The NXR Podcast - THE SERMON - Grief, Compassion, & Avoiding Self-Pity ｜ Matthew 14_13-21

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00:00:27.680 Please join me in standing for the reading of God's Word.

00:00:29.920 Today we continue our preaching series through the Gospel according to Matthew.

00:00:35.380 Our text for today is Matthew chapter 14, verses 13 through 21.

00:00:40.260 Again, our text for this morning is Matthew chapter 14, verses 13 through 21.

00:00:44.520 I'll read our text for us in its entirety.

00:00:47.020 When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say this is the Word of the Lord,

00:00:49.980 at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks be to God.

00:00:55.180 One final time, our text for today is the gospel according to Matthew, chapter 14, verses 13 through 21.

00:01:01.740 The Bible says this.

00:01:03.380 Now, when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.

00:01:10.480 But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

00:01:14.540 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

00:01:21.360 Now, when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said,

00:01:24.680 This is a desolate place, and the day is now over.

00:01:28.360 Send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.

00:01:33.380 But Jesus said, They need not go away. You give them something to eat.

00:01:39.180 They said to him, We have only five loaves here and two fish.

00:01:43.580 And he said, Bring them here to me.

00:01:46.760 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.

00:01:50.420 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing.

00:01:57.400 Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

00:02:04.300 And they all ate and were satisfied.

00:02:07.700 And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

00:02:13.620 And those who ate were about five thousand men besides women and children.

00:02:19.760 This is the word of the Lord.

00:02:22.260 All right, please be seated.

00:02:23.840 Let's go ahead and dive in.

00:02:25.280 Three primary points that arise from the text today are as follows.

00:02:30.980 Number one, Jesus has compassion for the crowds.

00:02:35.580 Jesus has compassion for the crowds.

00:02:37.720 Another word that the text uses to describe this sympathy or compassion is pity.

00:02:44.020 Jesus does not have pity for himself.

00:02:47.040 He does not have self-pity.

00:02:49.240 but rather he has pity, compassion for others.

00:02:53.280 The second point, as we see it in the text, is this.

00:02:57.740 The disciples have doubts.

00:03:00.520 The disciples have doubts.

00:03:03.180 They doubt whether or not the feeding of this crowd,

00:03:06.920 of this magnitude, can be accomplished.

00:03:09.840 They doubt the sufficiency of Christ.

00:03:13.460 Sufficiency for healing supernaturally, perhaps.

00:03:17.500 Perhaps sufficiency even for the life to come, eternal matters, salvation from hell and forgiveness of sin.

00:03:26.320 Perhaps at this point, some or even the majority of the disciples trust in Christ to that degree.

00:03:33.320 But sufficiency for the small things, the practical things, the daily physical needs of man, namely a meal.

00:03:44.340 In this, the disciples still doubt.

00:03:47.500 And third, and lastly, the sufficiency of Christ further fleshed out.

00:03:53.620 What all is Christ sufficient for?

00:03:56.680 This is the final question that we'll address from the text today.

00:04:01.380 Beginning from the first point, compassion for the crowds.

00:04:06.220 I've written the following.

00:04:07.880 The passage begins with a moment of personal sorrow for Jesus.

00:04:12.060 For he has just received news of the death of John the Baptist, who is related to him by birth, but also a friend.

00:04:24.900 We see this in the very beginning of our text, namely verse 13, which says,

00:04:29.440 Now when Jesus heard this, if you were with us last week, as one of our elders, Michael Belch, faithfully preached,

00:04:38.360 Matthew chapter 14 verses 1 through 12 we saw the death of John the Baptist and now we see in the

00:04:47.220 beginning of our text today that the news of John the Baptist's death has now reached Jesus who was

00:04:53.940 his friend so Jesus has just received bad news and not just bad news in a trivial a trivial

00:05:04.060 matter, but bad news as it comes dealing with the death of a loved one, the murder of a loved one,

00:05:13.360 the untimely, seemingly death, and unjust death of someone he profoundly loved. Jesus just hears

00:05:23.620 this news, and it's because of this news, and the hearing of it, and the magnitude of this news,

00:05:31.080 at a deep profound and personal grief that Jesus was experiencing that he chooses to withdraw from

00:05:39.040 the area where he was ministering in a boat to a desolate place by himself there are many times

00:05:48.200 throughout the gospel narratives where Jesus would withdraw from one place where there was a crowd

00:05:53.520 where there was a town civilization and go to another to minister to another set of people

00:06:00.560 he would leave one town to enter another town one crowd to find another crowd he would stop

00:06:08.040 preaching one sermon to start preaching another but this is not one of those times Jesus is

00:06:15.360 intentionally withdrawing from one place of ministry to go to a desolate place as the text

00:06:22.240 says by himself meaning that his purpose was to be alone his purpose is to grieve but the second

00:06:33.100 half now verse 13 of our text informs us when the crowds heard of it not hearing of the death of

00:06:40.160 john the baptist but hearing of jesus moving to a desolate place jesus hears the news of john the

00:06:48.080 Baptist's death. He's grieving, and he wants to be alone. But the crowds here of Jesus transition

00:06:54.800 to a desolate place, another area, and they followed him on foot from the towns. So Jesus

00:07:02.380 leaves the towns to go into the boondocks, to go into the wilderness, to go into a private,

00:07:10.400 lonely, desolate place. The crowds also leave the towns to go and find Jesus.

00:07:20.060 Continuing in your notes, I've written this. We see that Jesus withdrew from there in a boat to

00:07:26.220 a desolate place by himself. Yet even in his grief, we observe the unrelenting love and compassion

00:07:34.100 of the Christ. When the crowds follow him, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion

00:07:42.640 on them. That's verse 14 of our text. Notice that Jesus does not dismiss the crowds or send them

00:07:50.600 away. Instead, he takes pity on them, healing their sick, but not only tending to their physical needs,

00:07:58.640 but also addressing their spiritual needs by preaching and teaching to them.

00:08:06.440 So Jesus heals their physical needs, those who are sick with ailments.

00:08:12.240 He also attends, most importantly, to their spiritual need by giving to them himself in his preaching.

00:08:20.340 And he is the bread of life.

00:08:22.520 And he also attends even further to their physical needs, as we see later in the text, by feeding them, healing their sickness, filling their stomachs, and also nourishing their souls and his preaching.

00:08:38.880 Jesus cares for all their needs, even as he himself is in need.

00:08:45.640 Jesus is grieving.

00:08:47.620 Jesus wants to be left alone.

00:08:49.700 And yet when the crowds find him, he is not irritated, he is not angry, but moved with compassion, moved with pity.

00:08:59.700 Not pity for himself, but pity on the crowds.

00:09:05.440 See, often in our own grief, if we are confronted, if we're surprised by a visit from a friend,

00:09:15.100 or crowds perhaps, a group of people at a funeral, perhaps we've experienced the loss of a loved one

00:09:24.320 and now we're bombarded all day long. Everyone trying to be kind and in many cases truly being

00:09:32.960 kind. But there are many times where in our grief we may be preferring to be alone and yet it's text

00:09:42.600 message after text message. It's visit after visit, casserole after casserole. And all of this is a

00:09:51.000 genuine kindness. But there are moments where we're annoyed. There are moments where we'd rather be

00:09:57.980 left alone. We'd rather be left to that desolate place. Maybe it's our living room and left with

00:10:05.780 our own thoughts, our own prayers, and our own grief. And yet when people come to us, even well

00:10:13.220 meaning, we tend to put on a smile, put on our best behavior. But let's be honest, the motive for many

00:10:23.480 of us when we're confronted by people in times of grief, when we'd rather be left alone, the motive

00:10:30.760 for us is often to put on face in order to secure or maintain the approval of others.

00:10:41.100 Now, notice from our text today, that is not the motive of Christ. Christ is grieving. He

00:10:49.400 intentionally leaves the crowds. He doesn't want to be with them. He's then found by the crowds,

00:10:55.620 and then he thinks to himself oh no this would be bad pr for the crowds to find me in an irritable

00:11:04.660 mood or to find me in tears as i'm grieving the loss of one of my dear friends so i'll put on a

00:11:12.900 smile i'll put on my best so that i can continue to have the the crowd's approval no not jesus

00:11:22.980 Jesus is not motivated as you and I in our sin are often motivated

00:11:31.040 Jesus does not receive the crowds because of what the crowds might think of him

00:11:37.800 if he chooses to walk away

00:11:40.440 Jesus does not receive the crowds out of a slavery towards their approval of him

00:11:48.900 in self-pity. No, Jesus receives the crowds and ministers to the crowds, not just in one element

00:11:57.840 of their need, but covering the full gambit of all of their needs. Needs for physical hunger,

00:12:04.740 needs for physical healing, needs for spiritual nourishment. And he does this not for their

00:12:10.880 approval. But He does this out of compassion. Because He truly loves them. Not self-pity.

00:12:21.580 But pity on others. Pity is not a sin. Self-pity is. We often are given to self-pity. We pity

00:12:34.340 ourselves above others. But pity in its rightful place, when it's targeted towards those others

00:12:46.280 who need it, is actually a virtue. A righteous characteristic. Something that each of us could

00:12:54.800 stand to grow in. Do we have genuine pity on the crowds? Now that last piece that I want to deal

00:13:04.160 with before moving on to the second point is Jesus pity for the crowds. I think that you could

00:13:14.320 preach whole volumes of sermons on this one principle. Pity for the crowds. Are the crowds

00:13:25.020 guilty? Yes. Are the crowds sinners? Yes. But there is a different category, a different degree

00:13:38.360 of culpability, moral responsibility, guilt, and sin as it pertains the crowds than there is

00:13:49.580 for the rulers. And Jesus knows this.

00:13:55.380 Not all sin is equal. That is a misnomer.

00:14:00.100 That is a popular trope

00:14:03.560 that shallow, weak evangelicals will drag out

00:14:09.220 on a regular basis. Well, all sin is equal.

00:14:13.260 No, it's not. Do not, parents, teach your children that all sin

00:14:19.340 is equal? That telling a white lie is somehow equal in its weight and consequences to one day

00:14:28.120 when they're grown committing murder? You're a terrible parent if you give your children

00:14:36.260 the impression that no matter what they do, it's all equally bad. That's simply not true.

00:14:44.340 We know instinctively that that's not true.

00:14:49.160 See, all sin is equal apart from it being covered by the blood of Jesus through faith and repentance

00:14:56.580 in its ability to eternally separate us from the benevolence of God in hell.

00:15:04.720 In that sense, and only that sense, all sin is equal.

00:15:10.020 All sin has the power to equally set you apart from God for eternity if it's not forgiven.

00:15:21.980 That's true.

00:15:23.940 But not all sin is equal in its earthly effects.

00:15:28.780 And even for the reprobate who dies apart from faith in Christ and goes to hell forever.

00:15:36.320 even for him, not all sin is equal in its degrees of eternal judgment. Jesus teaches this.

00:15:46.540 He says it will be more bearable. What does that imply? That phrase right there, what concept does

00:15:54.020 it introduce? It introduces degrees of eternal punishment. It will be more bearable on that day

00:16:02.000 for Sodom and Gomorrah than it will be for Tyre and Sidon, certain Jewish towns where Jesus

00:16:09.920 ministered publicly in their midst, and yet they still rejected him. Now Jesus, one thing that he's

00:16:17.520 communicating when he says this, is that an added degree of moral culpability comes by added

00:16:26.860 measures of grace. Added measures of grace, particularly in the form of revelation. What

00:16:35.080 Jesus is saying is that these Jewish towns that rejected him, like Tyre and Sidon, would be

00:16:41.120 experiencing a less bearable judgment in the life to come because their sin was greater than the

00:16:50.040 sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. Not exactly, but that their sin was comparable to the sins of Sodom

00:16:56.620 at Gomorrah, but the sin was more blatantly wicked on its face because the sin, although comparable,

00:17:05.960 it was committed in the face of such great degrees of grace and revelation, namely the Son of God

00:17:14.300 in their midst, in their towns, preaching, teaching, healing, performing signs and wonders, and yet they

00:17:22.260 still chose unbelief. So there are degrees of sin. There are also degrees of grace. One degree of sin

00:17:36.380 can be worse than another, and any sin when committed despite great revelation and great grace,

00:17:45.140 great mercy becomes a more heinous sin and if that be the case there are greater earthly

00:17:53.880 consequences for greater sins and especially greater sins committed in the face of greater

00:18:00.380 grace but also there are greater degrees of judgment eternally in the life to come more

00:18:07.980 bearable for one town than another. So not all sin is equal. And although the crowds were culpable

00:18:19.920 for sin, every single person is a sinner. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,

00:18:28.060 Romans says. Although this is true, and certainly we may assume that Jesus knows this is true,

00:18:35.160 Jesus still had a certain degree of compassion on the sinful crowd that he seemingly does not

00:18:44.860 have for the sinful ruler now there are some rulers who came to Jesus in faith and he had

00:18:55.020 great pity on them great compassion on them there are individual rulers who prove throughout the

00:19:04.820 gospel narratives to be exceptions to the general principle i'm espousing now but when it comes to

00:19:12.460 the collective crowds we know that within this crowd that jesus is standing before many of them

00:19:19.920 are not like individual rulers who approach him in faith there are individuals among the crowds

00:19:26.340 perhaps half the crowd perhaps even the majority of the crowd that are not regenerate that are not

00:19:33.580 coming to Jesus in faith. They are not approaching Jesus because he's the bread of life, the son of

00:19:40.800 God. In fact, we know this because many members of this same crowd approach Jesus elsewhere, namely

00:19:48.920 John chapter 6, wanting another free meal and only another free meal. And when Jesus begins to speak

00:19:57.940 to them in that instance saying that he's more than a vending machine and that he's actually

00:20:03.720 not one who merely multiplies physical bread to give physical sustenance for the day but that he

00:20:10.360 is the eternal bread of life the one who takes away the sins of the world they reject him

00:20:17.020 so it's not as though Jesus is having this is the framework I'm building here

00:20:22.980 Stay with me. It is not as though Jesus is having a particular pity and compassion on the crowds

00:20:30.340 because the crowds are particularly faithful. Or the crowds have a certain degree of humility,

00:20:39.940 repentance, and belief in Jesus for who He truly is, namely the Son of God. No, He has a compassion

00:20:48.440 on the sinful crowds and even, I think the argument can be made, especially when paired

00:20:55.060 with John chapter 6, the sinful crowds and even majority unbelieving crowds that he does not have

00:21:03.900 on sinful and unbelieving rulers because the crowds, while sinful and responsible, still bear

00:21:13.520 a lesser degree of moral culpability for their sin than rulers do. In other words, what I'm

00:21:23.780 articulating from the text today that may feel for some of you a bit far-fetched, but I believe

00:21:28.960 that it's valid, is a little bit of Italian elite theory, if you will.

00:21:33.760 what i'm saying is that everyone's sinful but not equally so everyone's guilty but not equally so

00:21:44.620 and this is something that you and i must understand and you must understand it because

00:21:50.820 i believe it's biblically theologically true but also the way that it impacts

00:21:55.700 our role

00:21:59.360 in seeking to fulfill the Great Commission

00:22:01.880 and faithfully doing the work of an evangelist.

00:22:06.280 When you look at your country,

00:22:10.340 these United States,

00:22:12.340 you need to know

00:22:13.580 that she is exceedingly wicked.

00:22:18.120 But you also need to bear in mind

00:22:20.860 that the average American

00:22:23.520 is not wicked in the same way or the same degree

00:22:28.720 as many of the elites and rulers

00:22:33.040 who have engineered that wickedness.

00:22:36.820 I believe that if Jesus was here today,

00:22:40.960 that he would have compassion on the crowds,

00:22:44.960 knowing that there would be many crowds

00:22:47.340 that would gather for Jesus.

00:22:49.980 If Jesus came physically on the scene today in America

00:22:53.540 and held rallies, they'd be big.

00:22:56.800 I believe that.

00:22:58.380 But many people, like the crowds here in Matthew chapter 14,

00:23:02.880 would be gathering for the wrong reasons.

00:23:05.560 They would be gathering for a free meal.

00:23:08.460 They would be gathering for what they saw as a parlor trick.

00:23:13.180 And not necessarily gathering because Jesus truly is the bread of life.

00:23:19.380 They would be gathering for temporal reasons, petty reasons, physical needs, practical needs, but not necessarily in true faith.

00:23:35.360 And yet I believe that if Jesus was ministering in America today in the flesh, he would still, like he did in Matthew 14, have compassion and pity on the crowds.

00:23:47.700 because although those crowds,

00:23:51.400 you know the statistics,

00:23:53.720 those crowds,

00:23:55.200 it is a statistical impossibility

00:23:57.960 that those crowds would not be filled,

00:24:00.960 filled with women who have had abortions,

00:24:04.240 with men who have committed adultery.

00:24:07.960 We know these would be sinful crowds.

00:24:12.160 Go to your average MAGA rally.

00:24:15.160 It's filled with degenerates.

00:24:17.700 and Jesus, being omniscient, God himself, would know this, and I believe he would still have

00:24:27.220 compassion, and I say this because if that be the case, it implores you and I likewise to have

00:24:37.020 compassion, and compassion, true compassion, true pity for others does not require self-delusion,

00:24:46.460 right it does not for us to be compassionate to the crowds as jesus was it does not require

00:24:54.760 that we lie to ourselves about the crowds true compassion does not require flattery

00:25:01.420 in fact true compassion mandates that we not commit sins of flattery true compassion allows

00:25:11.840 in fact, it necessitates that we admit the true state of the crowds, that they are filled with

00:25:20.060 sinners, profound sinners, deeply in need of the grace of God. And yet, even in their sin,

00:25:30.000 even in their unbelief, we pity them. And we pity them in a different way and in a different degree

00:25:41.840 then we would pity certain elites who have engineered

00:25:45.420 the current circumstances of our country today.

00:25:53.440 I'll give one illustration, and I'll make it G-rated

00:25:59.080 because we're family integrated here at Covenant Bible Church

00:26:02.260 with our Lord's Day worship.

00:26:05.400 If you think that in the 1950s, I believe it was 1959,

00:26:09.380 that Leave it to Beaver in black and white

00:26:11.540 first broke the airwaves.

00:26:15.000 If you think that in the late 1950s

00:26:17.360 that a bunch of housewives got together and said,

00:26:20.120 you know what, we love Leave it to Beaver.

00:26:23.680 But if they could just add, you know, Hollywood,

00:26:27.200 if Hollywood could just inject a little bit of degeneracy.

00:26:32.480 If we could just, Leave it to Beaver, it's a fine show,

00:26:34.460 but just needs a little adultery

00:26:36.440 and a little perversion and then man that that would be our favorite tv show

00:26:44.600 we would love that and then hollywood you know is hearing the rumblings

00:26:50.040 pulling the market right well i mean we're righteous and have you know some pretty high

00:26:58.880 moral standards but you know the customer's always right capitalism for the win so against

00:27:08.300 our better judgment even though it breaks our hearts we'll go ahead and add a little slop

00:27:14.240 made it extra sloppy for you sloppy joes for everyone added into the tv show so that at least

00:27:20.740 the consumer although we disagree gets what he wants and the bottom line go up gdp red line

00:27:28.780 go up. Do you think that's how moral decay in America happened? Sometimes it helps to do an

00:27:36.900 illustration that's just ridiculous, to help you feel the weight of the point. That's not how it

00:27:45.100 happened. It is not as though the crowds, the average American said, we really want X, Y, and Z.

00:27:53.020 And then the elite said, we don't like it, but we'll give it to them.

00:27:59.520 That's not how moral decay happened in America.

00:28:03.740 No, nefarious elites.

00:28:07.200 It was not the many.

00:28:08.740 It was the few.

00:28:11.420 The elites, not crowds, the few, not the many, they said, we hate Christ.

00:28:20.780 We hate God.

00:28:23.020 We hate America, and we're going to corrupt it.

00:28:28.100 Now, the crowds, back to them, still received it.

00:28:34.180 Some opposing at first, but later compromising, coming along.

00:28:40.700 Others compromised right away.

00:28:43.760 So the crowds are not innocent.

00:28:45.720 That's not the point I'm making.

00:28:48.320 All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

00:28:51.580 There is none righteous. Romans chapter 3. No, not one. Everyone is guilty, but not in the same way and not to the same degree.

00:29:06.940 And I believe that this is one, not the only, but one reason that I wanted to highlight from the text today that Jesus has pity and compassion on the crowds.

00:29:18.980 because he knows that they're guilty of sin,

00:29:23.340 just like everyone else,

00:29:25.560 but that they are also like sheep without a shepherd, he says.

00:29:32.080 Jesus has far less compassion and sympathy and pity

00:29:37.520 on shepherds that use the sheep to merely feed themselves

00:29:43.720 than he has on sheep who are ornery sheep,

00:29:48.500 guilty sheep, sinful sheep, but sheep led astray. Sheep without a shepherd.

00:29:56.740 Jesus has far greater judgment for the one who causes even one of these little ones to stumble

00:30:03.300 and therefore merits a millstone tied around his neck and be cast into the sea than the little one

00:30:10.820 himself who was one of the individuals who stumbled. Is this not a perfectly biblical

00:30:17.900 principle? Of course it is. And so when you, seeking to be ambassadors for Christ, for his glory,

00:30:30.960 pushing for the crown rights of King Jesus, seek to fulfill the great commission, doing the work

00:30:36.660 of an evangelist, seeking to make disciples of all nations, starting at home, America first,

00:30:43.800 this nation, you need to have those theological categories.

00:30:50.220 Your average fellow man, your fellow American,

00:30:55.600 is a sinner who needs Jesus.

00:30:59.580 He is guilty and needs forgiveness of sin,

00:31:03.100 or he will die and go to hell and it will be just.

00:31:07.700 But he is not the same.

00:31:09.620 as the elites, the few who have not just allowed for corruption,

00:31:16.840 but actually with intent and malice engineered it.

00:31:21.340 And that's one of the ways that we can be righteously frustrated

00:31:27.780 with our fellow American as he tolerates such compromise,

00:31:32.520 but also, like our Savior, have a certain sense of pity and compassion.

00:31:42.260 Because Jesus did, and we should too.

00:31:46.780 Second point, the disciples doubt.

00:31:49.600 In your notes I've written the following.

00:31:51.140 As evening approaches, the disciples suggest to Jesus

00:31:53.940 that perhaps he should send the people away to find food.

00:31:58.780 After all, they're in a desolate place.

00:32:01.260 there's no McDonald's nearby and even if there were that wouldn't count as food but Jesus responds

00:32:09.680 by saying they need not go away you give them something to eat that's verse 16 of our text

00:32:16.320 the disciples with limited understanding point out their insufficiency saying we have only five

00:32:23.640 loaves here and two fish from a human standpoint the need is overwhelming and the resources are

00:32:31.120 insufficient, but we must learn to trust God even when our circumstances seem impossible.

00:32:38.300 The one who calls us to act is the same one who will provide the means for obedience.

00:32:46.780 A simple and short point here, but we need to catch it nonetheless. God always provides the

00:32:54.220 means for our obedience. Brothers and sisters, keep in mind if the Lord Jesus

00:33:00.820 has called you, to put it a little bit more of a fine point on it, if He has

00:33:08.500 commanded you, and He has to do anything, then He has also promised to provide the

00:33:15.820 means for you to obey. There is not one command in the Bible that God has ever

00:33:23.620 ever given to you, that he has not also provided the means for you to obey. God is not a father

00:33:33.480 who exasperates his children. Christ is not king like Pharaoh is king, demanding bricks without

00:33:42.900 straw. God is not asking you, again, namely commanding you to do anything that he has not

00:33:54.080 also empowered you, enabled you, resourced you to do faithfully. There are many things, not just some,

00:34:04.100 many things that are outside of your power, my power, your ability, my ability, your resources,

00:34:13.540 my resources. Well, good news. Those things that are outside of our own sufficiency,

00:34:20.980 either God has not called us to do those things, or if he has, he will supernaturally provide the

00:34:28.220 means. But everything else in our life, the day-to-day commands of Christ, the moment-by-moment

00:34:37.820 faithful obedience in our personal lives, in our families, in our homes, these things,

00:34:45.500 all men are without an excuse. There is nothing that God has commanded that he will not also

00:34:55.880 supply the means for us to obey. And even when it comes to the big things, the collective things

00:35:06.360 that don't merely fall on any one of us as individuals, but the big things that fall upon

00:35:13.020 the church at large, the capital C church in a corporate sense, and particularly in a national

00:35:21.060 sense for the church here in America. Even those things, the same principle still applies.

00:35:29.280 That God has not called the church in these United States to do anything that he will not also

00:35:36.580 provide the means that we might obey. First Samuel chapter 14 verse 6 says this, Jonathan said to the

00:35:46.040 young man who carried his armor come let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised

00:35:52.680 it may be that the lord will work for us for nothing can hinder the lord from saving by many

00:36:00.340 or by few the lord saves and he will save we don't know when we don't know how

00:36:11.260 But he will.

00:36:14.860 And we know that he is able to save by many or by few.

00:36:20.760 In other words, our job, at the end of the day, more important than anything else, is faithfulness.

00:36:30.560 the worst thing that we can do

00:36:34.660 is come to a point

00:36:37.100 where we are convinced

00:36:39.860 the only way to win

00:36:42.060 the only way that we might achieve salvation

00:36:46.520 is to compromise

00:36:48.780 the Lord does not need your compromise

00:36:52.300 he needs your obedience

00:36:54.960 and in the technical sense

00:36:58.040 the truest sense

00:36:59.720 He doesn't even need that.

00:37:02.140 I think of Esther.

00:37:03.740 Salvation will come for her people.

00:37:06.960 If not through you, then God will raise up another.

00:37:10.540 And you and your household will be forgotten.

00:37:14.780 God doesn't need your craftiness.

00:37:18.660 He doesn't need your ingenuity.

00:37:22.700 He doesn't need your creativity.

00:37:25.200 or your raw innovation and genius.

00:37:31.040 He needs, or rather desires, your faithfulness.

00:37:37.760 He can win by many or by few.

00:37:42.360 So whether it's, hey, you disciples,

00:37:46.280 you meet the needs of these hungry people

00:37:48.980 and they work really hard

00:37:51.180 and are able to secure enough fish and bread for everyone,

00:37:55.200 Or, five loaves and two fish.

00:38:01.540 In either instance, here's what matters.

00:38:04.180 It needs to be real loaves and real fish.

00:38:08.580 That's what matters.

00:38:11.300 The Lord can save by many or by few.

00:38:14.800 Jesus can feed by much or by little.

00:38:18.620 But what matters is the quality.

00:38:21.680 Is it real?

00:38:22.880 Is it genuine?

00:38:24.160 Is it faithful?

00:38:25.200 Is it true? Is it true?

00:38:31.120 If God does choose to save these United States,

00:38:35.840 He does not require more compromise to do it.

00:38:42.500 He requires faithfulness.

00:38:45.900 Lastly, our third point, the sufficiency of Christ.

00:38:50.140 The disciples doubt because they're painfully aware of their own insufficiency.

00:38:56.980 But what they have is true.

00:39:01.060 Lastly, what we see in the text is that although the disciples,

00:39:05.960 and we too as Christ's disciples, are painfully insufficient,

00:39:11.100 Christ is all sufficient.

00:39:13.840 In your notes I've written the following,

00:39:15.420 this miraculous multiplication of food is not merely a demonstration of Christ's divine power,

00:39:22.960 although it is that, not less, but more.

00:39:26.720 It is also a sign of the spiritual abundance that Christ offers to all who come to him.

00:39:34.800 It is a miracle and a metaphor.

00:39:38.940 It is a wonder, but also a sign.

00:39:42.340 And it points towards the spiritual sufficiency of Christ, not only physical.

00:39:50.900 He offers bread to those who are physically hungry, but he himself is also the bread of life.

00:39:59.200 As he provides food for the body, he also nourishes the soul.

00:40:04.000 Christ's provision extends to every area of our lives.

00:40:07.700 It is not just the physical substance that he provides, but the spiritual nourishment that we receive through his word and his presence.

00:40:18.840 And lastly, the final paragraph in your notes, I've written this.

00:40:23.180 In verse 20, we see that they, being the crowds now, not merely the disciples, but all who were present, they ate and were satisfied.

00:40:35.000 And they took up 12 baskets full of the broken pieces left over, and those who ate were about 5,000 men, just the men, besides also the women and children.

00:40:49.720 Christ is always sufficient, but here's the key.

00:40:53.620 We are not always satisfied.

00:40:56.640 May we be reminded that Christ is enough for the day and the life to come.

00:41:05.000 my concern as I was reading and studying the passage

00:41:09.900 is it for us and for our nation in a broader sense

00:41:16.320 if Christ were to come and multiply food

00:41:20.260 to feed the 5,000

00:41:22.320 I know that he could do it

00:41:24.940 I don't know if we would be satisfied

00:41:28.320 that last part of the text

00:41:31.620 They all ate, because he is all sufficient.

00:41:36.700 But the final portion, and they were satisfied.

00:41:40.900 That's where I feel as though we, in our culture, in our particular moment in history, are particularly wicked.

00:41:51.500 Would we be satisfied?

00:41:54.200 How many of us would be saying, yeah, but is the bread gluten-free?

00:41:58.000 really fish why not steak

00:42:04.340 notice Jesus doesn't wow them with a gourmet meal

00:42:09.900 but it is a sufficient meal he doesn't wow them

00:42:16.960 by providing a meal that's the best thing that their taste buds have ever

00:42:22.080 experienced it doesn't say they all ate and they

00:42:26.660 all, generally the consensus among them was it was the best meal they ever had. No, what the text

00:42:34.300 says is they all ate and they were satisfied. What Jesus provides is enough. You and I, in many cases,

00:42:45.220 are not satisfied with enough. Now notice what Jesus provides, we could go even further

00:42:52.920 and saying that not only is it enough,

00:42:55.720 but technically at the physical level,

00:42:58.340 He's the bread of life.

00:42:59.520 He is enough for not only this life,

00:43:01.940 but the life to come

00:43:02.980 when it comes to our spiritual deficiency

00:43:05.460 and our need for spiritual sustenance.

00:43:09.380 He's enough not only for today,

00:43:11.020 but for tomorrow and every day after,

00:43:13.380 for eons and eons into eternity.

00:43:16.020 He is the Lamb of God

00:43:17.340 who takes away the sins of the world.

00:43:19.620 but in terms of the physical miracle of multiplying the physical bread and physical fish

00:43:26.720 for physical needs what jesus provided was enough but only enough for that day

00:43:34.400 and the problem is not that jesus fails in making physical provision for the needs of each day

00:43:46.020 The problem is that you and I are so woefully unsatisfied with him providing for the needs of each day.

00:43:58.540 You're here.

00:44:01.040 You're alive.

00:44:03.940 I trust that you slept somewhere last night.

00:44:07.920 You ate something this morning, even if it was only donut holes on your way through the door.

00:44:16.020 Well, God provided. There are all different human means that brought these things together,

00:44:24.100 but standing above it all is God. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father

00:44:30.540 of lights. He clothes the lilies, He feeds the sparrows, and He gives sleep, even the Psalms say,

00:44:38.460 to those whom he loves.

00:44:41.420 All of this comes from him.

00:44:44.320 There's nothing in the Bible

00:44:46.260 that promises that Jesus would provide

00:44:49.640 Ferraris or mansions.

00:44:53.040 But there is much in the scripture that says

00:44:56.020 not only will he provide eternally

00:44:58.720 for our spiritual need,

00:45:00.060 but also even physically,

00:45:03.160 but for the need of the day.

00:45:06.400 Do not worry for tomorrow,

00:45:07.780 for tomorrow has enough trouble of its own.

00:45:11.320 Tomorrow will worry about itself.

00:45:14.000 Each day has sufficient trouble.

00:45:19.280 The Lord promises to provide not only spiritually,

00:45:23.340 but even physically.

00:45:25.260 But He promises in that physical category

00:45:28.700 to provide day by day.

00:45:33.380 What you and I often want is we want to be able

00:45:36.920 to see the provision ahead of time.

00:45:39.320 I want to see next year's provision.

00:45:41.300 I'll admit it.

00:45:43.000 I want to see, you know,

00:45:44.600 the whole budget filled.

00:45:47.660 But that's not often how God works.

00:45:50.540 And if He did,

00:45:51.900 it would actually in many cases

00:45:53.400 be unloving because

00:45:54.500 of our finitude,

00:45:57.580 our feebleness,

00:45:59.820 our weakness, and our sin.

00:46:02.000 If God provided for the year,

00:46:04.760 guess when many of us

00:46:06.100 would go and pursue God next

00:46:08.520 at the end of the year.

00:46:11.940 But because God provides for the day,

00:46:15.520 he keeps us in a state of humility

00:46:18.580 and dependence where we pursue him

00:46:22.180 day by day.

00:46:24.980 This isn't God providing too little.

00:46:28.240 This is God actually providing

00:46:30.180 in many ways more.

00:46:32.060 Providing the physical needs for each day

00:46:34.820 so that we always have enough

00:46:36.980 and providing just enough

00:46:39.820 but not too much

00:46:40.900 so that the spiritual needs

00:46:42.740 which are of much greater importance

00:46:45.420 that dependence spiritually

00:46:47.700 still remains

00:46:48.720 so that we would pursue him

00:46:50.140 again and again.

00:46:52.520 And all of this

00:46:53.960 is his compassion and pity

00:46:56.140 for you.

00:46:58.460 He loves you.

00:47:00.120 So trust him.

00:47:01.260 Let's pray.

00:47:02.180 Father, thank you for who you are.

00:47:04.820 what you've done, and what you continue to do through Jesus, your Son, who is the bread of life.

00:47:12.600 The problem is not his sufficiency.

00:47:16.320 The problem is that we are too often not satisfied.

00:47:22.020 There is no change or shadow or variation with you, and praise God for it.

00:47:29.000 The change is required in us.

00:47:32.220 You do not need to be made more sufficient.

00:47:36.000 We need to be made more content.

00:47:40.020 Help us, Lord, for your glory and our good.

00:47:43.260 Amen.

The NXR Podcast - November 18, 2025

THE SERMON - Grief, Compassion, & Avoiding Self-Pity ｜ Matthew 14_13-21

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