Amen. Right, we're on to Matthew chapter 14 in our Matthew Bible study and we spent three
weeks on chapter 13 in the end, which yeah just the way it is sometimes there's a lot
to get through there, a lot of parables, a lot of truths there. In the final week we
looked at the parable of treasure hid in a field which I believe has just shown the value
of the things of God and how we should, we should want to just basically get rid of our
whole old life to serve God, shouldn't we, but although many won't do that. We saw then
the parable of the merchant man seeking goodly pearls and I believe it was talking about
the value of the one true way above all others and then there was a net in the sea with a
bad being cast away into a furnace of fire. After that we looked at the response to Jesus
in his own country, didn't we, and you know a prophet being not without honour except
in his own, in his own country and we looked at that in length and you know just spoke
about you know how we see that, all of us have experienced that sort of thing and it's
just one of those things, it's one of those truths in life and we're now going to move
on to chapter 14 and there's some great truths here, there's some great stuff here that I
want to hopefully try and get through in one but we'll see how we do as I get, as I start
preaching it. So let's have a look from verse 1, Matthew 14 and verse 1 reads, at that time
Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus and said unto his servants, this is John the
Baptist, he has risen from the dead and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him.
Let's pray before we continue, Father thank you for this great chapter of the Bible, thank
you for the great messages in here, please help me to preach them just, just loudly and
boldly and clearly Lord, help everyone to have attentive ears, just want to pay attention,
help keep the distractions to a minimum Lord and help everyone here to just, just be able
to really focus on what your word is saying to them, in Jesus' name for all of this, amen.
That rain's coming down a bit tonight isn't it, makes you feel pleased to be indoors right.
And we are, you know I've got a good hour ahead of me here so pay attention and not
to the rain, a tetrarch here said Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, basically
it was I think originally a Roman governor over the fourth part of the province, but
it came to just mean any petty king, so it's just kind of a petty king of a not, not huge
area obviously, Herod, this Herod isn't Herod the Great that we saw during the mass murder
of children, this is Herod Antipas who was the son of Herod the Great, who obviously
murdered those children in an attempt to, to kill Jesus okay. Now this Herod's heard
about Jesus who's doing all of these, these miracles, these wonderful works, his conclusion
is that well it just must be John the Baptist reincarnated, and people come up with some
weird and wacky ways to explain Jesus don't they sometimes and, and whether it's Jesus
you know specifically the Bible, salvation, anything really you just get people who kind
of will hear part of it and then say well yeah well anyway I believe we're going to
come back as animals or something, I'm going to, I believe we're going to come back as
my cat or something else and, and they don't always have a foundation for this do they,
they just kind of, they take a beer and then they start making it up as they go along,
they'll come out with like the old cliche, the Bible's fairy tales, how many people have
heard that here, I'm sure probably a lot of them, the Bible, well the Bible's, even fairy
tales, it's so ridiculous isn't it, I mean they obviously have never read it, or the
old people changed it, there's, there's books missing and, and because they're just trying
to argue against it and they're just making their own sort of religion, their own ideas,
making a god in their own image, here he's just kind of, where's he come up with this,
this sort of reincarnation from, well firstly what's this about John the Baptist being dead,
verse three says for Herod had laid hold on John and bound him and put him in prison for
Herodias sake his brother Philip's wife, for John said unto him it is not lawful for thee
to have her and when he would have put him to death he feared the multitude because they
counted him as a prophet but when Herod's birthday was kept the daughter of Herodias
danced before them and pleased Herod whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever
she would ask and she being before instructed of her mother said give me here John Baptist's
head in a charger and the king was sorry nevertheless for the oaths sake and then which sat with
him at me he commanded to be given her and he sent and beheaded John in the prison and
his head was brought in a charger and given to the damsel and she brought it to her mother.
Now there's a bit to talk about in the story of John the Baptist's death here, it's said
in verse three for Herod had laid hold on John and bound him and put him in prison for
Herodias sake his brother Philip's wife, now you don't have to turn to Mark 6 17 adds that
Herod had married her okay that's the reason it's not oh well what's actually you know
what's it to do with his brother Philip's wife well he married his brother Philip's
wife verse four says for John said unto him it is not lawful for thee to have her, now
turn to Luke chapter three obviously keep a finger there while you turn I'm gonna read
Leviticus 20 verse 21 which says and if a man should take his brother's wife it is an
unclean thing he has uncovered his brother's nakedness they shall be childless okay so
this guy's just taken his brother's wife he's married her but it makes no difference she
was obviously married God isn't gonna you know it's not that the brothers died he's
just taken her as his own wife, now Luke 3 where you've turned verse 19 to 20 says
that John actually let him have both barrels so although he's reproved him for this it
says in verse 19 but Herod the tetrarch being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip's
wife and for all the evils which Herod had done added yet this above all that he shut
up John in prison so John is preaching hard against Herod and he ends up in prison so
it's not just the wife thing that's obviously a big deal but he's preaching against Herod
he's preaching against the wickedness of this leader and it always makes me I always think
about this when I read this passage and others it makes me think of an old pastor who once
told me that he doesn't like Kent Hovind because Kent Hovind and this is many years ago before
Kent Hovind started doing kind of weird things which would be quite justifiable not like
you maybe but he said because Kent Hovind once mocked Bill Clinton and said something
about basically mocked his wife or said he called her Mr Clinton or something it was
just some joke and he said you know how could he how could he talk about you know leadership
like that well John the Baptist seems like he reproved leadership yeah Jesus Christ called
him a fox I mean he's you know look sometimes these people need reproving don't they yeah
we respect the the position we respect the authority we're not going to rebel against
that but we are told to shine the light aren't we Ephesians 5 11 says and have no fellowship
with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them we are told to shine the
light on evil around us as Christians as men preaching from the pulpit we should be shining
that light shouldn't we and clearly John the Baptist did that says here verse 5 and when
he would have put him to death he feared the multitude because they count him as a prophet
now the only reason that he didn't kill him straight away was because he feared the people
but turn to Mark 6 it seems it was more actually his wife's desire to kill John so turn to
Mark chapter 6 it was his wife that wanted to kill John the new wife this is Herodias
it says in John 6 and verse 18 John 6 18 for John had said unto Herod it is not lawful
for thee to have thy brother's wife therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him and would
have killed him but she could not so for Herod it was more than just the multitudes counting
John as a prophet by the way as well because verse 20 then says for Herod feared John knowing that he
was a just man and an holy and observed him and when he heard him he did many things and heard him
gladly so so obviously they count him as a prophet and he it's not that he's just oh well they think
he's a prophet it seems that Herod actually has an idea that this guy is is a righteous guy saying
knowing that he was a just man and a holy now she wanted to have him killed this wicked woman
and we see how wicked she is obviously in this story but um but John obviously sorry sorry Herod
started learning a bit more about John it says and when he heard him he did many things and heard him
gladly so Herod understood that there was good reason for John being counted as a prophet didn't
he he ends up watching him listening to him and even starts to like him it seems i mean it says
and heard him gladly at least he liked his preaching that's why verse 26 says and the king
was exceeding sorry when asked to kill him he was exceeding sorry he didn't want to kill him
point being that look maybe this Herod wasn't at this point as wicked as as his mass murdering
father maybe he was maybe just like hard preaching maybe he just found it amusing because people do
i've said this many times just because someone likes a heart you know fill in the blank a hard
preacher out there it doesn't mean they're saved it doesn't mean that they're oh that's it they
must be all right because they they listen to pastor you fill in the blank look some people
just like listening to heart preaching but they still don't want to put their faith in Jesus
Christ do they and and obviously clearly Herod's not saved here but at least at this point he is
willing to listen to John however his choice of women was his downfall wasn't it and who knows
look maybe John could have got him saved otherwise who knows maybe that was a foul swooping in i
don't know but verse 21 because she obviously seemed intent on getting him killed didn't she
it says and when a convenient day was come that Herod on his birthday made a supper to
his lord's high captains and chief estates of Galilee so this was some birthday celebrations
wasn't it with all of the top people in Herod's government you can go back to Matthew 14 now
did they just eat some good food have a nice cake and good fellowship time together
is that what these you know respectable leaders of the nation did no he's got his new stepdaughter
dancing for them all i mean that's pretty messed up isn't it he's got his new stepdaughter dancing
for all these well we just saw you know described in mark in mark uh chapter 6 of verse 21 lord's
high captains and chief estates of Galilee these are like the top people in Galilee and he's just
gets his stepdaughter out to basically dance for them now we don't know how old this stepdaughter
was but we do know that look it wasn't that she was like into ballet i don't think i don't think
she was like just a fine performer verse 6 says but when Herod's birthday was kept the daughter
of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod this is back in in Matthew 14 it wasn't that she
was just a very talented performer was it she pleased him he's got some sort of enjoyment which
results in him offering her anything she wants okay it does sound a bit creepy doesn't it
and look there's nothing new under the sun is there really with this sort of thing because
you can look at this and go well back in those days all this weird freak really it's probably
like belly dancing or whatever they're into around that way well you know these powerful
rulers with their weird parties yeah never really i don't think having some wholesome decision making
get together where they're just kind of making good decisions for the people think you know
think think what came out recently with Jeffrey Epstein i mean that was absolutely horrific
and that that for me is just like the real just probably like whatever the the phrase is just a
very small part of what really goes on isn't it i mean that that was that was leaders they were
like top celebrities you know Bill Clinton by all accounts traveled on that on that what they
nicknamed like it's almost like a funny nickname in the press the Lolita Express like that's okay
they traveled on it like multiple times to Jeffrey Epstein's island i mean it's absolutely
like just i don't think any of us could really probably get our head around what really goes on
behind closed doors a lot of these people Jeffrey Epstein and then you're thinking well yeah well
that's kind of you know in the states and you know and these kind of high-powered false jews
like Epstein and others oh obviously prince andrew got involved with him didn't he yeah prince andrew
was involved with him i mean again that's a king of maybe he is a minor king really well he's not
a king but a prince a minor prince of of whatever but a petty we were saying a petty king with
harold and petty prince but but but what on earth hanging around with some complete twisted
pedophile like Jeffrey Epstein but then i was thinking about this i was thinking what about
Jimmy Saville and again just as such just the stuff that actually has been revealed
Jimmy Saville who happened to be apparently the mediator in Charles and Diana's marriage and
their divorce he was a mediator and do you honestly think that the people the people close
to our our royal family the their you know whatever you want to call them the police force
that have to guard them and obviously have to have their ear to the ground and probably be aware
who's near who's around them not are you honestly trying to tell me these guys had no idea about
Jimmy Saville yet apparently half the BBC knew what he was up to but but the royals didn't the
royals had no idea prince Charles he's a good enough friend to mediate in their failing marriage
that's pretty messed up isn't it i mean for me that paints a pretty disturbing picture about
really what goes on behind closed doors not only i mean it's everywhere and there's nothing you
understand it's a i mean this is probably this is nothing this is this isn't quite child's play is
it compared with what this lot do i mean just absolutely it's horrendous but here this guy
it's his stepdaughter stepdaughter dancing for these rich wealthy people just amazing isn't it now
here it's not that they will reprobate necessarily maybe Herod was i don't know but what's interesting
is it's his probable lust here which is his undoing and really ends up getting John the
Baptist killed probably his only chance if there was still a chance of salvation
i don't know we don't know who this girl was we don't really know but it's interesting that because
verse seven says whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask
and she being before instructive her mother said give me here John Baptist head in a charger
oh wicked woman Herodias clearly was as well and Herodias whose daughter
is dancing for her new husband and all his rich mates but but and and again it never ceases to
amaze you does it what people will really end up not only allowing but encouraging their kids to
do it's just amazing isn't it when you look at this stuff and you look at the stuff that goes
on and then you look at how many parents almost bite it i saw i just just something i saw briefly
was um i watched a brief amount of uh Michael Jackson's response to allegations of child abuse
yeah it was just like a focusing on his face and just watching him like smirking and smiling
and and as is usually the case i kind of paused it within about 10 seconds and started reading
the comments yeah as you do so so i went down the comments and you've got all these people
just trying to all these like you know Jackson just loving fans trying to justify him trying
to excuse him oh well you know he was just a child at heart that's why he had little boys sleeping in
the bed with him but what what was and then but what was just so amazing about it was the people
saying basically that there were these parents who were dropping their kids off around his house
to have sleepovers with him what what is that about and is it any different here with this
Herodias and i don't i mean in fact that's worse obviously but it's it's just it's just it's
amazing really isn't it because i think a lot of the time people just can think old parents must
just have this love for their kids oh preaching this on on Sunday about a lot of the time look
love something you choose to do isn't it a lot of the time oh it's just natural you never put
your kid in no that's not true a lot of parents will do amazing most bizarre most wicked things
to their kids won't they drop them off at Michael Jackson's house what is that about
anyway here Herodias sorry that's a bit of a grim subject but look Herodias here has her
daughter dancing but before him but then after her daughter pleases him she could have asked
for anything and and what a wicked wicked woman that the thing she wanted most in life
was to kill one of god's prophets what a wicked woman and the king was sorry first night
nevertheless for the oath's sake and then which sat with him at meet he commanded it to be given her
and he sent and beheaded john in the prison and his head was brought in a charger which some sort
of container box and given to the damsel and she brought it to her mother so john was beheaded
basically because of perversion in some way or another some wicked woman and the foolishness
and pride of some silly king that's why god's prophet there got beheaded but look at the end
of the day he did say i must you know he must increase and i must decrease um it was the way
it went in the end and jesus christ obviously there and look it happened however it's just
amazing the the circus lights around are pretty amazing aren't they it's such a such an amazing
story okay verse 12 then says and his disciples came and took up the body and buried him and went
to tell jesus when jesus heard of it he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart and when
the people had heard thereof they followed him on foot out of the cities so why did jesus depart
well you have to turn to luke 9 9 says and Herod said john have i beheaded but who is this of whom
i hear such things and he desired to see him so i think it's also herrod's desiring to see him we
saw obviously at the beginning of this of this chapter it said that he heard of the fame of jesus
uh luke's gospel expands that he wanted to see jesus okay so jesus well he departs he caught
herrod's attention but it's not his hour yet is it okay constantly we see in the gospel saying
well my hour is not yet come it's not his time because i don't think going to herrod
well he's spared in john i don't think he was it's the sort of place you kind of come back
out for it wasn't just going to go and have a little chat i don't think he probably wants to
be around scum like that either so it wasn't his time yet he ends up going somewhere quiet out of
town the people follow him says in verse 14 and jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and
was moved with compassion toward them and he healed their sick okay we're just going to read
this passage now and then we're going to go over it properly and when it was evening his disciples
came to him saying this is a desert place and the time is now past send the multitude away that
they may go into the village and buy themselves victuals but jesus said unto them they need not
depart give you them to eat they sound to him we have here but five loaves and two fishes
he said bring them hither to me and he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and took
the five loaves and the two fishes and look he up to heaven he blessed and break and gave the loaves
to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude and they did all eat and were filled and they took
up of the fragments that remained 12 baskets full and they that had eaten were about 5 000 men
beside women and children now this is an amazing miracle isn't it this is an amazing miracle and
jesus feeds somewhere in the region of 10 000 odd people plus who knows how many women and children
there were with two fish and it says little fish i think there as well at least in one of them it
does and five loaves of bread okay and i don't think regardless it doesn't really matter whether
these were like hovis style loaves of bread or apparently not little small amounts of bread this
was some little boy's lunch box according to john's gospel okay this is an amazing miracle
but was it just a random miracle just to show that jesus can do amazing things or is there a point
that he was making here there's a point that he's making here now i believe that verse 14
helps us understand the picture that jesus christ painted with this miracle
so verse 14 says and jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion
toward them and he healed their sick now remember that the physical healing is a picture of
salvation i don't think anyone not many people at least are saved are going to read through the
gospels and hope and not see that um we see that time and time again i'm just going to read a couple
of verses for you matthew 9 12 13 said but when jesus heard that he said unto them they that
behold me not a physician but they that are sick and what does it interchange with well verse 13
says but go ye and learn what that meaneth i will have mercy not sacrifice for i am not come to call
the righteous but sinners to repentance so the sick sinners to repentance right so the picture
the picture here is of a now great saved multitude it's a picture okay that's my point here is that
these people are going to picture the saved multitudes mark 6 34 says and jesus when he came
out saw much people and was moved with compassion toward them because they were as sheep not having
a shepherd and he began to teach them many things so this is a picture of saved multitudes of
sheep without a shepherd okay that's a picture here and when it was evening verse 15 where we
are his disciples came to him saying this is a desert place the time has now passed send a
multitude away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals now victuals means
food or provision specifically for people it's dark and the disciples are saying send them away
to buy themselves food okay food and water often used in scripture to represent what the word of
god okay john 6 48 you have to turn there jesus christ said i am that bread of life okay because
it's him the word that gives us life doesn't it john 6 63 says it is the spirit that quickeneth
the flesh profiteth nothing the words i speak unto you they are spirit and they are life yeah
the words are what give us life yeah they give us sustenance matthew 4 4 says but he answered said
it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of god we live by the words that come out the mouth of god okay that they the food and water
often pictures the words of god now evening night here i believe pictures when christ is no longer
on the earth so it says here when it was evening john you turn to john 12 35 says then jesus said
unto them yet a little while is the light with you talking of himself walk while you have the
light lest darkness come upon you for he that walks in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth
okay a little while because he is that light the darkness is when he's not there that's a picture
of the evening verse 15 also said the time is now past the time is now past they're sheep in
the wilderness aren't they the disciples are then suggesting that they go to find their own food
so the night is that the time sorry is now past it's evening it's a picture of christ no longer
being there it's to save multitudes verse 16 but jesus said unto them they need not depart give
ye them to eat notice a ye give ye them to eat did he say i'll give them to eat he didn't say
i'll give them to eat he said give ye them to eat to the disciples verse 17 and they say unto him
we have here but five loaves and two fishes so they're saying look we don't have enough
to feed them with basically we're not able we don't have enough what could these disciples
which don't forget were described as babes i think in the last chapter teach the multitudes
what spiritual food could they provide once christ is gone verse 18 he said bring them hither
to me and he commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass and took the five loaves and the two
fishes and look you up to heaven he blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples and
disciples to the multitude notice that jesus didn't give it directly to the multitude himself did he
notice that he gave to the disciples and they then provide for the multitude yeah now i believe that
this is a picture of what's to come with the disciples being the ones responsible for feeding
the believers after christ departure okay this is what's to come now in fact i'm going to show you
this in a minute it's a prophecy of the first church in acts chapter four that's what it is
it's actually a direct prophecy and i'm going to we're going to look at that shortly where does
that spiritual food come from the lord jesus christ was it like a poor man's replacement
not enough to go around because it you know well he had to do it give it to the disciples well
verse 20 says and they did all eat and were filled they were filled and they took up of
the fragments that remained 12 baskets full no they were filled and look they then wrote it
down for us here in this book and we have more than enough to fill us for life don't we
we have more than enough look we we don't have to worry and wonder and are we going to be filled
spiritually because jesus christ isn't walking this earth right now it's all here we don't need
some hidden gospel of thomas do we to give us those extra revelations and i hope no one's ever
been fooled by that sort of rubbish oh there's missing books of the but have you ever heard
anyone say that on the door before yeah yeah i think everyone's probably had that oh what about
the what about the missing books you know what missing books then they just start kind of rambling
a load of nonsense and it's usually just it's just a rejection really it's a rejection of the
preserved word of god we also don't need a load of books about the bible though do we do we need
a load of books about the bible because a lot of people have books about the bible i remember an
old pastor of mine well he used to go around he had like this sort of study cabin in his back
garden and he just had literally a hundred books about the bible but he didn't seem to actually
read the bible very much and you ask him any question you'd be like oh i think there's a
great book on this somewhere you know start looking through amazing really but we don't
need that do we we don't need that but it's also not just some bland meal that just gets the job
done you think of some bland meals things that just kind of fill you up you just get the calories
and at least you fill up now you have to turn this psalm 119 103 says how sweet are thy words
unto my taste yea sweeter than honey to my mouth it's great isn't it the word of god isn't it
amazing it's not just well it just kind of feeds you and keeps you going it's such a sweet such a
great meal such a lovely sweet meal but not a sweet meal where you're kind of regretting it
afterwards and thinking you know i've better not eat too many of these now you can eat it time and
time again now this truth here that we're seeing about you know the the the disciples here being
those that are then relaying it from from jesus christ it's the same with preachers today isn't it
because how on earth can some imperfect person like myself teach you anything from this pulpit
really you know we're going through sort of for example we're going through a series on on
biblical parenting and and if it was just down to me and any of the many messages i preach well what
am i really going to teach anyone here really not much but it's because i'm relaying what the what
what the lord says and obviously we'll try and apply it to our lives and sometimes we're going
to give opinion but the vast majority of what you get in a church like this
and in most you know let's be in a good church is you're going to get the word of god being
relayed being applied to your life being you know put into sort of nowadays in terms of you know
that can apply to certain things in your day-to-day life however it's the word of god isn't it that's
why if someone's behind a pulpit preaching the word of god and they're preaching it especially
if there's a holy spirit you know filling them as they preach it you're going to learn aren't you
and it doesn't matter whether you know does it well as long as they're preaching the word of
god you're going to learn something and we but we do it relaying what jesus christ gives us but
where does that come from the word not some extra biblical dream because then you've got people that
go then the other way like well i'm relaying to you what you know what the holy spirit told me
everything else obviously it has to line up with the word of god now notice also here how there
is still plenty left for the disciples 12 baskets exactly so there's 12 baskets here
that's left over enough for them to be filled too you can say can't you yeah 12 baskets full
perhaps showing how when we distribute for christ we get even more filled ourselves
i don't know you guys i'm sure you know even with the 10 minute sermons those of you that preach
longer sermons and i'll tell you from from my experience as well that when you study for a
sermon look you might be relaying a lot to other people you might be filling them up with you hope
with the word of god but you don't half get filled yourself as well okay and there's a look when
you're when you're when you're ministering the word to others you get filled as well okay and i
think that's what it's saying here now verse 21 says the neither had eaten were about five
thousand men beside women and children now i want you to turn over to acts chapter four
which is the first church starting after jesus ascension in heaven we just see now
how uh jesus is giving the food to the disciples to give to the people here yeah we've just seen
him talking about it being the evening time it's it's you know that it's for me it clearly pictures
him not being there anymore you've turned at acts four there's been the day of pentecost where the
the disciples and peter are preaching we see three thousand souls added to them yeah
then peter and john go to the temple preach to the people look at acts chapter four and verse one
acts four one says and as they spake unto the people the priests and the captain of the temple
and the sadducees came upon them being grieved that they taught the people and preached through
jesus the resurrection from the dead and they laid hands on them and put them in hold until
the next day for it was now eventized they basically put them in prison how be it many of
them which heard the word believed and the number of the men was about five thousand the number of
the men was about five thousand we just read verse 21 in matthew 14 which said and they that
had eaten were about five thousand men beside women and children is that a coincidence well
we're going to keep reading in a second because what happens next after they reach five thousand
in the book of acts i'm going to show you they eventually get released by their leaders from
prison they return and pray to god and then look at verse 29 verse 29 says and now lord behold their
threatenings and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word by stretching
forth thine hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy
child jesus and when they had prayed the place was shaken when they were assembled together
and they were all filled with the holy ghost and they spake the word of god with boldness
and the multitude of them that believed were one of were of one heart and of one soul neither said
any of them that ought of the things which he possessed with his own but they had all things
common and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the lord jesus
and great graces upon them all neither was there any among them that lacked for as many as were
possessive lands or houses sold them and bought the price of the things that were sold and laid
them down at the apostles fee and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need
and joses who by the apostles was surnamed barnabas which is being interpreted the son of
consolation a levite and of the countryside was having land sold it and brought the money
and laid it at the apostles feet the first new testament church just began that was the first
that was the the the start of the first new testament church and it began with five thousand
men five thousand men besides women and children who's leading and feeding them the twelve disciples
what are they feeding them with look at verse 31 and when they had prayed the place was shaken when
they were assembled together they were all filled with the holy ghost and they spake the word of god
with boldness they spake the word of god with boldness the feeding of the five thousand is in
all four gospels it's in all four gospels i believe i have no doubt it was a picture it was
a prophecy of the first church it was jesus christ given to the twelve disciples they're saying don't
go into the villages don't go around and basically and we see later on i'm going to talk about it in
the next chapter when when we talk about the leaven of the pharisees etc they say no no no
come here and i'm going to give to the disciples and they're going to feed you and that's exactly
what we see here so disciples the twelve disciples lead and start the new church and they're feeding
them with what jesus christ gave them it's the word of god five that's not that's not a
coincidence that there was five thousand beside women and children and we've just seen five
thousand beside women and children in matthew's gospel in matthew chapter 14 and what's amazing
is that this this this passage this that that miracle of jesus christ is in all four gospels
which only the resurrection is in all four gospels okay for any of his miracles that is
in all four gospels and after i off like this for me was a real like for me this is like a light
bulb today i was looking at or last uh yeah it was this morning and i was looking at this and
it's something i kind of looked at briefly and was and and we'll be talking about in the next
chapter about the seven etc and it's something i kind of toyed with the idea and then when i
really kind of got it and and saw it in acts four as well after this so i wrote out my my my sermon
and then i i had a look um i thought let's have a little google and see like surely someone surely
something's come up before this you know i just put google you know like feeding of the five
thousand yeah i thought start with that see what's coming up you can imagine the imagine the amongst
the amount of liberal nonsense coming up one jesus just showing that we should all be sharing
that's the message apparently of the five thousand we should all be sharing
and another one was well that the the the feeding of the five thousand was just showing what
how much can be done with so little you know and all these wishy-washy messages these have been
i'm sure preached from so-called pulpits around the world for years but the elephant in the room
is it's a prophecy it's a prophecy of the early church it's one of the prophecies of christ i've
got no doubt about that go back to matthew 14 because there's another lesson as well that we
can get from this book and obviously there are lessons you can get from that miracle okay
and we're going to look at one here and here it says in verse 21 and by the way i didn't eventually
i then put in i thought well let's try this one i put um i put uh feeding of the feeding of the
five thousand prophecy and then it started coming up prophecies of the end times and all the houses
oh man i'm not even gonna bother and i ran out of time anyway but yeah just just to make because
right because the thing is is that really the vast majority of people that preach the gospel
oh sorry preaching the bible that really preaching the bible are they they're just rehashing other
people's other a lot of the time false prophet sermons and stuff but i look if anyone wants to
argue with me about that i think that's clear as day i think when you look at it like that i think
that's clear as day there we'll look back at verse 21 it said and they that had eaten were about
five thousand men beside women and children okay and they've obviously just been fed by the
disciples while what what uh the lord is christ has given them why why were only the men mentioned
hearing in acts okay and remember it was only the men mentioned in acts as well not coincidence
if in fact in john's gospel it says in john 610 and jesus said make the men sit down make the men
sit down this is john 610 now there was much grass in the place so the men sat down in number about
five thousand so it's not just that that he just counts the men and the men are actually the ones
that sit down to receive it and it's not because the women and children are less important anyone
think that god feels that women and children are less importantly like he doesn't feel that they're
less important they have a different role it's not that he feels that they're less important
it's because the men were given a responsibility of providing for their families the men are given
the responsibility of providing and there's two types of provision here physically their physical
needs we as men are given that responsibility to provide for our family survive for the women and
children in our lives and even as far as to say that there are men there that that should be
providing we even see i think in in maybe first timothy about basically providing as a nephew
for a widowed for a widowed auntie for as a child for a widowed mother okay so it's not just for
your if you've got a wife or you've got children but we as men we are command to do that yeah if
any provide not for his own especially for their his own house he's denied the fate and he's worse
than an infidel okay we're we're given that responsibility to provide for the women and
children in our life physically okay and we see that there they're the ones that are going to
line up and queue up and receive the food to them provide for their families but spiritually as well
because it's clearly a picture of of the word of god and of of you know of well you can even say
of jesus christ himself couldn't you the bread there and look we we are we are as men we are
given that responsibility of providing spiritually for our family it's not good enough to just bring
your kids here on a on a sunday sunday and wednesday sunday morning sunday evening wednesday
and that's it that's not that's not providing for your family's spiritual needs they should you
should be talking about the bible every day it should be written upon basically written in areas
of your house shouldn't it says deuteronomy chapter six and we should it should be something
and as fathers if if you've got kids and as husbands if you've got wives and look if you
don't when you do if you do and if you never will well you know hey ho you're one of the one of the
the few that that probably won't look we should be providing their spiritual needs that means
teaching them teaching them the word of god there's only so much you can get from here
and and look women and children need guidance in life they're amazing at many things they do
need guidance now there will be women who don't have that for whatever reason and look they they
therefore even more so need to be in the word of god even more they need to be relying on the
guidance of the word of god even more they need to basically be relying on the lord jesus christ
instead of that husband instead of that father figure there are children that don't have that
either sadly they're ones who aren't saved in many different circumstances but we have a
responsibility to provide spiritually for our children it's not just enough to bring him to
church anyway that's another message out of that out of that there it was the the the five thousand
men beside women and children okay verse 22 then says in straight way jesus constrained his
disciples to get into a ship and to go before him unto the other side while he sent the multitude
away and when he had sent the multitudes away he went up into a mountain apart to pray
when evening was come he was there alone so the disciples are in a ship
and jesus has gone for some lone prayer time and we need some lone prayer time sometimes don't we
yeah i hope everyone here makes a point of getting some alone prayer time and sometimes
if you have a busy life you have you know children family members whatever it is sometimes you need
to kind of make time for that and god wants you to make time for that here it was i think here
well at least we know the evening comes maybe gone up there early in the morning we see regularly in
the gospels jesus christ rising early to go into a desert place or to go somewhere quiet to go and
pray to the lord and that's a great time to pray to the lord isn't it early in the morning and
we we should all be seeking that yeah we should have some alone time with god as well and it's
look we should be praying we should be praying without ceasing i think we should be praying
throughout the day we should be constantly praying but we should also have that alone time where
you're just alone with god praying to god if you don't do that make that part of your day make that
part of your routine um here jesus christ gives us that example he went up into a mountain apart
to pray and look he's got a lot of multitudes here that are kind of seeking him for one reason or
another sometimes you got to go up into the mountain to pray don't you it's not so easy
as just setting your alarm early you got to go somewhere far you got to go you got to go and
fight and you got to put some effort in sometimes to pray alone to god that's just the way it goes
isn't it okay so he goes up into a mountain apart to pray and when the evening was come he was there
alone but the ship was now in the midst of the sea tossed with waves for the wind was contrary
now just out of interest john's gospel said that it was 25 to 35 furlongs away from land so about
seven miles seven or eight miles or something away and in the fourth watch of the night jesus
went under there walking on the sea so so not only is he walking on the water he's been walking for
quite a long time it looks like as well right along the water and when a disciple saw him
walking on the sea they were troubled saying it is the spirit and they cried out for fear now you
can understand they're being a bit shaken here because sometimes we can you know read this guy
stupid disciple of course it's jesus oh you know why wouldn't it have been jesus for just walking
along the wall they hadn't seen him do this before hadn't they okay this is and and by the way he was
meant to be up in a mountain praying they're they're kind of seven miles in in the sea of
galley and suddenly there's someone walking and obviously i don't think they could just clearly
say i don't think it was probably like i'm sure there are some catholic paintings of some golden
glowing long head in some white dress no that's not how jesus christ looked i'm sure he looked
pretty regular as anyone else hence the gospels aren't full of people saying things like what on
earth did this guy look well you'll notice him because he's a guy in the dress yeah no it's not
because he was a normal guy yeah he he was a regular guy you know he had no form nor comeliness
you know no beauty that we should design he was just a normal regular guy he's a regular guy that
was a carpenter for sort of his out for how many years up until 30 of his adult life and and he's
walking on water and they're just they're just seeing in a distance with the wind going with the
waves going because remember that it's boisterous here and everything else the the sea and it's
tossed with waves the wind so it was contrary and they're looking out there and they're just like
what is who is there's some guy walking on the water and what do they think did they say oh it
must be an alien it must be it must be an alien yeah because that's what you'd automatically
think with you well not if you hadn't had a load of sci-fi brainwash yeah did they go oh well it
must be a ghost it must be like some sort of ghost maybe in a cape that's whoo no they go it must be
a spirit what do they mean by spirit a familiar spirit yeah devil they're just like that's the
devil yeah that's quite a normal response isn't it yeah i know like we like to think in this
nation that we're just so rational now you know you know a lot of people would wouldn't they
now a lot of people i'm sure they're people that look at this going you know what what sort of
stories are these because we've just got it all solved and we science has got it all solved
no normal people would look at that and go that's a spirit what on earth like what and they would
probably be pretty flighty because it's coming towards them walking on the water yeah so they
cried out for fear okay again pretty normal yeah i think probably most of us here would probably do
the same okay but straightway jesus spake unto them saying be of good cheer it is i be not afraid
so jesus does speak to us when we're afraid doesn't he jesus talks to you when you're afraid you're
going well wait a second brother ian what do you mean you've been hearing voices or something at
night well he does if you're listening to him how do you listen to him the word of god when you when
you're afraid jesus is talking to you it's just up to you if you want to listen open your ears i.e
open the book open the book when you're scared when you're when you're in hard times when you're
fearful when there's times when you're troubled open the book he is talking to you straight way
okay they cried out for fear but straightway jesus spake unto them it's there it's there you could
straightway you could see something scary and straightway have jesus talk to you if you wanted
or you could see something scary and keep away from the word of god and then it just starts
manifesting you start having more and more trouble yeah straightway jesus spake unto them
saying be of good cheer desire be not afraid and look he you know there's many times he says
similar things throughout the gospel i was just thinking of john 14 1 let not your heart be
troubled you believe in god believe also me yeah we don't have to be afraid we do get afraid
and that's when we need to remind ourselves with scripture that jesus christ says not to be afraid
we believe in him yeah if we believe in him we don't really have to be afraid do we because
ultimately what's going to happen even if look we don't have to fear them that can kill the body
because we're going to heaven yeah and peter answered him and said lord if it be thou bid me
come unto thee on the water and he said come and when peter was come down out of the ship
he walked on the water to go to jesus now peter did do some amount of walking on water here didn't
he he didn't say he tried he didn't say oh well you know peter came down out the ship and started
drowning he walked on the water to go to jesus pretty amazing isn't it although like peter
sometimes is a butt of jokes isn't he and he seems to be he's a he's an amazing character isn't he
sometimes we you know we might knock him a bit and he's obviously denied jesus three times he comes
out with some silly things sometimes he wears his sort of heart on his sleeve a bit but he did walk
on water he did walk on water that's pretty cool isn't it so peter peter did walk on water briefly
and by the way not and obviously this isn't jesus christ glorified body but obviously he is
100 god as well there but peter didn't have a glorified body at this time he just walked on
water amazing but when he saw the wind boisterous he was afraid and beginning to sink he cried
saying lord save me and immediately jesus stretched forth his hand and called him and said
unto him oh thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt when they were come into the ship the
wind ceased so peter's peter's water walking was hampered by his doubt wasn't it by his little
faith that's what kind of ruined it so he had a good start he could have done some something even
more amazing carried on but it was hampered by well his little faith it says his doubt
you have to turn there luke 17 6 the famous verse says and the lord said if he had faith as a grain
of mustard seed you might sound to the sycamore tree be thou plucked up by the root and be thou
planted in the sea and it should obey you and and look faith is a you know it's all about faith i
mean we see throughout throughout the bible i mean we even saw last week he could not do many
whitey works because they had no faith because they believe not about his family and the people
in his hometown and look we need faith don't we and we need to to have that faith that things
happen the doubt is what ruins many great works we could do for god um but there are also a couple
of applications here too to this story i believe so firstly you could say is jesus ability to
physically save us from tribulation in life because that's what we see here he physically
saves him from look i know he kind of chose to walk out on the water but then he's he starts
drowning doesn't he psalm 9 9 says the lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in
times of trouble he is a refuge isn't he the lord will help us the lord will physically save us
it's not just spiritual salvation god wants us to call out to him he wants to help us sometimes we
have to suffer a while sometimes we will get established and strengthened from that suffering
but other times you know he'll he can do things quickly sometimes you'll see prayers answered very
quickly when you call out to him peter called out and jesus saved him didn't he okay so there we see
that picture of that but secondly for me it's a picture of salvation as well okay jesus uh
obviously peter saved but but it's a picture of salvation he's sinking due to a lack of faith but
the second that he calls on the name of the lord verse 31 and immediately jesus stretched
forth his hand and called him because it is as quick as that he didn't wait until he'd done
some amount of swimming did he he wasn't like he called out and he thought well let's just you know
peter i need peter to kind of to turn his life around himself a little bit yeah it needs to be
a bit 50 50 i'm not going to be as easy as just reach down and lift him out let's let him have
a little swim first you know we can kind of do it together maybe i'll give him you know i'll give
him like a kind of little rubber ring but then i'm going to make him kind of paddle his way back
whilst in the ring no jesus christ is able in fact he's the only way you can get saved spiritually
and immediately there immediately jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and like i said he
caught him he caught him he didn't share the effort did he now verse 33 says after that then
they that were in the ship came and worshiped him saying of the truth thou art the son of god and
just while we're talking about the picture of salvation this isn't a moment of salvation for
for the disciples here their faith is basically strengthened here they're worshiping him okay
it's like when we sing songs going now art this so art that they're just saying oh the truth
that the son of god it's just they're just kind of basically reinforcing their worship from their
faith in him their faith is being has been strengthened by this incident and and what was
the precursor to their faith being strengthened the wind the wind being contrary the fear the fear
of maybe it was a spirit walking on the wall all these so often it's after we go through
tribulation and then our faith is strengthened but so often when we're going through the tribulation
our faith starts to waver like peters did here and then afterwards it's like truly thou art the
son of god okay and we need to kind of probably take a lifetime of reminding ourselves when you're
through tribulation don't let your face get weak but it does doesn't it but we often get so much
stronger from tribulation don't we but here obviously yeah a picture of salvation there as
well that immediate stretching forth is that the second he's called that he calls out for him
doesn't he he calls on the name of the lord and the lord immediately pushes and are you calling
the name of the lord in faith that he can save you it's split second yeah you're saved and
it's not there's no waiting time it's not oh well just have to work a bit harder just have to you
know call in the right way and maybe show him that i'm willing he had to just be willing to swim
it didn't sound like peter was willing to swim did it no he wasn't willing to try and save himself
was he he wasn't willing to do no he just called out and immediately jesus christ saved him
verse 33 oh sorry verse 34 and when they were gone over they came into the land of
gennesaret okay so this is another coastal town beside the sea of galilee on the west side of
galilee there and when the men of that place had knowledge of him they sent out into all that
country round about and brought unto him all that were diseased i just think yeah because you're
thinking well why would they get in a boat like the boat should be an easy kind of way of traveling
right rather than skirting around what is yeah it's a sea of lake whatever you want to call it
i mean it's a mediterranean a sea of a lake and obviously this is much smaller than the med but
it's it's basically it's huge yeah it's huge so rather than skirting around it but you could say
that maybe in hindsight after a few trips they might maybe go every time we seem to do what
should be an easy journey we end up with some sort of storm and everything else you know maybe
maybe we should next i'll go on for but theoretically they're like jumping a ship
you know quick sail a lot of these guys are fishermen they shouldn't really be uh it should
be kind of kids play child's play for them really okay so they they've got onto the other side now
they got to the west side and when the men of that place had knowledge of him they sent out into all
that country round about and brought unto him all that were diseased and besought him that they
might only touch the hem of his garment and as many as touched were made perfectly whole okay so
what's required for salvation was it to hold on to his garment to bury yourself in it to really
really you know to to invite him into your life to yeah they love that one don't they well you
got to accept him into your heart at least okay i accept you into my heart now it's even me
so weird it's just so sketchy isn't it on purpose all that because then you can kind of then when
someone asks you wait a second the Bible says grace be to be afraid oh yeah of course then
when someone else goes oh yeah but you know you can't just do any other thing well yeah you know
you've got to actually accept your heart yeah it's like you kind of got both sides there and
it's like a good kind of middle ground isn't it but no they might only touch the hem of his garment
okay and that is it's it's bare minimum isn't it okay that is a bare minimum that is all that's
needed okay it is a bit of all that it touched the hem of his garment that's the very bottom
of his garment you touch that and obviously the picture here is of salvation okay now it's an
interesting thing though when you read this you could read this that they pleaded to even just
touch the hem of his garment you could couldn't you oh well then we're just like they besought
him that you know at least let us touch the garment you can read it like that but you could
read it that that was all they wanted to do couldn't you and besought him that they might
only touch the hem of his garment i mean i might be wrong there maybe i'm going a bit too far here
but look maybe let's just beseech can we just be cleansed tilde that's it and you might think what
am i talking about there's a lot of people out there like that they're almost when you tell them
look it's not about going to church it's not about this or that then there is prick a little bit
oh i'm up for the free gift yeah it's a free gift right it is a free gift but look a lot of
salvations are like that aren't they they're almost pleading well as long as i only have to
like take a free gift as long as i only have to touch the hem of his garment
but that's all i want to do and that's most people get saved isn't it sadly nowadays most people just
want to they're beseeching him to only touch the hem of his garment because they don't want to
serve because they don't want to do the other stuff and but that is the gospel they don't have
to and it's kind of look and obviously look we don't want to you know kind of be encouraging
people from church but when you preach the gospel we do make that very clear don't we and how many
people it seems are besieged that they're kind of as long as i could just just get saved and go my
own way i was talking about this feast here you can have someone i'm sure many here have experienced
that you can have someone who seems so receptive so engaged so into the word of god they get saved
you know it's one of those where you're not thinking oh yeah i think they got it i think
you're just like yeah got saved you start talking about going to church afterwards and you see the
countenance change and they and it changes and they're like and suddenly they're kind of making
excuses oh yeah well yeah don't call me i'll call you type thing and okay yeah well and look they
understood the gospel yeah they understood the gospel they got saved but they never had any
intention of serving god and i know i preached this on sunday but you can't preach it enough
because there's so many false prophets preaching the opposite there's so many people and it affects
people and they're people that sit in churches still start getting doubts stuff well it's just
like maybe we're doing it too quick maybe we should have done the discipleship course
maybe we shouldn't have gone out and just preached what the word of god says
done it how we see you know people in the bible do we went through examples from for example
philip you know the evangelist we saw that example we see jesus christ doing it we see him sitting
down with that woman and just preaching to her no no maybe we should actually have like a
discipleship course and get them in here and spend a month with them then they'll stay in the church
yeah and most of those people don't even get saved in those sorts of churches but you will get down
and you've got to shake that you've got to you look resist that resist that because it's all
the wickedness outlets all the false prophets outlets all the false religion out there it's
all the little seeds of that those little naysayers say things like did they really get
saved well let's hope they come to church well if they come to church that would be great you know
and all that sort of stuff yeah it would be great but when you've just talked about saving someone
who's now no longer going to hell and he's going to heaven isn't that time to rejoice it's a time
to rejoice isn't it it's not a time to start basically trying and it's what these people do
i've been in churches where they you know these pasts will do it and it's really a lot of if
they're saved it's just because they're completely bitter completely just defensive that they're not
preaching the gospel they're not going out and trying to get people saved so then they put a
slant on it then they try and just discourage you try and try and make you feel like well maybe that
wasn't a salvation because they're not turning up a church the bible didn't say they're gonna
turn up a church and and here i don't know you could read that and besought him that they might
only touch the hem of his garment that's what it looks like to me there and as many as touched
oh as many as only touched him with his garment weren't quite saved
as many as touched the hem of his garment then did a sort of a garment touching course
no no they did not as many as touched were made perfectly whole perfectly whole they're saved
except for to discipleship isn't it that's what was required for salvation and
what a chapter eh i did get through it a good time there okay that was bang on there i think and um
yeah uh there's so much there isn't there you could preach so much that but um yeah i hope
that's helped everyone there i hope that's been edifying um i learned a lot studying that over
last uh yesterday evening and today so um yeah i hope that's helped and uh yeah let's go to the
lord in prayer to finish off father thank you um thank you for for you know a great um great
chapter of the bible there thank you for you know those those great pictures that you give us in in
in the gospels especially but all over the bible lord and just how rich it is just so much there
just how rich it is just so much there to unravel and to compare and to and so many um so many truths
we can get out your word lord i hope that we'll not just just kind of just take an interest and
enjoy seeing those but also you know trying to apply those to our lives lord and at the least
just to just to get that strength at that you know from knowing that your word is just that amazing
you know all glory to you just just what you know what an amazing book we have there help us to
want to read it want to study it want to just keep keep going through it lord and also to to
then apply it to our lives and and you know no more so than going out and preaching the gospel
lord help us to um to just you know whether it's in our you know in our day-to-day life and or the
soul winning times they come up this week and onwards lord help us to just go out and preach
the gospel get people saved lord and um help us to all get home safely and get back on sunday
for another day in your house in Jesus name we pray all of this amen