4th Sign: Nothing Is Impossible, Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. He had an enormously large crowd. Thousands, tens of thousands of people follow Jesus.

And why? Because He was the Son of God. No. Because He spoke the truth.

No, not really interested in that. Because of even their signs that He, who He is about, that He's God. No. They followed Him because He made them well. That's all. Sort of just like people now.

These are really self-absorbed people, just like today. If you have what would be called a miracle ministry, you could have a fake miracle ministry and you can draw enormously large crowds. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt.

Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. A very, very long time ago, I was in my 20s and I had just been saved a couple years. I was saved in my early 20s and this was just a couple years later. And due to some very unusual circumstances, I was given the opportunity to first preach in the church that we were attending and then through some more extraordinary circumstances, I began preaching in several churches in the western Pennsylvania area. And I can remember being overwhelmed with the feeling of being totally and completely inadequate to be able to do this.

I didn't grow up in a church, so I never saw people in church. And I just got saved, went to church and next thing you know, I'm up here and it just was overwhelming to me. So at the same time that I was doing this, I was also teaching a weekly Bible study at the primary church we went to and I was teaching on the Gospel of John. And at that time, I had one commentary. It was written by A.W. Pink and it was a big, thick commentary, a Scottish man, and I would read what Pink said about the verses that were coming.

Then I would go and tell the people what Pink told me so that that's how we learned. And as we were going through this commentary, we came to John Chapter 6. And this great miracle that we'll look at today, what's called the feeding of the 5,000. And Pink wrote these words. He said, God uses inadequate people who give what they have to him to do great things for his glory. And those words way back then changed me.

You know, I can still remember those words. In fact, they're basically the basic words of my entire life in ministry that God uses inadequate people to give what they have to him to do great things. We're in a series that I've called The Seven Signs of the Son of God. When John wrote his gospel and remember, all the other gospels were finished. Matthew, Mark and Luke 30, 35 years before John wrote. And so when John wrote his, he had a different thing in mind than what is called the synoptics or the gospels that sound pretty similar. John wanted to prove that Jesus Christ is deity, that Jesus Christ is the son of God. And so consequently, on that basis, he used seven different what he called signs, even though you could say they were miracles.

But we call them signs. And so John wrote these seven signs and each one tells us about the power of Jesus Christ, but also each one tells us about the heart of God or the heart of Jesus Christ. It reveals more than just his power. And so the first one was the wedding of Cana. And that wasn't expected. I don't think Jesus even well, he expected everything because he knew everything, but he he did that sort of just in the spur of the moment. And it taught us that there is nothing too small for Jesus, just nothing. He would even turn water to wine, which wasn't that big a deal.

A lot of charlatans in in Israel at the time were doing the same thing. But the second one was he healed the noble man from Capernaum. He healed his son when he was still in Cana, 18 miles away. All he told the noble man was your son as well. I didn't see him. I don't touch him.

Nothing. And it showed his power over distance. And when the man went back on his way to Capernaum, he ran into servants.

The servants told him that his son was fine. He said one that had happened exactly at one o'clock in the afternoon when Jesus had spoken to the man. Then the third one was back in Jerusalem and in the pool of Bethesda. And here was a man who was an invalid, a quadriplegic, likely for 38 years. And with literally a thousand other people in need, he picks out this one man and he heals them. And he tells them, just stand up, pick up your pallet and walk. And it shows that the time has nothing to do with Jesus.

Whether this man was a paraplegic for 38 years had no meaning at all. So now, in Chapter six of Matthew, we move into what would be in certain levels the biggest magnitude of a miracle that he ever performed. And the reason is he's not performing a miracle on an individual. He's performing a miracle of countless individuals.

It is unique in many ways. So in verse one, in John six, it says, After these things, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee or Tiberias. After these things is the question.

After what things? Well, remember last time I said that when Jesus was in Jerusalem, it was in the fall of the year. The feast was tabernacles.

Now we're in the spring of the year and the feast is Passover. And so he's on the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee. But notice what John says. He also says, or Tiberias. The reason is, John wrote in the 90s, the Romans had destroyed Israel and ran them out of their own country in the 70s at 70 AD. And so consequently, the lake wasn't known then as Galilee. It was at the time of Christ.

But Tiberias, who was a Roman empire. And then it says in verse two, a large crowd followed him. Enormous, the large crowd. And we're going to see the reason for the next part of the verse, because they saw signs which he was performing on those who were sick. He had an enormously large crowd, thousands, tens of thousands of people follow Jesus.

And why? Because he was the son of God. No, because he spoke the truth.

No, not really interested in that. Because of even their signs that he who he is about that he's God. No. They followed him because he made them well.

That's all. Sort of just like people now. These are really self-absorbed people, just like today. If you have what would be called a miracle ministry, you could have a fake miracle ministry and you can draw enormously large crowds. People just, oh, I got to go. This is a miracle ministry.

And we still have those things going on to this this kind of very day. But from Jesus' point of view. He wanted something more than that. In fact, if you look down to verse 26 of the same chapter, Jesus answered and said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. They just want to take advantage of Jesus.

So I would call them the self-absorbed crowd. There's another thing that's going on just as well, though. Everyone's tired. Jesus is tired and his disciples are tired.

They're very tired. In fact, in Mark Chapter six. It tells us that Jesus had just sent the disciples out in pairs to preach the gospel. And he said they preached the gospel. They they came in confrontation with demons. They anointed the sick with oil and healed them. And they're exhausted. And their ministry was checkered.

They had some success and they had a lot of failure, but they were exhausted in what they did. Also, in Mark six, we find out a second thing. And the second thing we find out Mark six is John the Baptist has been beheaded by Herod.

And so the opposition is now pretty high. So he wants to spend what you and I would call quiet time. It says in verse four, now the Passover, the Feast of the Jews, was near. The reason the crowds were so big in this rural area of northern Galilee, near the Sea of Galilee, is that everybody in the northern part of Galilee who were men would have have to go to Jerusalem for the Passover. Three feasts a year, you have to go. They never would walk south from Galilee into Samaria and then into Judah and Jerusalem.

You don't go that way. Jews do not walk in Samaria. So they would go around the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee and then they would turn south on the east bank of the Jordan, walk the whole way down, then cross the Jordan again and then go to Jerusalem.

So there were a lot of people following him at this time. All four gospels talk about this miracle and the others, it says this is a secluded place. Today, if you were ever in Israel, this would be in the Golan Heights.

If you know where the Golan Heights are, you've ever been to Israel, the war that took place there, Syria and Israel fighting in the Golan Heights, that's where he's at. Now, they are drawn, he says, because of the miracles. Now, what's interesting about this is that therefore Jesus lifting up his eyes and seeing what a large crowd was coming to him. Jesus decides he's going to speak.

I love this. It said, he said to Philip, where are we to buy bread so that these may eat? What? Now, you're going to find out in a minute there's somewhere between 15 and 25,000 people here, not 5,000.

That's just men. Jesus says to Philip, where are we going to buy bread for these people? Now, what do you think if you're Philip? You're always talking Peter, James and John, Peter, James and John, why don't you ask one of them?

How do I have an idea about this? Well, you see the reason in the next verse though. It said he was saying that this he was saying to test him for he himself knew what he was intending to do. We move from self-absorbed crowd to faithless disciples. Now, as I go on, I hope you see something here.

I identify with both groups and I know most of you well enough to know so do you. We're part of a self-absorbed crowd and we're also pretty faithless as disciples, as you'll see in just a moment. Now, I just couldn't imagine what is running through Philip's head at that time, how he's trying to figure this out. The disciples, by the way, had already said to Jesus in the other gospels, send them away. Now, 15, 20,000 people, where are they going to go? They're in the middle of nowhere. This is desolate.

They're just following Jesus because of what he's doing. So, Philip answered him and said 200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them for everyone to receive just a little. Two hundred denarii of bread is two thirds of a year's wages.

So, whatever your wages are, think of two thirds of a year. He said if we spent that much money on bread, we'd only have enough to give everybody just a little bit. What did he do there? Did he show faith or did he use what you and I do, logic? You're facing an enormous problem and what do we go to? Almost immediately, logic. What's the logic? What do I need to do now? What would be the logical thing to do?

You see, I mean, if you think about it from another point of view, what should have he said to Jesus? How about this? You're Jesus. You're the creator. In fact, you created all things. I've seen you do miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle.

What are you asking me for? You're Jesus. I'll trust just what Mary said. Do what he says at the wedding of Cana. But he doesn't say that at all.

He does what we often do. He decides that he's going to try to think his way through this and he said this is impossible. There's no way we're going to feed these people. Like I said, the disciples in the other gospel said, you've got to send these people away. Now, one of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, there is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are these? He said, what are these for so many people? What is these for all these people?

What am I going to do? Now, please understand the back story. He told all 12 of them to go out among the crowd and find all the resources that the crowd had.

So they didn't find anything. And Andrew finds one little guy that were lad in Greek means very small boy. I'd say four or five, six years old. And he says, I found the boy and he has five loaves and two fish and I found him. Think of a little boy. He might be an extraordinary little boy.

Or he might just been intimidated by a stranger who was walking with Jesus. And why does he have this with him? Because what he has is a very little boy's lunch. You see, now I know how you guys think about this and you think about it in a very different way. Notice that he says here, he says he has five barley loaves.

OK, first of all, remember something. This is terrible bread to the Jews. Wheat is what they make bread out of most of the time. Poor people sometimes would make bread out of barley. Now, he has five loaves of barley.

But again, you're going to be wrong when you think about this. I know what you guys are thinking of French bread. He's got like five loaves. You know, that's what he has there.

Forget that. A barley loaf at this time is the same size as a CD and almost as thin. It's a cracker.

You and I would call it. It's not leaven. There's no rising. It's a cracker and it's made of barley. It's not very tasteful.

It's just not. He has five of those and it says but two fish and you're thinking redfish. You know, he's got two big redfish. Now, the word here for fish is a pickled fish that you season and the English equivalent would be a sardine.

OK, it's about this big, like a minnow. So he has five CDs and two sardines. That's all that he has. He doesn't have anything more than that. That's what he has.

Why? He's a little boy. That's all he needs for a meal. You see, that's it. So, so far what we have is you have this whole idea of a self-absorbed crowd that are only interested in what Jesus can do for them. That's their only interest. And you have faithless disciples and I'm saying that's most of us.

That's almost the way we all act. As American Christians, so many of us are so self-absorbed that we think Jesus is in our life for us so that he will give us what we want or desire. Now, he's healing people and lame people are walking and blind people are seeing. But even today, some of the largest churches in America, what do they offer you?

Health, wealth, success. Who doesn't want that? And how do we show up?

In enormous crowds. Just enormous crowds of people crowd into a church like that because that's what I want. But if you take any, and Jesus did it himself, if you take the words of Jesus, you need to be repentant of your sin. You need to grieve over your sin. You need to trust Christ totally. You need to follow him completely. You need to bear your cross for him. You need to be persecuted for him. You would be even willing to die for him. When you preach that, guess what? There's not a lot of people showing up. That's not what I'm for.

I'm for what he's going to give me. And it hasn't changed any in all these thousands of years. The disciples, on the other hand, decided to solve this problem. As I said, just kind of the way we do. I've got to figure this out.

But no math is going to help anyone in this case. So you have faithless disciples, self-absorbed people. And now we're introduced to the son of God, the king of kings, the Lord of lords, the Messiah of Israel, the savior of the world. And the first thing he says is a little bit surprising. Verse 10, Jesus said, have the people sit down.

He says, now there was much grass in that place, so men sat down. Number about 5,000 men. That's why you get between 15 and 25,000 people.

Their wives and families are with them. OK, so you have this enormous number. Jesus said, OK, let's sit down. Now, in the other gospels that talk about this, he organized them in blocks.

500 to do a block. He organized them in blocks. He said, get them all set down and get them organized. Now, if you're a disciple, what are you thinking? What?

Why? I mean, if Jesus was going to do a miracle, wouldn't he do just a miracle? I mean, do they have to sit down? Do the disciples have to get him in groups? Does Jesus have to do anything like that? For example, for nearly 40 years in the wilderness, God provided manna every morning for Israel. Every morning, supernaturally. Couldn't Jesus just call it down from heaven and feed him?

Of course he could, but he doesn't. So I can just see two of the disciples walking together like, do you know how long it's going to take us to organize all these people into groups? And then, you know, people or some in this group don't want to be in this group. They're going to want to be in this group. And he's just telling us, get them in. And all that kid has, he has five CDs and two sardines. What are we doing here?

Well, he said, then have the people sit down. And then in 11, it says, Jesus then took the loaves and having given thanks. Why? Why would you give thanks?

20,000 people need to eat and I have five cracker CDs and two sardines. And he's thanking God for that. Very important principle.

Why? What God provides is always enough to accomplish his will. Whatever God provides is always enough to accomplish his will. Jesus knows that. That's why he prayed that way. So, he does that and he gives thanks and he distributed to those who were seated, likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted.

Hmm. As much as they wanted and when they were filled. This isn't a meal. This is a banquet. As much as they could possibly eat. That's how much he provided.

Basket after basket, 20,000 people. Hungry bellies became happy bellies. In fact, a lot of people probably leaned back and said, can't eat another bite. I just can't eat another bite.

And it just kept coming. Now, something I've thought about, most other people who you would call a scholar have not thought about it, so you know what not to call me. But one of the things I thought about is, why did they love to eat this so much? It's barley, bread, and some fish. The barley bread that Jesus provided there didn't come from a cursed earth. These weren't little seedlings that grew up and were harvested as barley. These were created by Jesus. And those sardines never swam anywhere. These were created by Jesus. The bread and the fish had nothing to do. He just created it all. It must have been the tastiest bread they've ever had.

The best fish they ever ate. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com. That's OnePlace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, visit our website, fbcnola.org. That's F-B-C-N-O-L-A dot O-R-G. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.