John 6:14-26 (Teaching)

[0:00] Good morning. Good morning. We'll be back in the sixth chapter of John this morning. Last week we read about the miracle Jesus performed, feeding 5,000-plus people.

[0:22] There's 5,000 men, not including women and children. We read about this miracle last week. And if I recall correctly, we ended with verse 13.

[0:38] So that's in an up-shell. That's what's leading up to where we'll be picking up. So remember, Jesus crossed the sea and a great multitude followed Him there.

[0:56] And Jesus was asking about feeding all this multitude. And a couple of His disciples had some doubt in their hearts whether it could be done or not.

[1:10] Much like we get sometimes, even though we've seen the miracles that God can perform in our own lives. We've experienced a miracle of salvation, which is the greatest miracle in all Scripture.

[1:22] But we've experienced this, and yet we doubt that God can do other things for whatever reason. But anyway, a couple of the disciples, they kind of doubted that all these people could be fed.

[1:38] But one of them said, there's a lad here. He's got some bread and a couple of fish. And Jesus multiplied that. And so all these people not only benefited from the eating of that, but they saw the miracle itself.

[1:56] They saw it take place. And they knew that nobody was down at the shore casting an ed or casting a line for that matter or whatever. And just kept on reeling in these fish.

[2:08] So they would have known that this was a miracle that was being performed in front of them before their very eyes. That the fish and the bread continued to be multiplied.

[2:21] Then when they were filled, the Scripture says, Jesus sent the disciples out and they gathered 12 baskets of fragments. That which was left over, and I don't think it's any coincidence that there's 12 disciples and there were 12 baskets of fragments that were left.

[2:40] I think that's the Holy Spirit's way of telling us through the Scripture. And that was Jesus' way of telling the disciples at that time, I'll take care of these and I will also take care of you.

[2:54] So a real small nutshell is what we read last week. So we'll begin in John chapter 6 and verse 14. It says, then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.

[3:13] Now what they say here is they were saying this is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. This is the prophet that was promised to the nation Israel.

[3:26] God promised the nation Israel in the book of Deuteronomy. He said, I will raise up a prophet and I will raise him from your midst, from your people. And this is the prophet that they would have been speaking of here when they said this is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.

[3:44] So they were recognizing Jesus as a promise from God. They recognized him as a fulfillment of Scripture, of Scripture that at this time would have been about 1500 years old, give or take, when the book of Deuteronomy was written and when those events were taking place.

[4:07] They were saying this is that prophet that God promised us 1500 years ago. And they said, no, truly this is he. This must be him because they had witnessed the miracle they had performed.

[4:22] Verse 15, when Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.

[4:34] So these people said, this is the prophet that was promised. And he says, Jesus perceived that they would come and take him by force. And this wasn't just something that Jesus happened to notice at this time.

[4:49] It wasn't something that he perceived at that time. Remember, Jesus is God manifesting the flesh. He was God manifesting the flesh at this point. And remember, we're keeping all this in the context of the end of John chapter two where it says that Jesus needed no man to testify of man to him for he knew what was in man.

[5:11] And he knew what was in these people here. He knew beforehand what they would venture to do. He knew that they would want to come and take him by force and make him king.

[5:27] He already knew these things, but it says he departed again into a mountain himself alone. And Matthew and Mark's accounts of this same thing, of the same event here, it says that Jesus departed into the mountain alone to pray.

[5:43] John leaves that portion of this out that he departed to pray. But we know from the other accounts of scripture, Matthew and Mark's accounts, that that's the very reason that he went into the mountain.

[5:56] He went there alone to pray. A.W. Pink made the statement that he went there alone. And other times he disappeared to be alone.

[6:08] And as I said last week, it wasn't because he was afraid of the crowds. It wasn't because he was afraid for his life. He knew that his hour had not yet come. So that wasn't it.

[6:19] But A.W. Pink made the observation that the High Priest had to do his work alone. In particular on the Day of Atonement that you read about in Leviticus chapter 16.

[6:31] But the High Priest had to be completely alone when he was doing that. So when Christ went to pray to the Father on behalf of the people, that's exactly what the High Priest was doing.

[6:42] He was working on behalf of the people there in Leviticus 16. He was working not only on his own behalf, but on behalf of the entire nation of Israel, including all the other priests and all the Levites.

[6:55] Everyone to do with Israel, he was doing what he was doing when he went into the Holy of Holies. And he put the blood where it belonged. He was making atonement for Israel, but he had to do it alone.

[7:10] And so like I said, that's not my thought, that's Arthur Pink's thoughts on that, and I think it's a very good thought. So when Jesus departed into the mountain himself alone, once again by Matthew and Mark's accounts, he was praying.

[7:23] So verse 16, And when even was now come, his disciples went down under the sea and entered into a ship and went over the sea toward Capernaum.

[7:34] And it was now dark and Jesus was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. So when they had rode about five and 20 or 30 furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea and drawing nine to the ship.

[7:50] And they were afraid. So back up to verse 16, where we began this passage, and when even was now come, his disciples went down under the sea.

[8:01] And the very next verse says, and they entered into a ship. Now once again, in other accounts, we see that it is Jesus who tells the disciples to enter into the ship and to cross the sea.

[8:15] And we find that in other gospel accounts that's left out in John's account for whatever reason. The Holy Spirit had his reasoning behind that. But it's when even had come. So it was either dark or it was getting dark at this point and even to come.

[8:32] And as disciples went down to the sea and they entered into a ship and went over the sea toward Capernaum. What was Capernaum? Capernaum was the headquarters for the ministry of Jesus Christ.

[8:43] This is where we would call it nowadays. This is where Jesus and the disciples set up shop. This is where everything was headquartered. Everything was centered there in Capernaum.

[8:55] So they went over the sea toward Capernaum. It was now dark and Jesus was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.

[9:08] We're all familiar with this account in the Scripture where Jesus comes to the disciples and he's walking on water. And all these things happen. We're familiar with this.

[9:19] But what I really want to concentrate on here is in verse 19 where it says, So when they had rode about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea.

[9:34] In verse 18 we see the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. And it says, So when they had rode about five and twenty or thirty furlongs.

[9:45] And what I want us to see here is that even though the sea had risen, and even though this storm had blown in, even though the winds were strong, even though the waves were crashing against their boat, they continued rowing.

[10:02] It doesn't say that they stopped. It doesn't say that they threw up their hands and said, We're all going to die here in the middle of this lake or in the middle of this sea. They continued rowing. Mark's account says they told in rowing.

[10:17] Meaning they were fatigued in their rowing, but they kept on rowing. They continued going and that's what I want us to see here. They had just seen the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand.

[10:32] We're going to read about that here just a little while. They had just seen that. They had just seen Jesus perform this great miracle. They had just gathered the fragments just at most a few hours before this all happened.

[10:47] Remember, even had come at this point. So it was getting dark when they stepped into the boat. They started across the sea, but something else we need to remember. These weren't people that had never been out on the water.

[11:00] Most of the disciples were fishermen by trade. So they were accustomed to this. They knew about the sudden storms that could roll up on the Sea of Galilee or on the Sea of Tiberias.

[11:14] They knew about what could happen. And it says that this great storm was rolling up on the sea. But it says when they had rowed about twenty and five or thirty furlongs, indicating to me they never stopped rowing.

[11:28] Regardless of what was going on around them, they continued going. Now, you might look at this and I might look at this and say, well, they were trying their best to get to the other side.

[11:39] Folks, if you look at a map and you look at where they were and where they were going to, twenty-five or thirty furlongs really wasn't that far. They would have had to put their rowing in overdrive to beat this storm out as we might perceive it in our own minds.

[11:56] That wasn't what it was, but they continued rowing. Wow, Christ is the very one, according to Matthew and Mark. Christ is the one who told them to get into that boat. Christ is the one who told them to go to the other side.

[12:09] Christ is the one who done these things. They were doing as they were told. They were doing as Christ commanded. Y'all have heard me say it over and over. If we do what the Bible says to do, regardless of what's going on around us, regardless of what we might think about it, regardless of what the world might think about it, or think about us for that matter, if we do what the Bible commands us to do, we have no reason to fear, we have no reason to worry, we have no reason for any of these things, because we're doing what God has commanded of us.

[12:43] And everyone of us is guilty of backtracking on that, of doubting that, of wanting to go a different direction when God's tugging us this way. We won't go to the left when God's turning us to the right.

[12:55] We want to go up when God's tugging us down. We want to go forward when God's saying, stay right here for just a moment. We're all guilty of doing that. And it's because of our own doubt.

[13:06] It's because of who we are. But praise God, the Bible says He knows our frame. He knows we are but dust. He knows who we are. And once again, John chapter 2, right there at the end of the chapter, He knows what is in men.

[13:19] He knows what's in each one of us as well. So when they had wrote about 5 and 20 or 30 furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea and drawing nine to the ship, and they were afraid.

[13:30] They were afraid of Jesus. The Scripture says they see Jesus coming on the water. They see Him coming, and they were afraid.

[13:42] Now, if this were you, or if this were me, out there in the middle of this lake or the middle of this sea, and we're in the middle of this storm, and all of a sudden there's something that appears on the water that we have never seen before, I would have been afraid too.

[13:59] And you would have been afraid as well. Now, it's just like in the Scripture, whenever we see accounts of angels appearing to people, what's the first word that angels usually speak?

[14:12] Be not afraid. Be not afraid, and there's a good reason for that, because what we have in our mind is a very pagan and heathenistic version of what an angel actually looks like.

[14:25] The Bible describes what angels look like, and they ain't pretty women with their pretty dresses on and their pretty wings with their long, flowing, blonde hair and their blue eyes.

[14:37] That's not a scriptural description of an angel. Angels are powerful beings. According to the Scripture, angels have many eyes.

[14:51] According to the Scripture, there's all kinds of different ways, but what we have in our minds is actually how pagans, about 2,000 and plus years ago, how pagans viewed angels, how pagans viewed messengers from God.

[15:08] That's what we've got in our minds. Now, I'm not saying if you all put an angel on top of your Christmas tree, go home and trash it or burn it or anything along those lines. I'm saying though there's a reason that they said be not afraid, and I'll tell you why that was, because they were fearful to look upon.

[15:25] And they had to calm people, said be not afraid. Here it says Jesus came walking on the sea and drawing nine on the ship, and they were afraid, but he's safe under them.

[15:36] It is I, be not afraid once again in the other Gospel accounts here. Matthew and Mark, I believe both of those Gospel accounts, we have the famous line, be not afraid, but be of good cheer is in those accounts here.

[15:52] Be of good cheer, be happy, feel blessed. It's me, it's Jesus, it's your Savior. It's the very one that sent you on this adventure across this sea or across this lake that you're on right now.

[16:08] And if Jesus Christ is the one that set the path before us, if Jesus Christ is the one that puts us out onto the lake or out onto the sea, or he's the one that set us on a certain path down into a certain valley or over a certain mountain or whatever the case is, if Jesus Christ is the one that set that path before us, we have no reason to worry about it.

[16:31] Because Jesus Christ has told us that he will be with us always, even to the end of the world. And hallelujah for that. Now keep in mind, he says, I'll be with you always, even to the end of the world or even to the end of the ages, some translations put it.

[16:49] But regardless, it says that Jesus will be with us, but he does not say, I don't understand everything at the end of the way. And he does not say it's going to be a bed of roses or it's going to be a cake walk or it's going to be anything along those lines.

[17:03] Nowhere in Scripture does it say that, but he promises that he will be with us, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of how deep that valley goes or how high that mountain is, regardless of what kind of refreshment we might find along the way, the scarcity or the pleniousness of the water or of the food or whatever else crosses, I will be with you.

[17:26] And here he is, out here on the sea with these disciples. He says they were afraid, but he says unto them, it is I, be not afraid. Then they willingly received him into the ship and immediately the ship was at land, whether they went.

[17:42] This is another miracle here in the Scriptures. Not that immediately they received him into the ship. As soon as they understood who it was when he said it is I, be not afraid.

[17:53] It says they willingly received him into the ship. Well, I would hope that these disciples wouldn't have unwillingly received him into the ship. Of course it was willingly. They realized who it was.

[18:05] They realized that it was Jesus Christ. It says they willingly received him into the ship and immediately the ship was at the land, whether they went. That's the miracle here. Because once again, if you look at the maps and you look at 25 to 30 furlongs from where they were to where they were going, and then immediately as soon as Jesus Christ steps into the ship, they were at land, that is a miracle.

[18:31] As soon as he got into the ship. Now folks, there's a lot of people that will take this Scripture. I've heard it preached this way and you probably have too. There's a lot of people who take this and say, see, as soon as you accept Jesus Christ into your life or into your heart, as soon as you're saved, everything's going to be all good in your life from there on out.

[18:54] And again, that is a promise that is found nowhere in the Scripture. We all still have hard times. We all still have problems. We all still have health problems, financial problems, mental problems, physical problems, emotional problems.

[19:13] We all still have spiritual problems even after we're saved. So we cannot look at this Scripture here and say, see the disciples, as soon as they willingly accepted the men of the boot, they were at land, they were out of the water at that point, they were out of the storm at that point.

[19:31] So that's what this means for me. No, that's not what it means for you. But I'll tell you what it does mean. It means you can have peace within your heart at all times, regardless of what's going on.

[19:44] And that peace is immediate with Jesus Christ. The peace that He gives to a restless soul or to a restless heart, that somebody that's just gotten the worst health news of their life, the worst news of their life regardless, the one that's lost the loved one, the one that, you know, mom or dad or son or daughter or somebody has passed away, the one that is facing the most turmoil, they can still have peace because they have Jesus Christ.

[20:14] And that peace is immediate. It's no different than the healing of Jesus Christ. When He cast out demons, He didn't command the demons to go out and then tell the people to go home and wait on the demons to leave.

[20:26] The demons left immediately. When He healed people of leprosy, it was gone immediately. When He unstopped deaf ears, it was immediate. When He caused blind eyes to see, it was immediate.

[20:37] Save one example where a man saw men as trees the first go around. That's a whole different lesson or sermon. We won't get into that. But folks, the healing of Jesus Christ is immediate.

[20:51] Just like the salvation of Jesus Christ is immediate to someone that believes the gospel and repents of their ways. It's immediate. These people, these disciples here on this lake or on this sea, these disciples, as soon as they willingly received Christ into the boat, they were at land.

[21:09] But that is not a license for us to say as soon as we have Jesus Christ in our boat, we'll be fine for the rest of our days. But it is indicative that we can have peace.

[21:24] We can have peace immediately for the rest of our days. Verse 21, The day following when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, saved that one where and to his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone, albeit there came other boats from Tiberius, nine of the place where they did eat bread after that the Lord had given thanks.

[21:56] When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. Now, we ain't careful we'll get confused in all these words.

[22:12] So it says the day following. So this is the day after everything we've read up to this point. The day following when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, saved that one where and to his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone.

[22:37] So they saw these things. They saw the people that were there, albeit what people would this have been. This would have been the 5,000 plus people.

[22:49] This would have been the people that Jesus and the disciples had fed, or Jesus fed through the disciples. How be it there came other boats from Tiberius, nine of the place where they did eat bread after that the Lord had given thanks.

[23:05] When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. So basically what we're getting at here is these people saw that the disciples weren't there.

[23:22] They saw that Jesus wasn't there. And it says that they took shipping. It says they took shipping and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus. Now remember, Jesus, during the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus is the one that performed the miracle.

[23:40] Jesus is the one that multiplied the fish and multiplied the bread. Jesus is the one that gave thanks before they started dispersing these things before the people.

[23:51] So even though it was the disciples that were dispersing the bread to the people, that were giving it out, even though that was the case, the Bible here says these people were seeking for Jesus.

[24:07] But the problem with all this is, and we'll find out a little bit later on chapter 6, the problem with that is that they were seeking for Jesus for their own thing.

[24:18] Even though these same people said surely or truly or of assurity, whatever the case is, this is that prophet that was promised.

[24:31] Even though they recognized him as that, and the Bible plainly said that at the beginning when we started reading here, they said, this is the prophet that was promised to us.

[24:43] They sought to make him king. Jesus went up into the mountain. But even though they recognized him as the prophet, they were seeking for the wrong reason. But they came, it says they took shipping, so in other words they got in their own boats, and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus. Verse 25, And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled.

[25:21] You're seeking me for the wrong reason. They asked the question, when did you come here? When did all this take place? Remember, Jesus had sent the disciples out, and these people were aware of that. But Jesus went on his own, out to the disciples, in the middle of the sea, and in the middle of that storm, in the middle of that tempest that was going on.

[25:48] It says, when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? That's the wrong question to ask, because they would have been well aware that Jesus Christ, and they were well aware, per the Scripture, that Jesus Christ did not leave with the disciples, but they weren't concerned with, how did you come here?

[26:12] That would have been another miracle in and of itself that Christ could have explained to them. But they said, when did you come here? When did this take place? Not how.

[26:24] When did you come here? Jesus answered them and said, verily verily I say unto you ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled.

[26:35] Not because you saw the miracles, not because you saw the loaves being multiplied, or the fish being multiplied, not because you saw these things going on, but because your body was satisfied, because you were physically satisfied, because you ate of the loaves and were filled, because you were catering to your physical needs, is what Jesus Christ is getting at in saying this.

[27:02] He says, you seek me not because you saw the miracles, they did see the miracles. They saw the multiplication of the food.

[27:13] They called ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. That is a physical, granted, it's a necessity that we have food. It's a necessity that we have water.

[27:25] I mean, if God wants us to continue in this life the way that He designed these bodies, we have got to have food, we have got to have water, we've got to have air, we've got to have all of these things.

[27:36] Granted, they're necessities, yes, for the sustenance of our bodies. But He says, you seek me not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled, because your physical need was satisfied.

[27:52] Your physical need was yet, that's why you were seeking me. And folks, that is the wrong reason to seek Jesus Christ. And there are churches out there, there's preachers out there, there's teachers, and there's people in general that that's their bait for getting people to God, is come to God and He'll solve all of your problems.

[28:17] Come to God and you'll not have any more problems. And that's what we were talking about just a little while ago, folks, and that's not in Scripture. It's not in Scripture that we will never have another problem in our life.

[28:28] But those that come to God if you want to be healed of your disease. I've been saved for pushing 15 years now, and I've still got the disease that I've had since I was eight years old.

[28:40] God has not healed that, and it's not because God is incapable of healing that. It's simply because I've still got that disease. Maybe that's something that God uses once in a while.

[28:53] And many of you, you've had something wrong with you, all of your lives. Or you've had something wrong with you for the past year, or 10 years, or 20 years, or where the case is. You know you are born again child of God. And maybe you wonder, why hasn't God fixed this?

[29:06] Folks, God is not obligated to fix your body. And praise God. These bodies are not what's going on to be with the Lord one day. My body, according to the Scripture, is going back to the dust.

[29:17] It's going back to the earth. My soul goes on to be with God. And one of these days I'm promised per the Scripture to have a glorified body lock and infashioned unto the Son of Man.

[29:28] I don't want this body to come with me into eternity. I want the one that's promised to me in the Scriptures. And praise God. God promised it. I'm going to have it one day.

[29:39] These folks here, they were seeking Christ for the wrong reason. It was because their physical wants, their physical desires were met.

[29:50] But their spiritual desires were almost non-existent. And we see that back in verse 15, when Jesus perceived that they were taken by force and to make Him a king, that was a physical desire that they had.

[30:06] Now, granted, it was prophesied, it was prophesied that there would come a king to sit on the throne of David and rule for all eternity. And this king, and the king that was promised to come and to rule from the throne of David for all of eternity, forever and forever.

[30:29] Folks, that was a wonderful promise that these Jews were looking for. And that's what they were wanting. But they were wanting it because of the physical oppression that was on them from the Roman government at their time.

[30:41] They weren't looking further into the future. They weren't looking at their own sin. They weren't looking at their own need. They weren't looking at themselves and saying, I'm a Richard center and I'm in need of a savior.

[30:55] They were worried about the then and the now. And that's the bait that people give people to get them to quote unquote, come to God or come to church. Just come to one service.

[31:07] See what you think of it. Come and hear one song. Come and hear one sermon. Come and hear one lesson. See what you think of it. If you come to God, God will solve all your problems.

[31:19] And folks, that is not the case. God will solve the problem of your depravity because you are completely utterly and wholly incapable of saving yourself just as I am.

[31:34] That's what the private is. We're incapable of saving ourselves. God solves that problem. Can he solve disease? Can he solve financial problems?

[31:46] Can he solve family problems? Can he reconcile people back to other people? Of course he can. He's God. He can do anything and everything that he wants to. But nowhere in scripture is it promised that he will do those things.

[32:00] But it is promised that if one repents and believes the gospel of Jesus Christ, that they will be saved. Hallelujah. Joel said there will come a day when anyone that should call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered.

[32:15] And Paul reiterates that in the book of Romans. As anyone that calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. We call upon the name of the Lord.

[32:27] I'm not going to go any further than that in this morning. We'll end right there at birth of 26. That's kind of a bad stop in place, but that's okay.

[32:38] You.