The Sufficient King

[0:00] Heavenly Father, we humble ourselves before you and we assume a posture of submission and worship as we come to your word to hear it read and preach.

[0:25] We want to walk away struck by, inspired by the glorious vision that Luke conveys to us here of Jesus Christ our King who satisfies us, who saves us, who loves us.

[0:51] So please, God, by your spirit, move. Illuminate the eyes of our hearts so that we might see through eyes of faith and take hold of these truths.

[1:05] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Luke chapter 9, verses 1 through 17. And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases.

[1:23] And he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. And he said to them, And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

[1:59] Now, Herod the Tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen.

[2:14] Herod said, John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things? And he sought to see him. On their return, the apostles told him all that they had done.

[2:27] And he took them and withdrew of heart to a town called Bethsaida. When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing.

[2:41] Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.

[2:57] But he said to them, You give them something to eat. They said, We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.

[3:11] For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each. And they did so, and had them all sit down.

[3:25] And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And they all ate and were satisfied.

[3:38] And what was left over was picked up. Twelve baskets of broken pieces. This is the word of the Lord.

[3:50] In Judges 7, God commands Gideon to reduce his army of 32,000 soldiers to 300 before going to war against Israel's Midianite enemies.

[4:05] In Exodus 3 and 4, God calls a nobody named Moses, who has speech impediments, to go and tell Pharaoh, the most powerful king, the ruler at the time in the world, to free the Israelites who made up his slave workforce.

[4:23] And Moses is sent there with nothing but a staff in his hand. And in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says in Matthew 6, 25-34, that his disciples have to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and not worry at all about what to eat, drink, or wear.

[4:42] So all of these things, they kind of form a pattern. They represent a pattern of God's activity throughout Scripture that he does not use competent, confident, independent, and self-sufficient people as his normal mode of operation.

[4:58] rather, he uses the humble and weak people who are dependent on him to accomplish his purposes. And God does this for his own glory.

[5:10] Because prideful and self-sufficient people take the credit themselves after doing what God told them to do. But humble and dependent people bring God glory. And we see this pattern play out in our passage for today, which teaches us, the main point is that we are to declare and demonstrate the kingdom of God with the power and provision from the Lord Jesus Christ.

[5:35] And we see, first, Jesus empowers the apostles, then Jesus perplexes Herod, then Jesus provides for the crowd. First, let's look at how Jesus empowers the apostles.

[5:46] It says in verses 1-2, that Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. And he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.

[5:59] So earlier in chapter 6, Jesus appointed his twelve apostles and he chose twelve of them intentionally as an allusion to the twelve tribes of Israel. These are the people who will lead the charge in bringing together, gathering the people of God, the new Israel.

[6:14] And in this passage, Jesus calls these twelve and he gives them, on the one hand, power, and on the other hand, authority over demons and diseases. The authority is the right to do something and power is the ability to do something.

[6:32] The other gospels use the word to capture authority to capture both meanings, but here it distinguishes them because you could have authority like a king but actually have no power and you could be like a rebel who has power but has no actual authority and a right to do something.

[6:47] And Jesus has both and imparts both here to his disciples. He is the son of God and the Messiah and therefore he has the authority to speak and act for God as the divine agent and he has demonstrated throughout the last chapter in chapter 8 his power over natural disasters, over nature itself, and over diseases, and over demons, and over death itself.

[7:10] He has shown that systematically throughout chapter 8 and now that same authority and power he is giving, bestowing on his disciples as he sends them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.

[7:23] And this authority over demons and diseases represent the signs that God gives to demonstrate the arrival of the kingdom of God and that's the purpose it serves.

[7:35] It points to something else that the kingdom has come, that Jesus is the king that was promised and Jesus is permitting and empowering these apostles to extend Jesus' mission. And Jesus' mission is this, to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.

[7:51] Here and in the summary that's given in verse 6, there are two parts to this mission. The first part is that there's something we must say and the second part is that there's something we must do.

[8:04] It involves proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ and the second, the demonstration of it by good works. The word proclaim is the Greek word from which we get the English word evangelize.

[8:19] It means to share the good news of the kingdom of God, the good news of the arrival of King Jesus for our salvation. That Jesus, who is the king, took up the cross as his throne and put on the wreath of thorns as his crown and from there he reigns over his people and have been raised from the dead after his death.

[8:38] He reigns over his people and brings them to himself. And because this is news, it has to be shared, it has to be spoken, it has to be announced, requires verbal communication.

[8:50] The word heal, as I mentioned earlier, is also representative of the kind of good works that God's people are to do, that give evidence of the kingdom of God. Works of healing can be done through miracles and gifts of healing like 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 9 to 10 talk about.

[9:08] They could also take place through gifts of service, generosity, and acts of mercy as Romans 12, 7 to 8 talk about. All of these are described as spiritual gifts, gifts that are sovereignly distributed by the Holy Spirit and for that reason it's not biblical to make a distinction and say, well, these are supernatural gifts and these are natural gifts.

[9:30] They're all energized by the same Spirit of God and they have the same divine origin. And they are given so that we might heal and give evidence of the kingdom of God.

[9:42] And both of these are indispensable aspects of bearing faithful witness to Jesus Christ. And of course, for that reason, it's Satan's business to tempt us to do one while neglecting the other.

[9:55] And he likes to swing the pendulum from one extreme to the other. For example, there are Christians who think that just because they're helping the poor throughout the city or because they volunteer their summer vacation to go build houses or dig wells for people without clean water that they're now engaging in holistic ministry despite the fact that they haven't taken the time to share the saving news of Jesus Christ with anyone that they're helping.

[10:27] That's not a holistic ministry. That's a reductionistic ministry. A truncated ministry. And the allure of that kind of ministry is obvious.

[10:40] Everyone wants to receive healing. Everyone wants a more just society. So it's popular to do these works of mercy. But it's decidedly not popular to tell people that they are sinners in need of a Savior.

[10:54] that all of their social ills ultimately stem from their alienation from God from the fundamental problem of sin. That they must submit their lives to King Jesus.

[11:06] But we can't compromise that message. In his, in the modern classic theological work Knowing God, theologian J.I. Packer puts it this way.

[11:19] We have all heard the gospel presented as God's triumphant answer to human problems. Problems of our relation with ourselves and our fellow humans and our environment.

[11:31] Well, there is no doubt that the gospel does bring us solutions to these problems. But it does so by first solving a deeper problem. The deepest of all human problems.

[11:42] The problem of man's relation with his maker. And unless we make it plain that the solution of these former problems depends on the settling of this latter one, we are misrepresenting the message and becoming false witnesses of God.

[11:58] For a half-truth presented as if it were the whole truth becomes something of a falsehood by that very fact. Those who heal without proclaiming the good news are like lawyers who present their evidence without bringing a claim.

[12:16] without arguing the case. On the other hand, there are Christians who evangelize without healing.

[12:29] They're eager to share the gospel and engage in Christian apologetics but they seem to lack the grace and charity of Christ. They proclaim the love of Christ but don't give evidence of the love of Christ through their lives.

[12:44] and the allure of that kind of ministry is obvious also. You short-circuit the gospel and you engage in proclamation without transformation.

[12:57] You share the good news with people without doing good to them and for them. In Titus chapter 2, Paul teaches us that a believer's life is to be characterized by good works so that the word of God may not be revived.

[13:15] So that in everything they may adorn, the good works may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. Our good works are supposed to adorn our good news. And when the king begins to reign, his policies, kingdom policies begin to take effect.

[13:31] So if you're telling someone that Christ the king reigns in your life, you need to show them the effects of the kingdom. How has the rule and power of this king affected your life and the life of those around you?

[13:46] Those who proclaim the kingdom without healing are like lawyers who vigorously make their case but present no evidence. It brings disrepute to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[14:01] And the church throughout its history has done both. Historians, Alvin Schmidt points out in his book How Christianity Changed the World that it's Christian influence on government that was primarily responsible for outlawing infanticide and child abandonment and abortion which disproportionately affected baby girls in the Roman Empire.

[14:24] the same was true for outlawing the Roman gladiatorial games and instituting prison reforms such as segregating males and females in the prison stopping the practice of human sacrifice among the Irish the Prusians and the Lithuanians as well as among the other nations outlawing pedophilia granting property rights and other protections to women banning polygamy prohibiting the burning alive of widows in India outlawing the painful and crippling practice of binding young women's feet in China persuading government officials to begin a system of public education in Germany William Wilberforce a devout Christian fighting for the abolition of slavery as well as many others here in the U.S.

[15:16] the two-thirds of the American abolitionists in the mid-1830s were Christian clergy two-thirds and not only these works of healing these Christians throughout history have faithfully proclaimed the word of Christ as well that salvation is found in no other name but the name of Jesus that eliminating poverty and helping people get out of debt on earth is not enough but that we must teach people to store up treasures in heaven and to use every penny that they own for the glory of God that abolishing slavery on earth is not enough but that we must abolish slavery to sin and to Satan so that they experience the freedom of the Holy Spirit that merely educating people to read, write, and do math and sciences is not enough that to gain employable skills is not enough but that they must learn about the person of Jesus Christ who is the way the truth and the life we have to do both so let's be a church that does both well and we have great opportunities to do that today is Palm Sunday next Sunday is Resurrection Sunday and there will be a group of people as we announced that will go around today after service going door to door through our neighborhood sharing the gospel and inviting people to come if you normally shy away from those things like that this is a great opportunity for you to step out in faith we also have a week of service coming up as Rick mentioned if those are things that you don't normally bother with that's a great opportunity for you to demonstrate the kingdom of God through our love and good works and after this teaching Jesus gives some more specific instructions that are very curious he says in verses 3 to 5 take nothing for your journey no staff nor bag nor bread nor money and do not have two tunics and whatever house you enter stay there and from there depart in other words they are to go as they are without taking time to pack extra provisions for their journey instead of relying on their own resources they are to depend on the hospitality of those who receive them and their message and instead of going from house to house they are to use the first house that they enter into in a village as their base and stay there and minister until they leave the town this of course raises the question of whether or not we should be doing missions the same way and in fact there are some missions and organizations

[18:03] I think miscited that do exactly this but I think Luke chapter 22 35 to 37 when Jesus recalls this incident with his disciples answers that question and Jesus said to them when I sent you out with no money bag or knapsack or sandals did you lack anything they said nothing he said to them but now let the one who has a money bag take it and likewise a knapsack and let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and by one for I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me and he was numbered with the transgressors for what is written about me has its fulfillment so Jesus clearly before his death on the cross he modifies this instruction for the twelve and the reason he modifies it is that for I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me and he was numbered with the transgressors in other words

[19:04] Jesus will be treated he will be persecuted and he will be killed as a sinner and he will be and for that reason those who follow him will likely be persecuted as sinners and for that reason they are no longer to count on the receptivity and hospitality of the people around them they are to take provisions with them so obviously Jesus' instructions to the twelve here in our passage does not apply directly to us literally but if that's the case why does Jesus instruct his disciples this way now why did God preserve this account for us to benefit from and learn from because even if the specific practice does not apply to us now the general principle that this passage is teaching us I think does still apply and that point is this first by traveling with no extra provisions the apostles are forced to learn dependence on God on God's provision a Bible commentator named James Edwards helpfully puts it this way

[20:12] Jesus sends them into mission with a calculated deficit reminding them clearly perhaps even painfully that they are prepared for mission only as they depend on him service of Jesus is characterized by dependence on Jesus and dependence on Jesus means going where Jesus sends despite material shortfalls and unanswered questions a calculated deficit some of you feel that you are inadequate for what God is calling you to do perhaps you're a husband that is called to love his wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her in order that you might sanctify her but you find that you're not patient gracious and selfless like Jesus perhaps you're a mother that is called to love and care for her children and bring them up in the instruction and discipline of the Lord but every day you feel physically and emotionally exhausted and you're at the end of your rooms perhaps you're a student called to share the gospel of Jesus

[21:32] Christ with your peers in an environment that is intellectually hostile toward Christianity and you don't feel qualified competent enough to do that perhaps you're a church planting pastor or a missionary that does not know where the funding is going to come from perhaps you're an overworked employee wondering just how you're going to find the time to love and share the good news of Jesus with your co-workers and neighbors you don't feel smart enough you don't feel trained enough you don't feel godly enough you don't feel old enough you don't feel young enough to proclaim the kingdom and to heal but have you considered that God has given you a calculated deficit to make you depend on him have you ever considered that God hasn't answered all of your questions because he wants you to learn to walk by faith not by sight

[22:35] Jesus sends out his apostles not with their own authority and power but with his authority and power and he sends them out not with their own provisions but dependent on the provision of God now that does not mean that those who depend on God will never know any lack in verse five Jesus clearly anticipates occasions when the twelve will not be received hospitably by the townspeople so there will be times when they are not received and they're going to have to make that long and arduous journey to the next town without food and without money but that too is a calculated deficit so that we look to God for provision instead of providing for ourselves and likewise we as the church we are to declare and demonstrate the kingdom of

[23:35] God with the power and provision from the Lord Jesus Christ that's our calling and that's what we can boast in our weaknesses and come to our city with empty hands praying that we can use us amen the second point of Jesus' instruction to his messengers is this they have to minister with simplicity integrity and transparency and not use the gospel for selfish gain in Matthew 10 9-10 it explicitly says this it's a parallel passage to this is to acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts no bag for your journey or two tunics or sandals or staff for the laborer deserves his food gospel laborers like other laborers deserve their food they deserve a living wage but and God is going to provide that through the hospitality of their hosts however they are not to use the people's hospitality and generosity as an opportunity for selfish gain to acquire gold or silver or copper for their belts they are to travel without bag and money and stay at one house the whole time that they're in the town this was in stark contrast to the traveling philosophers and other religious missionaries and teachers of their day they were these

[24:59] Greek and Jewish itinerant preachers they carried a bag with them which they used to beg and to take up collections and instead of staying in one house they would go from house to house and make collections in each one but Jesus says you are not to do that do not enrich yourself with the gospel they have to proclaim the kingdom and to heal to benefit the hearers not to exploit them those who peddle the gospel for selfish gain cheapen the cost that Jesus paid to save us Jesus paid for our salvation with his blood he died for us he gave his life for us and you're going to sell that precious gospel for money currency that has zero value in eternity that's to cheapen the gospel of Jesus

[26:03] Christ the gospel is not a commodity to be exploited for God Jesus also adds in verse five and wherever they do not receive you when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them this is a very serious warning to those who might reject the twelve those who might reject Jesus the expression shake off the dust from your feet is very close to the way you use the expression like shake it off and it means good witness you shake off people's criticism their rejections and then you move on it was a common practice among the Jews to shake off the dust from their feet when leaving Gentile territory basically saying to themselves let the uncleanness come off of me and what's radical about what Jesus is saying here is that he's supplying that figure of speech to Jewish towns

[27:05] Jesus is saying if you reject my message if you reject my messengers your ethnicity your nationality your class your race make no difference you're cut off from the saving grace of God there's no salvation apart from the name of Jesus Christ and you're not a member of the kingdom of God if you have shunned in and so this shaking up the dust is a visual representation of God's judgment and this message of the kingdom now spreads through the apostles and as the message spreads it reaches the ears of even the rulers and we get to your second point here Jesus perplexes Herod which is Herod the tetrarch Herod is described here as the tetrarch in order to distinguish him from Herod the first also known as

[28:08] Herod the great Herod the great was not so great he is the one who ordered the massacre of all boys under the age of two in Bethlehem in an attempt to kill Jesus in Matthew 2 Herod died just a couple years after that and this is Herod the tetrarch a different Herod his name is Herod Antipas he reigned over a quarter of the Roman empire starting in 680 and he was the ruler over Galilee which is the region of Jesus' primary ministry it says in verses 7 to 9 that now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead by some that Elijah had appeared and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen Herod said John I beheaded but who is this about whom I hear such things that he sought to see him in Luke chapter 3 we were told that this Herod was rebuked by John the

[29:08] Baptist because he married Herodias who was his half brother's divorced wife so Herod and Herodias had both divorced their respective spouses with knowledge in order to remarry each other so this sin was simultaneously adulterous and incestuous and John the Baptist courageously rebuked him for that and this angered Herod and Herod put John in prison so here in verse 9 we learn that Herod did not stop but imprisoning John he actually went further and beheaded him and so when Herod heard about all that Jesus and his apostles were doing he was perplexed there were three main speculations about who Jesus might be and the first was the possibility that Jesus was a resurrected John the Baptist that obviously would have been a frightening possibility for the guy who beheaded John the Baptist you can tell he's carrying a guilty conscience with him second was a rumor that Jesus might be a reappearance of Elijah since the prophet never died according to scripture 2nd Kings 2 11 he was taken up by a whirlwind and since

[30:16] Malachi prophesied in particular that God will in his last day send the prophet Elijah to go before and prepare the way for God there was this expectation for Elijah to return but we know from Luke 1 chapter 17 that it's not Jesus that's Elijah it's John the Baptist that's Elijah and preparing the way for God who is Jesus the son of God God in human flesh the third speculation was that people thought well people still sometimes people mistakenly think that this is a form of reincarnation of one of the old prophets had risen again there's no concept of reincarnation for people in the Jews in this context they only believed in resurrection and so they were speculating that some of the old prophets perhaps had been resurrected or maybe that someone like them had come so in Deuteronomy 18 15 it says that God would raise up for his people a prophet like Moses so there were popular expectations for return of some great prophet of old like

[31:16] Moses that will lead Israel back to God and restore the kingdom of God so these reports and rumors puzzled Herod and he wondered who is this about whom I hear such things he sought to see him and that question is a recurring question throughout the gospel of Luke who then is this that's the same question that's been asked three times already who is this Jesus and that's the right question to ask and you should ask it yourself who is this Jesus have you come to terms with who Jesus really is but there's a lesson here for us as we consider that question in Herod's curiosity it says twice in verse 7 and verse 9 that Herod heard about Jesus but that wasn't enough for him he sought to see him it says in verse 9 and there's a contrast here between hearing and seeing that's been played on in the past in the gospel of

[32:22] Luke and Jesus repeatedly emphasized in the parable of the sword given in chapter 8 that the good news of the kingdom is to be received through the hearing of the word and Jesus taught this he said take care then how you hear Luke 8 18 and he said that the family of God is made up of those who hear the word of God and do it that's why Romans 10 17 says so faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ in light of that background it's suggested that Herod hears but instead of believing he seeks to see Jesus Herod lacks faith and we see this clearly later in Luke chapter 23 when Herod finally sees him he says when Herod saw Jesus he was very glad for he had long desire to see him because he had heard about him and was hoping to see some sign done by him

[33:31] Herod wanted a spectacle he wanted Jesus to prove himself according to Herod's lofty standards but in Luke 11 Jesus explicitly condemns such self-centered and presumptuous demand for signs this generation is an evil generation he seeks for a sign but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah for as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh so will the son of man be to this generation the sign of Jonah is a reference to Jesus death and resurrection God has sent his God has sent his only son Jesus Christ to die for our sins and to be raised from the dead to give us eternal resurrection life and we have the nerve to ask him for a sign forgiveness we are the rebels that should be bowing down before the king begging for his pardon and we are the criminals that should be pleading guilty and begging for clemency before the court of the judge we are the sinful creatures that have violated the will of our creator that should be coming begging for his forgiveness and yet these human beings have the audacity to ask

[35:01] God for a sign God will not demean himself by caring to our frightful whims just so to clarify Jesus did perform signs and wonders that proved his messianic identity but he did that for those who hungly put their trust in him he refused to pander to the presumptuous demands of the faithless and that's because of this because following God requires faith and humility it requires faith and humility to take God at his word and to submit to him every aspect of our lives and those who will only believe when God performs some kind of miracle on demand that erases all doubt show that they are not willing to submit to God on his own terms those who will only believe God on their own terms will only obey God on their own terms instead of conforming their life to God's purposes they will conform

[36:05] God to their own personal preferences and because they are still seeking to maintain control of their lives and stay in the driver's seat no Jesus will not cater to that if you ask this question who is this Jesus you have now heard of this Jesus do you believe him or are you still waiting for a sign are you intrigued curious perplexed perhaps but nothing more are you still on the outside looking in enter in join join us as we follow Jesus together so Jesus empowers the apostles he perplexes

[37:07] Herod and in this next session Jesus provides for the crowd and by doing so Jesus further reveals who he really is he says in verse 10 on their return the apostles told them all that they had done and he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida so the twelve apostles have returned from their mission journey and they report back to Jesus what they have done and such an intense mission journey it's after such an intense journey it's natural to withdraw for some privacy and rest that's exactly what Jesus seeks to do for his disciples in verse 10 but things don't go as planned because he said in verse 11 when the crowds learned it they followed him and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing Jesus is not annoyed that the crowds won't leave them alone for some much needed rest he doesn't turn them away instead he says he welcomed them and once again he proclaims the kingdom and he heals them we can see Jesus' compassion in this story because when we bring our needs to God he's not fed up with us our unceasing requests he's not irritated by us he's gracious and full of compassion he welcomes us we sin countless times and sometimes it's the same sin over and over again and yet when we come to

[38:38] Jesus for forgiveness and healing what we need is not an exasperated Lord but a compassionate one doesn't that make you want to come to him with all of your needs he's magnanimous so much so he says in verse 12 now the day began to wear away and the twelve came and said to him send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions for we are here in a desolate place I'm checking the time here and I'm running a little late but I'm not running as late as Jesus was the day wore away and they're in the middle of nowhere so if you don't send them off quickly they're going to get stranded and they're going to starve for that night and so disciples make a thoughtful and reasonable suggestion but Jesus responds surprisingly in verse 13 you give them something to eat you brought up the concern so you should do something about it so Jesus is again trying to involve his apostles and now they're no longer to be mere bystanders and observers of Jesus ministry they're to partake in his ministry but as far as the twelve are concerned they only have two viable options they could either share the food that they already have or they must go buy food for all of the crowd but the first option is out of the question because they don't have enough food all that they have is five loaves of bread and two fish the second option is also out of the question because as it says in verse 14 there were about 5,000 men notice notice look that it says specifically 5,000 men in the original

[40:26] Greek that's not a generic word referring to men and women it's referring specifically to males it was common in the ancient world to estimate a large crowd size simply by counting the number of males then you can get inferred from that pretty accurately how many children and women there are and get the size of the whole crowd so a conservative estimate for a crowd in the ancient world with 5,000 males is 20,000 men women and children there's no way they're talking to afford that and if they could they would not be able to carry that so there's no doubt here that the disciples are a little bit shocked and credulous but Jesus says to the disciples in verse 14 have them sit down in groups of about 50 each and they did so and have them all sit down dividing up the crowd into more manageable sizes makes sense for the distribution of food but I think there's another biblical illusion here because Luke uses numbers to make important points throughout his gospel there's only one other instance in the entire

[41:27] Bible where the exact phrase 50 each occurs and that's in 1st Kings 18 13 of the Greek version of the Old Testament there Obadiah tells prophet Elijah that when there was a famine in his queen Jezebel wanted to exterminate all the prophets of the Lord that he hid the Lord's prophets by 50 each in a cave and fed them with bread and water so then this crowd of 50 like the last remaining prophets of the Lord during the days of Elijah are of remnant here the last they are the followers of Christ that's the remnant they are the remaining population that's faithful to Jesus still loyal to God and he's following him and he is graciously providing for their needs and preserving them verse 16 continues and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd

[42:40] Jesus building his apostles faith through this miraculous provision and notice that it's the disciples that are given the task of actually distributing the bread you can just picture it these disciples kind of sheepishly approaching Jesus I guess I gotta do this he wants me to take these broken pieces of bread and they take it and as they start going by one group of fifty to the next and as they're distributing these broken pieces of bread their unbelief turns to disbelief and then to joyous worship as they see that the bread does not run out and it says in verse seventeen they all ate and were satisfied and what was left over was picked up twelve baskets of broken pieces Jesus did not merely wet their appetite and then give just enough to save up their hunger pains until the next meal Jesus satisfied them just as he had promised in

[43:42] Luke 6 21 it's a foretaste of what he promised blessed are you who are hungry now for you shall be satisfied it's a foretaste of that promise blessing that will come these are the remnant these are those who are hungry now in this world they are those who hunger for righteousness in this world they are those who hunger for the fullness and plenty of the kingdom of God but are hungry they will be satisfied this is a foretaste just as God fed his people with bread from heaven in the wilderness after the exodus Jesus provides bread for his people and lest you doubt the sufficiency of Jesus to provide for his people there are 12 baskets of broken pieces I wonder why it's 12 enough to satisfy all God's people the 12 tribes the 12 apostles had no means of providing for the brows for the remnant but

[44:50] Jesus in Jesus they had enough and they stepped out in faith to obey his command and they witnessed his miraculous provision and likewise when we feel inadequate to share the gospel of Jesus and demonstrate his love to others we have to step out in faith and obey and know that there is a calculated deficiency that the Lord Jesus himself will fill we have to declare and demonstrate the kingdom of God with the power and provision from the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus has a very particular way of doing this he first takes the bread he breaks it and then he gives it he takes it he gives thanks and then he breaks it and he gives it so that exact formula is preserved and used three times throughout the gospel of Luke each time it refers to something in connection to the Lord's Supper this here points to the Lord's

[45:51] Supper which represents the broken body and poured out blood of Christ here the bread that is broken and multiplied represents Jesus' body broken for us for our salvation so that we might for our spiritual nourishment so that we might have life and it does not run out we are all sinners in need of a savior sure when we compare our lives maybe to some other people around us we might not look so bad relatively speaking but when we set our lives next to the perfect law of God when we let the light of Christ shine on us all our filthiness is exposed we are impoverished spiritual beings and our resources our virtues our good works are insufficient to meet our needs but when we come to Jesus in our hunger he does not despise us and turn us away he has compassion on us he welcomes us he feeds his own body and blood broken on the cross for the sin that we have committed many of you have sought to be filled with things in life by beauty sex affirmation money success respect but you always return hungrier unsatisfied by the richest fairs that this world has to offer the word of god points us to a spiritual banquet table that will fill us and satisfy us forever that banquet table is the cross of

[47:53] Jesus Christ and that bread of life is the body Jesus Christ and eat it by confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing in your heart that Jesus died and was raised from the dead for God's eternal glory and for your eternal satisfaction that's right HELP lunarpi depuis aceooh