WEBVTT 00:00:00.920 --> 00:00:05.139 John's Gospel, chapter 6, verses 1 to 15. 00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:12.259 Sometime after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee, that is, 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:17.240 the Sea of Tiberias, and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs 00:00:17.240 --> 00:00:19.559 he had performed by healing those who were ill. 00:00:20.679 --> 00:00:24.980 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 00:00:25.859 --> 00:00:28.240 The Jewish Passover festival was near. 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:33.960 However, when Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming towards him, he said to Philip, 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:37.659 Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? 00:00:38.979 --> 00:00:45.299 He asked this only to test him, for he already had it in mind what he was going to do. 00:00:46.359 --> 00:00:52.119 Philip answered him, It would take more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread for 00:00:52.119 --> 00:00:53.320 each one to have a bite. 00:00:53.320 --> 00:00:59.640 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. 00:01:00.579 --> 00:01:06.379 Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among 00:01:06.379 --> 00:01:06.980 so many? 00:01:08.299 --> 00:01:10.760 Jesus said, Make the people sit down. 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:14.079 There was plenty of grass in that place. 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:15.079 Jesus said, 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:15.920 And they sat down. 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:17.939 About five thousand men were there. 00:01:19.500 --> 00:01:25.060 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much 00:01:25.060 --> 00:01:25.739 as they wanted. 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:27.900 He did the same with the fish. 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:33.459 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, 00:01:33.459 --> 00:01:36.299 Gather the pieces that are left over. 00:01:36.899 --> 00:01:38.239 Let nothing be wasted. 00:01:39.079 --> 00:01:44.059 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left 00:01:44.059 --> 00:01:45.539 over by those who had eaten. 00:01:46.539 --> 00:01:50.879 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, 00:01:51.679 --> 00:01:55.280 Surely this is the prophet who is to come into the world. 00:01:56.259 --> 00:02:01.759 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:03.079 a mountain by himself. 00:02:04.140 --> 00:02:13.560 So we're in the fifth of seven signs that John records, the feeding of the five thousand. 00:02:13.700 --> 00:02:16.520 And here's what I want us to recognise today. 00:02:17.140 --> 00:02:25.860 It's that it's possible to see who Jesus is, but fail to understand the significance. 00:02:25.860 --> 00:02:35.520 This sign, sign number five, it centres around one of the national highlights for the Jews 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:36.880 in Jesus' day, Passover. 00:02:38.100 --> 00:02:43.820 Nationalistic hopes often running high as they look back to the time when their freedom was 00:02:43.820 --> 00:02:49.020 secured, as they looked forward, hoping that another deliverer would come. 00:02:49.020 --> 00:02:56.700 So when Jesus gives this sign that Duncan's just read for us, supplying bread in the wilderness, 00:02:56.860 --> 00:03:03.160 just like Moses, the people rightly conclude that Jesus is the prophet to come, but their 00:03:03.160 --> 00:03:09.460 response is, well, let's make him king so that he can lead a freedom movement. 00:03:09.460 --> 00:03:16.460 Like any political movement or campaign, it can be really significant to have a figurehead 00:03:16.460 --> 00:03:19.340 to rally around or someone to take the lead in that campaign. 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:26.260 We can think about the footballer Marcus Rashford, his amazing efforts to get that free school 00:03:26.260 --> 00:03:32.240 meal provision over the holidays, that determined leadership bringing a U-turn in government policy. 00:03:33.140 --> 00:03:37.659 So many in Israel's cities and countryside at the time of Jesus, they want change. 00:03:37.659 --> 00:03:43.299 They want freedom from Roman oppression and they think Jesus can light that fuse. 00:03:45.060 --> 00:03:50.400 So when we left our reading, they want to make Jesus king, but within 24 hours and by the end 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:56.800 of this chapter, we see grumbling about Jesus, opposition towards him and the crowds leave and 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:06.560 many of his followers doing likewise because he won't be that king and he won't operate to their 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:11.400 agenda. So they've seen who Jesus is, but they fail to see the significance. 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:18.519 And you know, that's something that is really possible for us today to find ourselves in that 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:25.779 same situation, maybe especially in church, maybe especially if we've been brought up in church for 00:04:25.779 --> 00:04:31.840 young people listening in today. It's quite possible for us to believe what the Bible says is true about 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:36.839 Jesus, to believe that he's the son of God, to believe that he died and rose again, to be the 00:04:36.839 --> 00:04:45.399 saviour of the world, but never to see the significance for us personally. It's as if we can answer the what 00:04:45.399 --> 00:04:53.819 questions about Jesus, the significant facts of his life, but we never answer for ourselves the so what 00:04:53.819 --> 00:05:02.360 or now what? We never think about significance or response. Now it's one thing to believe the gospel 00:05:02.360 --> 00:05:09.540 with our minds, to believe those facts, but it's another to have God's love through Jesus affect not 00:05:09.540 --> 00:05:17.920 just our head, but also our heart and also our hands, to have it shape our thought life, our actions, 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:26.780 our words and our relationships. What we discover from this sign is that Jesus is the true prophet and 00:05:26.780 --> 00:05:33.939 Jesus is God's king and as such he must be heard and he must be obeyed and that's fundamentally missing 00:05:33.939 --> 00:05:41.420 at the Lake of Galilee and the question for us to answer is, is that something that's present or absent 00:05:41.420 --> 00:05:51.040 in our lives today? So let's have a look together at the sign. John is deliberately recording details that 00:05:51.040 --> 00:06:00.580 emphasise Moses' connections. So this follows on from chapter 5 and in verse 46 of chapter 5, Jesus says quite 00:06:00.580 --> 00:06:07.960 deliberately, if you believe Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. His opponents often claim that 00:06:07.959 --> 00:06:13.699 they were disciples of Moses. Jesus says, now if you would believe him then you would believe me because 00:06:13.699 --> 00:06:22.519 Moses points forward to me. And then in chapter 6 we read these details, we see crowds in the wilderness 00:06:22.519 --> 00:06:30.620 calling to mind the wilderness wanderings of Israel. We see Jesus going up on a mountain just like Moses went up 00:06:30.620 --> 00:06:36.039 on a mountain to meet with God and to receive the Ten Commandments and we discover this is all happening 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:45.819 around the time of the Passover. Passover, that greatest reminder of their story as a nation. How did they come 00:06:45.819 --> 00:06:53.220 to be a nation and to be the people of God? Well it's because of the Exodus story. So the second book of the 00:06:53.220 --> 00:07:01.360 Old Testament, God by miracles leading the people out of slavery in Egypt to freedom and doing that through 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:11.100 Moses as deliverer. That book which in many ways is a God conflict between Pharaoh and the false gods of Egypt and 00:07:11.100 --> 00:07:19.360 the true God, the God who had made a covenant promise to Abraham and his descendants that he would be for them and 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:26.780 he would bless them and he would take them to the promised land. And that conflict that brings those ten plagues that 00:07:26.779 --> 00:07:36.019 perhaps we remember climaxing in the death of the firstborn. And the people of Israel would be spared that 00:07:36.019 --> 00:07:43.659 through the provision of the Passover lamb. So each Israelite family had to take a lamb and care for it and then 00:07:43.659 --> 00:07:51.979 kill it as a sacrifice and sprinkle the blood on their doors so that the angel of judgment, the angel of death 00:07:51.980 --> 00:08:02.920 would pass over their houses. And following that, Pharaoh let the people go free. And they were free to 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:11.980 become the people of God. They were free to meet with God on Mount Sinai led by Moses. So all of that's 00:08:11.980 --> 00:08:18.160 being called to mind here. And the next thing that happens in our story is Jesus up on the mountain, he sees the 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:24.439 great crowd coming towards him. And what John makes clear is that Jesus is in control. Jesus has a plan, 00:08:24.900 --> 00:08:32.139 but Jesus wants to give a test for his disciples. At this stage in the story, do they see his identity? 00:08:32.779 --> 00:08:38.920 As they think about the signs he has already done, do they see that Jesus is one who has generous 00:08:38.920 --> 00:08:45.440 provision that he makes for people in need? And I wonder whether we have seen that ourselves. 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:55.880 We get two different responses. We get Philip, very practical, thinking in very natural terms. 00:08:56.020 --> 00:09:00.900 It would take more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread for even one bite. It's impossible. 00:09:01.580 --> 00:09:06.140 We don't have nearly enough money for that kind of feeding, Jesus. 00:09:07.160 --> 00:09:12.900 You've got Andrew who moves things a little bit further. He says, here's a boy with five small barley 00:09:12.899 --> 00:09:19.620 loaves and two small fish. But that tiny meal is inadequate. We can't just give people the tiny 00:09:19.620 --> 00:09:28.519 little crumb. What does Jesus do? Jesus steps in, he organises the people, and then he works this 00:09:28.519 --> 00:09:37.579 amazing miracle, this powerful sign to provide food for the people in the wilderness. Now, 00:09:37.580 --> 00:09:44.379 some people, when they read this, and you'll find this in some books, they go on to give lessons on 00:09:44.379 --> 00:09:52.040 the ethics of sharing. Now, that's not what this story is teaching, but of course, sharing with what 00:09:52.040 --> 00:09:59.580 we have with others is a beautiful thing to do. One of our friends in our church family called Matthew, 00:09:59.580 --> 00:10:06.200 he's back home in India for the moment, and he's working alongside his dad, helping to feed some of the 00:10:06.200 --> 00:10:13.940 poorest in their community as a church, trying to provide cooked meals or to provide the ingredients 00:10:13.940 --> 00:10:20.000 for meals. And that's a wonderful thing to be able to do, and for us who know him, to be able to pray 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:26.920 for him. But that's not what Jesus is teaching about. What we have here is a wonderful miracle of 00:10:26.920 --> 00:10:35.120 multiplication. We have this feeding in the desert. We have Jesus providing satisfaction for a huge crowd. 00:10:36.200 --> 00:10:44.080 We're told they have enough to eat, but still there's leftovers. Here is Jesus' generous provision 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:51.160 being highlighted. There's 12 baskets of leftovers. Jesus provides a feast, not just a crumb. 00:10:52.640 --> 00:10:59.120 So that's the sign as we have it presented in John's Gospel. What about the significance? 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:08.340 And here's where we want to see that Jesus is the greater prophet than Moses, and Jesus is God's true 00:11:08.340 --> 00:11:17.080 king. Now the people, verse 14, after they see the sign, they began to say, surely this is the prophet 00:11:17.080 --> 00:11:23.379 who is to come into the world. So they draw this conclusion. Moses in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 18 00:11:23.379 --> 00:11:30.939 had promised a prophet like him would come. And so the people conclude, well, this must be who Jesus is. 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:38.600 That's so far so good. But then they try and make him king by force, and Jesus removes himself. 00:11:39.820 --> 00:11:45.600 Jesus has not come to secure political or national freedom for Israel. 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:54.240 Jesus has not come to bring justice down on the enemies of Rome. Rather, he has come to face the 00:11:54.240 --> 00:12:03.779 judgment of God on behalf of enemies of God, to turn us into friends of God by sheer grace alone. 00:12:03.779 --> 00:12:14.799 But in this sign, we are being reminded, Jesus is not like the genie in Aladdin. You know, we can't just 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:24.000 rub the magic lamp and Jesus will make our wishes come true. We cannot make Jesus serve us. We cannot 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:30.959 squeeze Jesus into our preferences. But that's what the people had tried to do. They tasted food, 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:38.920 they sensed freedom and victory, and they were willing to accept him on that basis. But very quickly, 00:12:39.019 --> 00:12:43.019 when it became apparent that he was talking about something deeper and he wasn't going to bring 00:12:43.019 --> 00:12:52.440 instant freedom, there was a walking away. They read the signs wrong, and they draw the wrong 00:12:52.440 --> 00:12:58.000 conclusions, and they miss the joy that could be theirs. 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:07.879 So what should they have seen? And what should they have understood? How is Jesus the prophet who is 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:15.200 greater than Moses? And how is Jesus the true king? Well, let's think about these themes that emerge of 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:24.419 food and freedom. And let's hear from Jesus on these. Now, the rest of chapter six, if you've got time 00:13:24.419 --> 00:13:31.779 in the rest of the day, the rest of this week, read John chapter six, where Jesus, in lots of different 00:13:31.779 --> 00:13:39.639 ways, is saying he is better than merely physical satisfaction that came in the time of Moses. 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:49.079 Jesus is saying, my food is better. My food is what everybody needs, not just for our physical good, 00:13:49.080 --> 00:13:56.520 but for our spiritual good, and not just for time, but also for eternity. So he began our service 00:13:56.520 --> 00:14:04.139 with Jesus saying, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never grow hungry, 00:14:04.520 --> 00:14:11.420 and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. And Jesus then went on saying, verse 41, 00:14:11.419 --> 00:14:21.679 I am the bread that came down from heaven. Here is Jesus speaking of himself as what will satisfy. 00:14:23.079 --> 00:14:31.879 And he compares himself with Moses and the manna in the time of the Exodus. When we think about the 00:14:31.879 --> 00:14:41.219 source of the bread, Jesus says, remember this, when you think about the story of the Exodus, 00:14:41.419 --> 00:14:49.179 it wasn't Moses that gave you the bread, God did. And what's happening now, Jesus is saying, 00:14:49.679 --> 00:15:00.479 is that God has sent me his own son. I am who God has sent for your lasting satisfaction. Back then, 00:15:00.479 --> 00:15:08.559 God sent bread. Now, God has sent Jesus, the bread of life, to give lasting satisfaction. 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:18.379 Moses, as a prophet, he was the middle man between God and the people. Jesus, the greater prophet, 00:15:19.659 --> 00:15:30.879 he is God, who both gives and who is in himself the bread of life. We need nothing beyond Jesus. What he 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:40.340 gives us is himself. Not only is there a different source between the bread of Moses and the bread of 00:15:40.340 --> 00:15:46.279 Jesus, there's a different quality. So Jesus can speak about the bread that Moses supplied and he 00:15:46.279 --> 00:15:57.360 reminds them. See, after one day, it went mouldy, that bread that came from heaven. And Jesus says, 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:05.500 those who ate that bread, they still died. None of them are around till this day. But what about the bread 00:16:05.500 --> 00:16:14.060 that Jesus brings? Verse 27, he says, do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to 00:16:14.060 --> 00:16:20.440 eternal life, which the Son of Man, that is Jesus, will give you. For on him, God the Father has placed his 00:16:20.440 --> 00:16:28.180 seal of approval. Or in verse 54, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. 00:16:29.140 --> 00:16:39.660 And I will raise them up at the last day. Verse 51, whoever eats this bread, the living bread, will live 00:16:39.659 --> 00:16:55.939 forever. We all want happiness and joy. And we all want and long for happiness and joy that lasts. 00:16:57.279 --> 00:17:08.420 And the truth is that we all know that experience of sorrow and joy. Because we have that sense of 00:17:08.420 --> 00:17:15.539 everything coming to an end. So we had it as a family last week, you know, not having seen 00:17:15.539 --> 00:17:26.279 family for ages, we got to see the boy's cousin. It was a time of great excitement for her birthday 00:17:26.279 --> 00:17:33.259 party. And there was sadness in the middle of joy, knowing that party was coming to an end. 00:17:33.259 --> 00:17:39.539 And there was real sadness on the way home from that party because it had come to an end. 00:17:40.140 --> 00:17:44.819 It's our experience, isn't it? When we go on holiday, we get excited thinking about the holiday. 00:17:45.299 --> 00:17:50.680 We love the experiences we have. But even sometimes before the holiday is finished, 00:17:51.379 --> 00:17:56.160 we get that wistfulness, that sense of sadness. Here is something else that will come to an end. 00:17:56.160 --> 00:18:04.779 And that's true of every joy in life. It comes to an end. And we feel the pain of that. Why do we feel 00:18:04.779 --> 00:18:14.000 that pain? It's because we were made with eternity in our hearts. We were made for a joy that would last 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:20.860 forever. So these small joys that we have in life are pointers to ultimate joys that God brings 00:18:20.859 --> 00:18:29.319 and that Jesus came to bring. The one joy that will never be taken from us is eternal life of 00:18:29.319 --> 00:18:37.000 knowing God. So in the present, we have God with us as Christians every day to know that friendship, 00:18:37.179 --> 00:18:45.339 to know that love. And we have the hope that that will be our reality forever. That's the bread of life 00:18:45.339 --> 00:18:55.279 that endures forever. And that takes us to the second point of significance for our purposes today. 00:18:55.639 --> 00:19:01.299 To think about the freedom that Jesus has come to bring. And it's not a political freedom. 00:19:02.419 --> 00:19:07.720 Jesus has come to lead his people in a new exodus. 00:19:07.720 --> 00:19:20.460 He wants to bring us freedom to become the people of God. He wants to release us from slavery to sin 00:19:20.460 --> 00:19:29.600 so that we could know and enjoy God personally. So that we could be, in reality, who we were made to be. 00:19:30.519 --> 00:19:37.400 Made in the image of God to know and enjoy God. There is freedom when we find that as our own 00:19:37.400 --> 00:19:45.720 personal reality. But how does Jesus do that? It's not victory at the point of a sword. 00:19:47.280 --> 00:19:56.019 Jesus doesn't just come as the greater Moses. Jesus also comes as the ultimate Passover lamb. 00:19:56.840 --> 00:20:06.240 Remember that spotless lamb who was killed and the blood was sprinkled so that the judgment would pass over. 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:15.859 Jesus is that Passover lamb. He is the one who in himself bears the sin of the world. 00:20:16.220 --> 00:20:23.519 He is the one who dies and his blood is shed as a sacrifice to cover our sins. 00:20:24.519 --> 00:20:29.200 To satisfy God's justice against our sin. 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:34.440 But to give us forgiveness by an act of God's mercy and grace. 00:20:35.360 --> 00:20:37.360 We deserve death and judgment. 00:20:37.500 --> 00:20:44.200 But Jesus takes that willingly for us as our substitute so we can enjoy life and life everlasting. 00:20:44.819 --> 00:20:49.319 Jesus is the king who doesn't bring down political judgment. 00:20:49.480 --> 00:20:52.019 He is the one who takes on himself 00:20:52.019 --> 00:20:56.599 The judgment of God to give us true freedom. 00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:00.680 His death is a sacrifice. 00:21:01.460 --> 00:21:09.779 And the point that Jesus makes in the rest of John chapter 6 is that sacrifice is something that must be received by us personally. 00:21:09.779 --> 00:21:14.740 To have our sins forgiven. 00:21:14.740 --> 00:21:17.859 To have the judgment pass over us. 00:21:18.220 --> 00:21:26.200 We need to respond with faith to what Jesus has already done for us. 00:21:26.759 --> 00:21:30.559 To believe that what he did on the cross he did for me. 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:33.440 And to receive it gladly. 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:39.380 There is nothing greater that Jesus can do for us. 00:21:40.500 --> 00:21:49.600 Nothing in this life would compare to Jesus securing eternal life with God for us. 00:21:50.480 --> 00:22:00.720 And so again the conclusion is that we are to read that sign and we are to respond by putting our faith in Jesus. 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:07.960 To recognise that Jesus hasn't come to be some kind of lifestyle coach. 00:22:08.860 --> 00:22:11.920 He's not Joe Wicks for the soul. 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:17.039 You know to give us a little bit of peace or a little bit of a pep talk when we feel down. 00:22:17.620 --> 00:22:21.880 He's not a personal advisor for crisis intervention. 00:22:22.120 --> 00:22:24.240 And the rest of the time we cast him aside. 00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:29.299 Jesus is nothing less than the full and final revelation of God. 00:22:29.299 --> 00:22:31.619 You want to know who God is and what God's like? 00:22:31.700 --> 00:22:32.759 You look at Jesus. 00:22:33.539 --> 00:22:35.159 You want to know how God saves? 00:22:35.240 --> 00:22:39.579 You look at Jesus and his perfect life and his death on the cross. 00:22:40.539 --> 00:22:41.779 And he is the Lord. 00:22:42.379 --> 00:22:44.539 He is the true King. 00:22:44.879 --> 00:22:48.099 And that means we must allow him to rule. 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:51.379 We must allow him to direct us. 00:22:51.480 --> 00:22:53.059 We follow his lead. 00:22:53.059 --> 00:22:59.359 We don't ask him to follow ours if we are to have that eternal joy. 00:23:01.700 --> 00:23:06.059 So maybe today you're at that stage where you know the facts. 00:23:06.899 --> 00:23:10.159 And you're happy to accept that Jesus is a real person. 00:23:10.299 --> 00:23:12.119 And he is the Son of God. 00:23:12.220 --> 00:23:15.019 And he died and rose as the Saviour. 00:23:15.480 --> 00:23:16.839 Don't stop there. 00:23:16.839 --> 00:23:23.179 Make sure you can say he is my Lord and my God. 00:23:23.959 --> 00:23:25.599 He is my Saviour. 00:23:26.279 --> 00:23:30.740 He is my hope in life and in day. 00:23:30.740 --> 00:23:45.059 He is my hope in life.