the antitype of

[13:06] Moses notice also Jesus the true Passover Lamb look at verse 4 and the Passover the feast of the Jews was near why is he saying this what's Passover it involved eating a lamb and bread to celebrate what the exodus from Egypt that's why they did Passover they would eat the lamb but they would also eat bread to celebrate that God delivered his people back in the book of Exodus so Jesus is the true manna from heaven and the true Passover lamb John's already telling you this right off the bat he's intentionally making this connection for you he's giving you the historical backdrop to what he's going to unfold for us here the historical backdrop for Jesus sign on feeding thousands of people that's what he's doing you with me so he brings these two aspects to focus on

[14:18] Christ Jesus is the sacrificial lamb who died for us manna is a type of the real bread of life it's Jesus we are redeemed from the slavery of sin and destruction eternal life is given only to those who eat Jesus eat my flesh drink my blood you'll see that later on in the chapter now for the Jews for the people in Jesus day Passover was a specific feast to rally the people towards nationalistic zeal some people even in our own country use a specific holiday to rally towards nationalism not a bad thing but for the Jews it was a thing where it was a nationalist zeal that Messiah would come and deliver them from Rome's tyranny that's going to come up in a few verses later isn't it so here's here's these scant people and it shows

[15:32] Jesus the true bread Jesus the Passover lamb and then you get this little of the disciples which I described it like this skeptical disciples it has to start with S pastors do stuff like that right we have good preachers do that you're not a good preacher if you can do stuff like this everybody knows that right Mike skeptical disciples look at verse five therefore Jesus lifted up his eyes seeing the great crowd was coming to him this takes us back to chapter four verse thirty five when Jesus exhorted his disciples to lift up their eyes to see the harvest Jesus saw the needs of the people before him they truly needed him to satisfy them he said to Philip where do we buy bread for these men that these men eat we're going to get this bread so Jesus presented a challenging question to his disciples would they make the connection that he's the true man would they make the connection to his disciples that he's the

[16:37] Passover lamb no we're over their heads no no notice John tells us there's verse six and this he was saying to test him for he himself knew what he was intending to do Jesus was merely testing his disciples to see how much they trusted him and banked on him being their true satisfaction challenging his own disciples he knew the whole time what he was going to do knew the whole time verse seven philip answer 200 denarii of bread is not enough for them for everyone to receive a little 200 denarii is about six to eight months of a year's wage in that time to feed all these people and even at that they'd only get a little bit so as far as he was concerned there's no way it could be done oh how quickly we forget the gracious power of

[17:52] God oh how quickly you and I forget the gracious power of God Andrew spoke up speaking on his own he noticed might be found Simon Peter's brother lad here has five barley loaves two fish five loaves cheap bread with a couple fish enough food for animals like scraps what are these for so many he says by the way the fish are probably pickled fish maybe to be eaten as a side dish kind of dip the bread in so did you notice the responses from Philip and Andrew they were rebuking Jesus man our teacher's so generous but he's so naive here's this large hungry crowd who's left at Jesus feet to fully satisfy which he would heartily bountifully and miraculously because notice you see

[19:03] Jesus now who is the magnanimous giver the generous kind giver verse 10 Jesus said have the people sit down he graciously ignored their rebuke have the people sit down command the people sit down and you know this well from verse 10 there's much grass men sat down number about 5,000 so this excluded women and children you know this so you're talking 10,000 if everyone was married if they had at least two kids 20,000 what if they had four kids six kids you're talking 23 who knows it could be thousands of people there look at verse 11 therefore Jesus took the loaves giving thanks he distributed to those who were seated a meal was about to be consumed notice the verbs received it prayer of thanks distributed the food but notice what it says here what John does for us

[20:14] Jesus himself was the one distributing the bread you see that Matthew Mark and Luke do not have that Matthew Mark and Luke that Jesus gives it to the disciples he gives it to the people here John shows he's intentionally saying it was Jesus himself who did it and notice also of the fish as much as they desired John's point was to highlight who Jesus is and that they ate as much as they wanted this went from a tiny childlike lunch to a full blown lavish banquet that was completely satisfying fully fulfilling because Jesus is the magnanimous hospitable host who generously offers himself there's a deeper meaning to this that Jesus was hoping his disciples would understand that Jesus was wanting the people to understand as well

[21:23] I mean the manna in the wilderness it's like saltine crackers ew we're like saltine crackers when compared to this feast and so the magnanimous giver who gives life fully satisfies us to our true heart's content according to God's determined purposes and ends which is our which is according to our true needs that's what he does and notice again as much as they desired so he's just giving it here's Jesus he's the one distributing this food miraculously bringing more and more food miraculously creating more and more food from his very hands so then of course what happens the true bread the Passover true Passover lamb he's a magnanimous giver

[22:27] Jesus the total satisfier look at verse 12 and when they were filled fully filled fully satisfied that's what the word means because when Jesus the magnanimous hospitable host provides you come away with a full tummy and very happy when they were fully filled Jesus said to disciples gather up the leftovers that nothing may be lost why is this emphasized and you see verse 13 gather them up filled twelve baskets with fragments from the barley loaves who were left over by those who ate why is this emphasized to show Jesus fully supplies there is no want see there's a deeper meaning behind this that

[23:32] Jesus is trying to convey and John the evangelist is trying to convey that through the sign that Jesus did that Jesus is saying I fully supply there's no lack in me there's no want he provided a huge abundant rich lavish plentiful meal twelve baskets and underscores Jesus magnanimous provision and how he truly satisfied the crowd how he truly satisfied his people is to prove that God provides a bounty that is bountiful Jesus is truly all that we need the food pointing to a deeper meaning the bread the wine remember the wine from chapter two it points to a deeper meaning great Jesus is going to give us wine awesome let's drink to Jesus no that's not the point you missed it he's the one that satisfies you he's the one that brings you joy he's the one that brings satisfaction that's what's behind this here's

[24:43] Jesus the true bread true Passover lamb magnanimous giver skeptical disciples totally satisfying and then you see these people self seeking people look at what happens in verse 14 therefore when the people saw the sign which he did which he had done they said this truly is the prophet who comes into the world now this goes back to Deuteronomy 18 verse 15 Moses gave a prophetic prediction of the prophet who would come now at the time in the first century here not all interpreted that passage Deuteronomy 18 to mean Messiah but it prompted them most likely to remember

[25:50] Moses' role in the wilderness in the desert of providing manna so here you have whether it's about the prophet or they're connected with Moses really they were right about Jesus he was the prophet who was to come he was is the antitype to Moses Moses is the type of Christ so here's Moses who he was it points us to Jesus Jesus is what's called the antitype Moses is the type so Moses points us to Jesus who Jesus is going to be like it's true the prophet yeah is fulfilled in Jesus they're right but they applied his identity to their own as one writer put it quote God confused dreams and priorities end quote they applied it to their own God confused dreams to their own priorities self seeking people he'd fulfill their agendas now oh yeah not the father's agenda their focus was food and a forceful feat not on

[27:18] Jesus as the true God man not on his hour cross not on eating assimilating him into your life and not on the fulfillment of the father's plan for their true need which was Jesus they missed it and you see the action from verse 15 therefore Jesus knowing that they were intending to take him making him king for them Jesus was the warrior prophet king who would destroy the Romans giving Israel political dominance over the world that's what they wanted he saw that he knew that he withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone he rebuked this distortion of God's plan and withdrew back to the mountain himself alone maybe to pray

[28:34] John doesn't tell us I mean these last two verses give us a window as to the people's thinking and their poor wrong application of truth they saw Jesus signs and he fed them of fees for sure he was capable to be the powerful liberator for which Israel longed but that was not the father's will ah but they were more than willing to force the issue by making him king creating a rebellion and taking a stand against the rule of Rome with Jesus as their ruler this was their will for him this is what they thought was their true need not to mention the fact he's our warrior king he's gonna give us food all right he's gonna kill the Romans and we're gonna eat all the time what's better than that no but he would continue to do the will of father

[29:40] Jesus would not be driven or influenced by the will of humans no way he did not come to judge the world but to save the world by dying and rising from the dead this is the essence of the gospel this is our true need God's a just God we're sinners Jesus lived and died he rose we must repent and believe repent today and come to Christ if you don't know him you should respond to Jesus he'll satisfy you this is the essence of the gospel he came to save the world by dying and rising from the dead so we trust God to fulfill the needs that he has determined to be our needs not what we think he should fulfill this is humbling

[30:42] God's magnanimous hospitality fulfills his plan and is for our own satisfaction he doesn't give to us to fulfill our plans for our self-seeking satisfaction he gives what we truly need not what we think we need and sometimes those coincide many times they don't do they see God is not a pawn to fulfill our self-seeking God confused idolatrous dreams God knows our felt needs he knows that and adequately provides for us to show he knows all our needs and he'll provide you know it's even amazing that God would give us anything it's amazing that God would give anything to us given our self-seeking egotistical self-focused demands and dreams one writer he says this quote it is even more remarkable that the creator has been shunned every moment in human history since its inception and yet would come all the while receiving in the flesh the rebukes of their sinfulness end quote that's a great statement yes

[32:08] God loves the world God is a magnanimous giver of his love and grace because the greatest display of his generous hospitality is the person of Jesus it's him this king prophet he didn't come to be served instead he served food to thousands to show that the ultimate service is himself and he publicly declared himself to be the gift to humans by giving himself upon the cross that's the kind of king it's this king not the king of our own selfish ends not the king of our own dreams and desires no it's this king we should worship love and serve it's that one not this one and it's this kind of generous hospitality we should show to each other as a church we should be known as people who display the same kind of hospitality and love and grace to each other that's why

[33:32] Jesus says just as I have loved you that's how you should love each other within the body because Jesus is the true bread from heaven the true Passover lamb and the magnanimous giver we will be totally satisfied once we get this right the only right response is to humbly trust him because remember we come and Jesus will satisfy you meeting all the needs that God is determined to be your true needs not what you think you need and sometimes those coincide many times they don't what kind of things happen in your life where God I need you to do this he doesn't do it I need this to happen it doesn't happen I need this to take place it doesn't take place because he doesn't speak these words but when that does not happen he is basically saying no this is what you need you need me you need to trust me if I had a dime every time that happened to me

[34:49] I'd give every single one of you 100,000 bucks right now I know this is happening to you come be fully filled with Jesus who will satisfy all the needs that are according to God's plan and purposes not according to our selfish ends will you pray with me our father we take this time to pray not just because because it's the end of the sermon but we've heard from your word and we need your grace to help us trust in your grace we need your grace to help us remember we must be satisfied with you to be fully filled with you Jesus according to your plan for us according to your purposes not our selfish self-seeking ends like these people work in us as a church we pray and thank you Jesus thank you that when we fall short that's why you had to die there's so many times in our lives where we do not find our contentment in you and yet you're gracious to us and you forgive us so we come before you with humility change us to be a people that are fully filled with you you'll be our all you'll be our joy do that in us we pray and I ask I encourage you to take these next few moments we do our time of silence where you can spend some time between you and the

[37:09] Lord to fill your mind with his truth and be so grateful for his grace to you and renew once again that your satisfaction must be found in him to renew once again your love for him and remind yourself once again of his love for you and the gospel so take these few moments please if you would to reflect reflect and ponder on the truth of God do that now please thank you