"29 Departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there. 30 And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them. 31 So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.
32 And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, "I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way." 33 The disciples *said to Him, "Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?" 34 And Jesus *said to them, “How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven, and a few small fish."35 And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; 36 and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 37 And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full. 38 And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.
39 And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan."
That's why James says in chapter 1, verses 2 and 3, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
And, in 1 Peter 1, Peter tells us, " In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
I believe this is a marvelous truth. Most of us can probably recall situations in life that we don’t know exactly how we'll ever get through, in fact, we might be pretty sure we won't. But when we see that what Jesus accomplishes in those challenging moments, we realize the compassion of Jesus Christ, we're not only stronger for having gone through them, but our faith is increased.
If you learn anything at all about God, you learn in the Scriptures that He suffers with His people. He feels our pain. And that’s exactly why He moves, because He is a God of great compassion.That’s the reason why He redeems men. In His grace, mercy and lovingkindness, He seeks to alleviate its cause, which is sin. It is through His mercies, we are saved. If we got what we deserved, we would be consumed, but it is God's compassion toward us that restricts that, and in His grace we receive His mercy.In Lamentations 3:22-23, I love what Jeremiah says "The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness."
Let us pray
In His name we ask and pray
Amen
Today's Message: The God of Compassion
Jesus inspired imitation from His followers and indignation from His enemies. He had compassion on sinners, forgiving their sin, while He publicly corrected and condemned the Scribes and Pharisees for their false teaching. Grace and truth should be the key characteristics every Christian relationship, Jesus demonstrated both, which requires great sensitivity and ultimately the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Often we find that we can only be good with one or the other. Like Christ, we must also show compassion without compromise. Tolerance and compromise is extremely popular in our society right now. However, within the body of Christ, we cannot tolerate sin or compromise on what Scripture teaches.
I say this because the church needs to understand how to addresses the current issues we're facing in our world. We do not
shrink back from the challenges of teaching the truth, regardless of whatever is happening in our society. We are not to be frightened by a hostile society. We faithfully preach and teach the Word of God, completely dependent upon what God has to
say about these issues in His word, with the authority of Scripture, from a position of courage. Believing that Scripture has
laid all of this out for us, we have to trust God, and until that's settled in our minds, we will never be able to effectively address the damning issues of this present age. The church cannot approve of homosexuality, transgenderism, gender dysphoria or any other form of sexual immorality, when the Holy Scripture condemns it. We cannot bend on these issues as our government has done. It is unthinkable for us to
do that when God Himself condemns these things. We cannot be unfaithful to God, unfaithful to Christ, and unfaithful to Scripture.
Listen as I read from Romans 1.
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged
the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of
corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."
Let me read the last part again; "Those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them." I believe what we are seeing in our world today, is a judicial act of God upon our society. He has given men over to a depraved mindset as a judgment on our prior ungodliness, therefore, we need to understand we cannot stop this depravity, it's not within our power. What we're now seeing is the outworking of the inevitable consequences of men turning away from a Holy and Righteous God.The mere fact that we preach
is not going to stop an entire sinful generation in its tracks. We cannot stop sinners from sinning, which they do by
nature. What we are witnessing, is the events play out exactly as Scripture says that it would. Long before our
society embraced homosexuality, transgenderism and whatever other sexual immorality we are seeing today, there was an abandonment of the fear of God
and the authority of Scripture. That said, allow me to remind you that the church of Christ was born in the midst of a depraved society, and it flourished.
So while we grieve over what we are seeing, we should
not be shocked by it. Rather, we need to humble ourselves before God and pray. We need to cry out to Him, asking for His help, to have mercy on them, pleading with Him to call them to Himself, that they might repent and turn toward Christ. I do not believe that the professing people of God have done this, we've been too busy bemoaning about the circumstances that we find
ourselves in. We're too concerned about the loss of our rights, worried that Christian persecution might actually be coming here to our nation. We need to trust God and not lean
on our own understanding. We cannot live in fear because He has commanded us
to trust Him. To do anything else is to be unfaithful to God.
We can't approve it. We can't stop it. We can't ignore it. We cannot fear it. To do any of that is simply not
worthy of Christ and it is not worthy of our God. I believe it's time for the church to abandon the ways of this fallen world, and return to worshipping and serving our God. This may be uncharted waters for our nation, but I believe if we will do that, He will watch over us, He will sustain us, and He will keep us, just as He has promised in His Word.
worthy of Christ and it is not worthy of our God. I believe it's time for the church to abandon the ways of this fallen world, and return to worshipping and serving our God. This may be uncharted waters for our nation, but I believe if we will do that, He will watch over us, He will sustain us, and He will keep us, just as He has promised in His Word.
"Departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there. And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them. So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.
And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, "I feel compassion for the people, because they
have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do
not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way." The disciples *said to Him, "Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?" And Jesus *said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven, and a few small fish." And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full. And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.
And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan."
The miracle recorded here in Matthew 15:32-39 is not to be confused with the feeding of the 5,000 in Matthew 14:13-21. They are clearly distinguishable for several reasons. First, is the location where the miracles took place. Second, was 5 loaves, 2 fish in feeding the 5,000; and 7 loaves, a few small fish in feeding the 4,000. Feeding the 5,000 occurred in the spring of the year; and feeding the 4,000 occurred in the summer. And, there are a number of other differences. But, perhaps the most interesting difference is the feeding of the 5,000 was primarily a Jewish crowd and the feeding of the 4,000 was primarily a Gentile crowd. That’s the reason the gospel writers used two different words for "baskets."Let's look at verse 29, "Departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there." We know that He had been in the area of Tyre and Sidon, the He departed from there to the area of Phoenicia. Mark's account records He went to a place called Decapolis. He must spent several weeks spent in the area because it would've taken some time to travel through Tyre and Sidon, east over the Hermon Range, across the Jordan, south again on the eastern bank, and down to Decapolis. As a footnote, Decapolis means ten cities, "deka" is ten, and "polis" is city, which were wedged in between two territories, one controlled by Philip the tetrarch and the other controlled by Herod Antipas
Verse 30, "And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them." Keep in mind, He came unannounced. Of course, they knew His reputation as One who could heal anything, and you know how it is when people start talking, news seem to travel fast. The word used for lame, crippled, is the "kullos," meaning maimed or mutilated. Depending on your translation, it's the same word Jesus used in Mark 9, when Hes says "If
your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to
enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire." It speaks of something being severed or removed, verse 30 says He healed those people. If they were missing a body part, such as a foot or hand, He gave them one. If you think about it, that's a pretty profound statement.
In verse 31, Matthew says "So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel." They were awe struck. Matthew says "the crowd marveled," which is the word "thaumázō," meaning they were astonished out of one's senses, they saw something occur for which there's no human explanation. Can you imagine, "they laid them down at His feet," and everybody was being made whole. Humanly speaking, it was not possible, they knew God was in their presence. At the end of the verse, it says the result was "they glorified the God of Israel." Luke says in chapter 5, "They were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen remarkable things today."
Do you know that if you’re in need, you can go to Jesus? When we completely submit ourselves to Christ, our lives are changed. I believe the reason unbelievers aren’t glorifying the name of God in our culture today, is
that they aren’t seeing enough of the transforming work of God among the so-called
people of God!
That brings us to verse 32, "And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, "I feel compassion for the people, because they
have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do
not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way." Here, we learn the healing went on for three days. When the Lord awakened in the morning with the disciples, they were all still there. I know some people who get upset when the miss a meal, they feel as though they are going to starve to death and these people went three days! I assure you, if no one perished after three days, you aren't going to perish after missing a meal. God has compassion for people, not only for their spiritual needs that are eternal in their consequences, but also for their physical needs which are temporal. Here we see the tender compassion of God. Just as He provided manna for the children of Israel who were wandering in the wilderness, He could’ve fed these folks without the help of the disciples. I believe this is a call for His Church to demonstrate the compassion of God to the world, to embrace every human need. When people see the tender compassion of God, they give glory to God! Because He cares deeply for us, let us care deeply for others.
Verse 33, "The disciples *said to Him, "Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?" You have to ask yourself, "Did these poor disciples forget He fed the 5,000 back in chapter 14? What's it going to take for them to understand that when the Lord feeds, He fills everybody?" I don't believe they had forgotten, I believe the point here is not their unbelief, but the recognition of their lack of resources. In other words, "If You're depending on us, we can’t help. You're going to have to do it." How many times have we faced something and thought, this is impossible, I don't have the resources! It can't be done. When someone reaches out to us for help, do we look at our own resources, and say I wish I were able, but I just can't? Or do we consider the promises of provision of God? So, let's give them a little credit and not be too quick to judge them. Let me tell you something else here, the unbelieving world doesn't judge us by our theology, they judge us by our behavior. Why should they believe the Bible is life changing truth, when your life hasn't changed?
So, in verse 34, "And Jesus *said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven, and a few small fish." The point is with what resources they had, it was useless. In verse 35, "And He directed the people to sit down on the ground."
Verse 36 says "And He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people." In the Greek, it says "He kept on giving to the disciples." He's creating it right by His own hands and He keeps filling the baskets. And, as He continues to fill the baskets, and they continue to distribute the food among the people until everybody was satisfied. What a beautiful truth.
Look at verses 37-38, "And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full. And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children." By the way, the word used in chapter 14:20, is the word "kophinos." It was a small basket used by the Jews, they would carry it around when they traveled, being afraid of any food that had been touched by gentile hands. That's not the word used here, it's the word "spuris," a large, flexible basket. It was like a hamper. To demonstrate how large this basket was, it's the same size basket with which the apostle Paul was lowered over the wall in Damascus. So, it was large enough to put a whole person in it. I believe this is because the people hadn’t eaten for three days. This is a tremendous look at the divine power of Jesus Christ. It is important to note, that when the apostles did something, they did it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn’t do it in the name of anybody, He did it in His own power because He is God.
I mention this because so many people today claim to have the power of healing, however, these supposed healings do not square up with the Scripture, the healing done by our Lord Jesus Christ or His apostles. There are many claims, but no clear evidence. In Matthew 7, Jesus tells us "So then, you will know them by their fruits." Their fruits, their supposed healings, do not meet the standard of divine healing in Scripture. Ever seem them put an arm where there is no arm? Or an eye where there is nothing but an empty socket? Their grandiose testimonies about how they can heal people are meaningless.
That brings us to verse 39, "And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan."
In Closing..
We don’t minister to people, just to meet their need. We do it that in having their need met, they glorify God. When I preach, people respond, by giving thanks to God, glorifying Him for the transformation of their life. That’s the goal of everything I do, that God may be glorified. That people would be filled with the praises of God. I believe that must be the goal of every ministry, that God would be glorified.
And when we don’t have the resources to meet our needs, we look to God, let us give thanks to God, remembering that "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow." God has not changed, His supply has not been diminished, so we need not fear. We trust. We trust that He will provide according to His riches in glory. God not only has the ability to provide what you need, He has the desire to provide what you need. So I encourage you to place your trust in never ending power and provision of our Lord and Savior, He is a Master of miracles!
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen