Josh Benner

Category: sermons

  • Sermon: Heart Transplant – Ezekiel 36:25-27

    22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 

    Prayer 

    Almighty and eternal God, 

    You are the beginning and the end. You take our sins away as far as the east is from the west. A thousand years to you is like a day. 

    We once again come to you in a time of worship. And may we rejoice in the freedom that we have to praise you and to celebrate the good news of the gospel is that though we were dead in sin, you show your love in the gift of everlasting life through your Son who has taken on the weight of our sin. 

    Lord, it’s grieving this week to learn of the suffering and persecution which people are facing in many parts of the world: Christians suffering in Nigeria. Churches being cracked down on in China. 

    Lord, may we remember those people in our prayers. May they be light in spite of the terrible darkness which surrounds them. May your gospel go forward and overcome the best efforts of men to quell your truth. 

    Lord, we pray for our community and nation as well. There is one hope and that is the gospel. It’s not economics, or politics, or laws, or courts, where our ultimate hope lies but in Christ crucified. The Son of God, the Word made flesh, the firstborn of all creation who came into our world. 

    Lord, we pray for our virtual Vacation Bible School this week. We pray both for kids who do the activities and watch the videos, but we also pray for parents or babysitters or grandparents who might watch along and we pray that gospel and Biblical truths can impact them as well. Lord, we pray that you would use this. 

    Lord, we continue to pray for this church. We thank you for the people that we have. We thank you that in spite of this virus, you have preserved us. And we continue to ask for your protection. We also pray for your wisdom and guidance – not just with this situation – but with everything that we do as a church, O Lord. 

    We pray for our time in your world. May we be enlightened, encouraged, and edified. To the glory of God. In Jesus’ name, amen. 

    We’re continuing this morning in our summer series The Forensics of Faith.

    Last week, we talked about justification. And just as a reminder, justification is right legal standing before God. 

    Today, we talk about the Doctrine of Regeneration. Regeneration refers to new spiritual life which God gives a person. The new regenerative life is what brings a person from spiritual death to spiritual life. 

    While justification is a matter of faith in what Christ has done. 

    Regeneration is a work of the Spirit. 

    And if you recall from earlier in our time in John’s Gospel, another term for regeneration is found in John 3. Born again. 

    In much of Christendom, it’s easy to overlook the Holy Spirit. 

    J.I. Packer, who was one of the great theologians of the last 50 years. Packer passed into glory at the age of 93 last week and so I’ve been going through his classic book Knowing God. One of the things that he says in that book that’s sadly all too true in much of modern Christianity is that we overlook the Holy Spirit. 

    We consider God and we focus on the relationship with Jesus. But as Packer says, the Holy Spirit is the Cinderella of Christian doctrines. Just off in the corner, forgotten about. 

    But the Holy Spirit is immensely important in the work of the salvation of souls and in the work of God’s church. In Ezekiel 36, the prophet points to a future time of washing and renewal. 

    So in our passage from Ezekiel, we’re going to look at three stages of Spiritual regeneration which the Lord brings.

    First, the Spirit brings renewal 

    Ezekiel 36:25: I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

    Ezekiel is in the Old Testament and he’s looking forward to a future time of cleansing that God would bring by means of the Holy Spirit. 

    We live in that time now. When we are regenerated, it is a Spiritual cleansing which the Lord brings. 

    With the water, it’s easy to draw parallels to baptism. And in fact, the filling of the Holy Spirit is referred to as a baptism. 

    John 1:33. John the Baptist is speaking about Jesus and says: He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

    It is a privilege which all Christians share, as we see in 1 Corinthians 12:13: For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body

    All believers in the gospel of Christ are filled with the Spirit. There’s no such thing as a Christian who does not have the Spirit. 

    Romans 8:9-10 is a great passage which communicates this idea: 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

    So we are baptized into the Holy Spirit. 

    Water baptism then is a symbol of the regeneration and cleansing which comes through the Holy Spirit. 

    Baptism does not bring salvation in itself. It’s an important and powerful outward symbol of an inward work which the Lord has done. 

    I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

    What a powerful picture of God’s grace and renewal. 

    In Shakespear’s great play, MacBeth, there’s a scene where Lady MacBeth is overcome with grief and guilt for her murderous greed and ambition and she desperately tries to wash a blood stain off of her hands. 

    There’s no actual blood stain. It’s in her mind. 

    But that’s the brilliance of the scene. 

    Because we all have a stain of sin upon our hearts and lives that we cannot wash away on our own. It is God who brings the cleansing and renewal. 

    In Psalm 51, David too is ravaged by guilt and grief over a terrible sin he’s committed. His affair with Bathsheeba and him sending her husband Uriah to the frontlines in battle where he was killed. 

    David pleads with God: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 

    And I return to John 3. A passage we preached from last fall. 

    After Jesus has said in John 3:3: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God

    He will then talk of the cleansing which accompanies regeneration. 

    John 3:5-6: 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

    Water and Spirit. 

    To have faith is to have the Spirit and to have the Spirit is to be cleansed. 

    You have all sorts of rituals in the Old Testament. Washing is a powerful symbol of purity throughout various cultures and religions. 

    The washing that God gives through the Spirit is a cleansing of the human soul. 

    We see the language of this renewal again in Titus 3: 

    Titus 3:4-5: when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit

    It is because of the mercy of God that we are made morally clean through the work of the Holy Spirit. 

    So through regeneration, God cleanses us. 

    Through being born again, God cleanses us. 

    When Jesus says, “you must be born again,” that’s another fantastic metaphor for regeneration. 

    Because it is a new birth. You’re a new person in Christ. 

    Also, the metaphors matters because we are regenerated as a one time event. 

    Jesus said that we must be born again. He did not say that we must be born again…and again and again. 

    It’s not that we are saved today, then we lose that, then we do better and we’re saved tomorrow. Many Christians believe that. It’s not a Biblical idea. 

    And this is why systematic theology is important in considering the connection between various Bible teachings and how they work together. 

    I’ll again call to mind justification which was our topic last week. Justification, simply put, is right legal standing before God. You cannot be justified without being regenerated. And to be regenerated is to be justified. 

    So when we’re regenerated and given the Holy Spirit, and we’re justified in Christ and forgiven our sins, it’s something that only needs to happen once. You can only be born again once and the good news is that true salvation cannot be lost. 

    We’re sealed with the Holy Spirit as a guarantor of our salvation. 

    Ephesians 1:13-14: In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. 

    Second, the Spirit gives us a new heart 

    Returning to our passage in Ezekiel:  I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

    Once again, what an incredible metaphor that the Bible uses. I assume it’s because of the Bible that the heart has become such a powerful symbol in our culture. Think about it for just a moment. 

    Someone who’s very kind if referred to as tender-hearted. 

    Someone who’s unkind and unfeeling is called cold-hearted. When we’re really sincere, we say something is from the bottom of our heart. When we see an impressive athletic display, we say they played their heart out. Really difficult situations are seen as heartbreaking. 

    And there are lots more little phrases like that. It’s a powerful symbol in our culture that we see as being the seat of our emotions. Because of regeneration, God gives us a new heart. Thousands of Americans wait on donor lists in need of heart transplants. 

    Heart disease is annually the leading cause of death in America with more than 1 in 5 deaths coming from heart disease. 

    Our hearts don’t last forever. And certainly, the heart is important in the Bible. Love the Lord your God with all your…What comes first? Heart. 

    Quoting again from David in Psalm 51:10, he asks God: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me

    Jeremiah 17:9-10 says: 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, 

    We cannot make our hearts pure. But the good news is that through regeneration, God does a heart transplant in us. 

    He gives us a new heart and a new Spirit. So the Spirit brings renewal through cleansing, it is through the Spirit that we are given a new heart. 

    Third, the Spirit enables us to follow God’s law 

    The gospel changes lives. 

    When we’re born again, that doesn’t mean that we never struggle, it doesn’t mean we’ll never sin. But we are forgiven. 

    We aren’t perfect but we’re declared righteous because of the righteousness of Christ. But true recognition of sin, true faith in Christ, that changes a person. And it’s often especially noticed when an adult comes to faith. 

    If you have a child who’s grown up in the church and always had faith as part of their life, that’s an incredible blessing. And there certainly is a moment when faith becomes more real to a person, where their trust truly is in the gospel. 

    But when you have someone who’s an adult and gone years of living their own way, pursuing their own interests and desires, and Jesus comes into their life, there should be fruit of that. 

    Not all at once. It’s not saying a person suddenly never has any areas where they struggle. It’s a process. We’ll talk more about that next week. But when the light of the gospel truly takes root in a person’s heart, it causes a change.

    It’s like you suddenly see the world through a different set of eyes. It’s like in the Wizard of Oz where the story goes from sepia to color. And the reason why there are changes and sudden changes is again due to the Holy Spirit and the process of conversion. 

    The Spirit enables us to follow God. 

    We certainly see that idea in our primary passage today. Consider Ezekiel 36:27: And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules

    It is theSpirit of God working in us which enables us to follow the will of God. 

    When God works in a person’s life, and transforms a person to love him and love him and enables a person to follow his commands, that is miraculous. 

    In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2)

    That same Spirit who was in the beginning, part of creation, and who hovered over the waters dwells every single person who is a Christian and who believes in the Good News of Jesus Christ. 

    How amazing is that! 

    And it’s not because of us. It’s because our God is a good God. 

    Consider Ezekiel 36:22: Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 

    God’s works of grace are not because we were deserving. God ultimately makes grace available because of his character, because of his goodness, because of his faithfulness to the promises he had made, and for the sake of displaying his own divine glory and greatness. 

    Yes, God loves us. 

    But it’s not because we’re lovable but because God is loving. 

    And so through the gospel, through the work of Christ on the cross, we are forgiven and justified. 

    But what separates real faith, what separates the believers from the pretenders is regeneration. 

    In his systematic theology, Louis Berkhoff says: 

    Regeneration consists in the implanting of the principle of the new spiritual life in man, in a radical change of the governing disposition of the soul, which, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, gives birth to a life that moves in a Godward direction.

    Numerous passages in the New Testament talk about the work that God does in the life of a believer. 

    1 Corinthians 2:14-16: The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 

    Consider Ezekiel again: I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules

    God works through us. We don’t regenerate ourselves. We don’t cause our own Spiritual growth. We participate in the work which God is doing in us but we don’t cause it. I hope that makes sense. 

    I realize that’s a somewhat complicated idea. 

    Think of the metaphor of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. I know some of us are farmers, some of us garden. 

    You’re working to help provide the conditions for the crops or for the fruit to grow. You have a role in that. But you’re not the one who’s actually causing the growth. 

    Yes, it’s important to walk with God, to pursue God, to pray to God, to spend time in his word, to serve his people, to serve his church. 

    And God can and does use that for our Spiritual growth and enrichment and sanctification. But it is God who produces the fruit through the mediation of the Holy Spirit. 

    We don’t produce our own fruit. 

    We don’t make ourselves joyful. God does through the Spirit. We don’t make ourselves peaceful and at peace, we can’t just will that in our own lives. God does that through the Spirit. 

    But the Spirit transforms. 

    The Spirit causes Spiritual growth and because of that true faith results in a life that is changed by the gospel. 

    In Philippians 2:13, Paul puts says: it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 

    God works in us. New birth, being born again changes a person. 

    While it is through Christ that we are forgiven, justified, and given eternal life; we see that the Spirit is involved in bringing new life – specifically through cleansing us, through indwelling us, through causing a change in our heart, and by enabling us to live for God. 

    We have a good God who has made a way for sinful people to be forgiven. We must believe in his Son, Jesus Christ as Lord and savior.

  • Sermon: The Bread of Life: John 6:27-35

    27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
    35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

    Our heavenly father,

    We thank you for this day and the opportunity to come together to praise your glorious name. Lord, may we be ever mindful of the wonders of your goodness. May we love you with all of our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. And we thank you for your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has come into the world to bring your kingdom, to shine as light, and to reconcile sinful humanity. It is Jesus alone who is the author and perfecter of our faith.

    Lord, we pray for this season that we’re in. For many of us, these are stressful times. Uncertain times. We see what’s going on in our nation and around the world, and it can be easy to be discouraged. Lord, we pray for your nearness. May we not be people who are stressed by the concerns and worries of the world but let us be people who walk in faith everyday.

    We again pray for our time in your word. I thank you for every person here and I pray that we can again be encouraged, edified, exhorted, and enlightened through your Word. And most importantly, I pray that we can be pointed to your gospel.

    In Jesus’ name, Amen.

    In World War II, thousands of children throughout Europe were left as orphaned. Some of them ended up in refugee camps. With the trauma of war, losing their homes, and losing family, it should be no surprise that many of them struggled to sleep. Efforts to reassure the kids or comfort them did not help. Until someone came up with the ingenious idea to give the kids a piece of bread to take with them to bed in the evening. It was a reminder to the kids that they had eaten the day before and also had food for the next day. It was a reminder that they were cared for. It was a sense of security.

    Among our most basic needs we have as people is our need to eat. And this morning, as we continue in the Gospel of John, Jesus will make a profound statement to a crowd which has been following him when he says “I am the bread of life.” And so we’re going to look at our passage this morning in three parts and with that we’ll jump right in.

    Part 1 – A question answered
    We’re in a section in John 6 which covers Jesus feeding a multitude of 5,000 men – not to mention wives and children – with five loaves of bread and two fish. It’s the next day and Jesus is speaking to people from that crowd who have followed him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

    Beginning in 27 and Jesus says to the crowd: Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.

    So there are two kinds of food: the food that perishes. That was the food which Jesus has provided for the crowd. And a second type of food is the food which endures to eternal life. That is the food which Jesus ultimately came into the world to bring. The crowd is focused on the first kind, the food that perishes. Jesus is focused on the second kind.

    They’re preoccupied with what’s natural and physical. If you remember from last week’s passage, Jesus had rebuked the crowd when he said: you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

    They miss the true point of the sign. They’re focused on what Jesus is doing for them. They’re focused on the world around them and not the world above. Verse 28, the crowd asks: “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”

    Not an unreasonable question.

    But the work of God is not about a level of moral achievement which we can attain. Jesus tells them: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

    What a wonderful summary of the gospel. The world labors to earn salvation, to be good enough for God, to have a leg to stand on before the Almighty. Do you want to be right with God? Do you want to be forgiven? Do you want to know forgiveness and grace?

    Believe in the one he has sent, believe in Jesus. Where is your belief? If you ever question if you’re good enough, you’re not. But the good news is that Jesus is.

    If you ever struggle with doubts, struggle with despair, remember that salvation is not about how good we are. If it were, none of us would have any hope. Real salvation is in believing in the one whom God has sent. Jesus has already said similar things in this gospel.

    John 3:16: God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

    John 5:24: whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

    Paul says in Romans 10:13: everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

    The work of God is faith, genuine belief in who Jesus is. That is the basis for our forgiveness and right-standing before God. It is entirely the work of Christ. To quote the great Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards: “you contribute nothing to your own salvation except the sin that made it necessary.”

    Where is your faith?

    If it is in anything except for the saving work of Christ, then you are resting your hope in another gospel, which is no gospel at all.

    There is one way to do the work of God in the world and be made right with him. It is believing in the Lord Jesus.

    Point 2 – A sign demanded
    We come to our second point. They want to see greater signs from Jesus. Jesus is saying that they need to believe in him. Jesus has literally just done a sign when he fed them, but they want to be even more dazzled.

    Verses 30-31:
    So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’

    Basically what the crowd is saying is that they want an even greater sign than the manna from heaven that had been provided during the Israelite wanderings. Just to get us all up to speed, while the Israelites were in the desert, they didn’t have a lot of options for food. It was a nation of people traveling. The desert is not the best ecosystem for foraging or hunting. It’s not like they could just stop at the grocery store every few days and get supplies.

    But it was God who had led them there. And if God leads, he will always provide to achieve his purposes. And so God had miraculously fed the Israelites with this bread from heaven called manna. Six days a week, and they were supposed to collect two days worth on the sixth day so they could rest on the seventh.

    But God did this week after week and year after year for the Israelites.

    The crowd demands a sing. But what’s their motivation?
    Illustration – Messianc expectations
    I’ve talked about this before, but in the first century, you had all sorts of expectations about what the Messiah would do, what he would be like. And Jesus doesn’t really fit into any of their expectations. A lot of people thought that the Messiah would be an earthly king. And that’s actually their response after Jesus originally fed them.

    John 6:15: Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

    Jesus is the king of kings, but he did not come to primarily be the earthly king that many in the first century expected. And as we mentioned a few moments ago, Jesus has also rebuked the crowd for following him not because of who he was but because he had fed them when he said: you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

    So the crowd asks for another sign. Is it really because they want to follow him?

    Richard Phillips talks about this in his commentary of John. But he suggests that it’s because the crowd actually wants to justify themselves and continue doing what they’re doing and believing what they’re believing and so they instead undermine and challenge his authority? I think that’s the most reasonable interpretation.

    They’re not asking for a sign because they want to believe. They’re challenging Jesus because they don’t want to believe. As we’ve already seen numerous times in John, there’s a lot of irony.

    They ask for a sign when he’s already done a sign when he fed them. In fact, Jesus did another sign when he walked on water but they hadn’t seen it.

    They ask for bread when Jesus has already given them bread! The bread was the sign that was indicative of Jesus coming to provide the greater manna! The bread which Jesus gave was greater than the manna because unlike manna which needed to be collected everyday, the eternal life which Jesus provides is something that he gives once and forever.

    There’s irony in that they’re challenging him by comparing him to Moses when Jesus actually does do things greater than Moses ever did. But Jesus is not a magician. He’s not an entertainer. He doesn’t exist primarily to impress people. And he’s not going to bend to their whims.

    Back in our passage. Verse 32, Jesus is responding to the crowd who wants to see further signs.

    Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

    Jesus brings up Moses because that is what he’s being compared to. But Jesus is greater than Moses. And the bread that was provided during the time of Moses had come from God, not Moses.

    He continues: For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

    Jesus is referring to himself. He is the bread of God who comes down from heaven. While the manna sustained life, Jesus is the one who gives life, true life, eternal life to the world. Jesus is once again using a metaphor to communicate a profound truth about the world. He is the bread from heaven that sustains the human soul.
    Validation – missing the metaphor

    In chapter 3, when Jesus talks to Nocodemus, he tells him that he must be born again. Nicodemus misses the point. He takes Jesus literally. Chapter 4, Jesus talks to the woman at the well and tells her of the living water that he provides. She misses the point and thinks he’s simply talking about water. And here again, Jesus talks of the bread from heaven. And the people miss the point. Verse 34, they think he’s just talking about bread.

    They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

    And we come to the key verse in the passage.

    Point 3 – a sign explained
    Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

    Before we get into this verse, I want to give a brief aside on two words.

    “I am.”

    In John’s Gospel, Jesus makes seven statements which are known as the “I am statements.” Verse 35 is the first of the seven when Jesus says “I am the bread of life.”

    In other sections, Jesus will also go on to say:
    “I am the light of the world”
    “I am the gate.”
    “I am the good shepherd.”
    “I am the resurrection and the life.”
    “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
    “I am the true vine.”

    There are a few reasons why these statements are significant.

    First, Jesus is making revelations about himself, his ministry, and his mission in the world through these statements.

    Second. Each of these statements is unique to John’s Gospel. In the other gospels, Jesus certainly makes many statements which inform us to who he is. But the formula of him saying “I am” and following that a metaphorical statement about his identity is only in John.

    Third, the statements matter because they have resonance to the Old Testament. For instance, the bread of life alludes to the manna from heaven.

    But the I am statements also allude to Old Testament passages such as Exodus 3 when God has called upon Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Moses asks God for his divine name.

    Exodus 3:13-14: 13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”

    God simply refers to himself as “I am.” He is being itself. We often like to anthropomorphize God. We give him human characteristics. Dennis Phillips points out language that the Bible sometimes uses about God in his book “Before Abraham was, I am.”

    “His hand offers protections. His arm indicates strength. The heavens are the work of his fingers. We are under his watchful eye. He is our King and at the same time, our Heavenly Father.”

    All of those ideas are Biblical. And all of them are helpful in our understanding of God.

    But God is also grand and mysterious. And it is his being that he communicates to Moses and that is the same language which Jesus picks up in his “I am” statements.

    Pure existence and being. None of us can say that. Because there was a time when we were not. And our lives depend on God’s provision and sustenance.

    But God can simply say “I am.” And so can Jesus. So while the “I am” statements do make claims about the ministry of Christ, they also inherently make claims of his own divinity.

    Jesus is the I am. Something else that’s interesting if you know a little bit about Greek. There’s basically two ways to say “I am” in Greek. The typical way is the Greek word “eimi.” That means “I am.” You’d use that in any regular setting if you had lived in first century Greece. “I am Josh.” “I am a pastor.” “I am going to the grocery store,” etc.

    But for the “I am” statements, and other times when Jesus says “I am,” they actually add the Greek personal pronoun. So you have the word “I” followed by “I am,” which seems to be done for extra emphasis. It’s the same language you find in the Greek translation of Exodus where God tells Moses “I am.” Because of that, I take the form of language in which Jesus’ “I am” statements are recorded to be an obvious claim of deity. Returning to our passage. Jesus says “I am the bread of life.”
    Bread

    Let’s think about bread for a moment. What the perfect food to pick. Something so universal, something that’s such a staple of life. Most foods, you can find someone who doesn’t like them. Cheese is amazing. There are people who don’t like cheese.

    There are people who don’t like fish, or beef. There are even weirdos who don’t like chocolate. But everyone likes bread. It’s a universal staple. Let’s talk about bread for a minute. A lot of restaurants you go to, they just give you a bowl of bread. You go to an Italian restaurant, maybe it’ll be breadsticks, maybe it’ll be bread with some olive oil. You go to a Mexican restaurant, they bring you chips and salsa. The tortilla chip is just bread that they then fried.

    They don’t even charge you for it. Just “here, have some bread.” Go to a Mediterranean restaurant, the meal will come with a pita. An Indian restaurant, it’ll be naan. And that only works with bread. Can you imagine going to a restaurant and they bring the table a bowl of broccoli? No! You can’t even imagine that. Really, a lot of popular chain restaurants are known more for their bread than their actual entrees. We love bread. It plays a major role in so many of our favorite foods. Pizza. Cheeseburgers. Fried chicken.

    Meatballs. Already a brilliant idea unto itself. A ball of meat, but we say “needs bread crumbs.” We add bread to things that have nothing to do with bread. A salad. Mostly vegetables, let’s add bread crumbs. Soup. Mostly liquid, let’s add crackers and put it in a bread bowl. A bowl of ice cream. We look and say “the soup people were onto something. Let’s get rid of the bowl and replace that with a piece of bread.”

    Most of our favorite desserts are just sweeter versions of bread. Cake. Donuts. All the best breakfast foods. Bread. Pancakes, waffles, french toast, bagels.

    We LOVE bread. Rich people love bread, poor people love bread. Old people love bread, young people love bread. Have you ever seen someone on the Atkins diet? They look the spark of light in their eyes. Bread even impacts our language and sayings.

    We judge the greatness of achievements and innovation by how it stacks up with sliced bread. We have indoor plumbing, we have cures to horrible disease, we’ve been to the moon, we have the internet. But no, when something great comes along, we compare that to the invention of sliced bread.

    When we eat together, we call that breaking bread. In many cultures, bread is a symbol of peace. We call money dough and the person who makes more money in a relationship is called the “bread winner.” If someone wants too much out of a situation, we say “you can’t have your cake and eat it too.”

    And then we consider it in the Bible. We’ve talked at great length about the manna. Jesus references that in the Lord’s Prayer when he teaches us to pray “Give us each day our daily bread.” It is bread to which Jesus refers when the devil tempts him. He’s quoting from Deuteronomy but he says “Man does not live by bread alone but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

    Even the place where Jesus was born. Bethlehem in Hebrew means “house of bread.” And it is bread at the Last Supper when Jesus institutes communion which he takes and breaks and says “this is my body, which is broken for you.” Bread matters in our lives and the Bible.

    The crowd wanted to be dazzled with greater signs and wonders but Jesus instead explains the significance of the sign when he felt the multitudes. The manna from heaven was the bread which God gave to the Isrealites to sustain them on their desert wanderings. Jesus is the bread of life which God has given to sustain the human soul. The people had followed Jesus because he filled their stomachs, but Jesus came to save our souls.

    The people wanted to see a physical display of glory and power but Jesus came to fulfill the longings of the human soul. And it’s for that reason that Jesus is the greater bread.

    The manna had to be collected everyday. Jesus is the bread which gives eternal life at the moment you believe in him. But as the manna was collected daily, there is still a daily element to the bread which Jesus provides as he himself is the bread we need everyday for our spiritual sustenance. Without the bread which Jesus provides, we grow spiritually hungry and malnourished. We need to feed upon him everyday.

    We need to commune with Christ everyday. Anytime you’re struggling spiritually, you feel like you’re just going through the motions, the first thing you should ask yourself is what your daily time with Jesus is looking like. Going to him, praying, meditating on his word, serving his people, loving his people, orienting our lives around him.

    Jesus is the eternal nourishment and the daily bread without which we will Spiritually starve. The world wants to just satisfy your body. If you can just have enough money, you’ll be secure and have what you need.
    Some people are drawn to intimacy and feel like that will sustain their soul. It’s looking to a physical desire.
    Some look to prestige and power. Those are still ultimately fleeting accolades that you can’t take with you. Dying people in a dying world honoring one another.
    Some people look to politics. The right party being in office. Men who are fallen and sinful, flesh and bones are our hope.

    The world makes idols of what is fleeting and feeds the body. Jesus feeds the soul. Jesus is the bread of life. Where is your hope though?

    Is it in the material? Is it in today? Is it in what you have or who you are? Is it in what’s in front of you? Or is it in the eternal Lord of creation?

    The crowd had said to Jesus: What must we do, to be doing the works of God?

    Jesus says: I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

    We’re called to come to him. Coming to him in humility, coming to him realizing our needs, realizing our hunger. And we are to believe in him. To trust in his gospel and his grace. We must recognize that we’re sinners in need of a savior. That is what we do to receive the bread of life. We believe in Jesus. And he invites us to never hunger or thirst because he fulfills the longings of the human soul.

    Praise the Lord.

  • Sermon: The food that perishes – John 6:22-27

                Text 

    22 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 

    25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 

          Prayer 

    Our heavenly Father, 

    You are sovereign over creation, over all that has happened, and all that will happen. 

    It says in your Word: 

    8 “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ 11 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. 

    Lord God, you work all things according to the council of your will. May we rejoice in that .Nothing happens that is outside of your sovereignty. Nothing happens that you have not allowed. You have declared the end from the beginning. You have eternally known of your gospel for our salvation. You are sovereign over our lives. All of the good and the bad that happens is within your perfect will. All of our successes and failures you know. The days of our lives you know the number of. Lord, may we trust in that and in you. May we honor you, may we follow you, may we know you. Lord, on this weekend as we celebrate our independence, we do thank you for the freedoms we enjoy in our nation.

    In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

          Introduction 

    We’re resuming in the Gospel of John this morning. And we begin another speech from Jesus. Just to remind us of where we’ve been in John. We looked at Jesus feeding a multitude of thousands of people with five loaves of bread and two fish. 

    Today, Jesus will interact with many who were in that crowd, who saw that miraculous sign, who ate that bread. They ultimately missed the real significance of what Jesus had done. We’ll see that this week, and in the following passage where Jesus says that he is the bread of life. 

    For our passage this week, it’s a microcosm of a major issue within American Christianity today. 

    And so I begin with a question. 

    If you’re a follower of Jesus, why are you a follower of Jesus? 

    And with that, we’ll jump into our passage. The first few verses set the scene for the conversation which follows. When Jesus feeds the multitudes, that story ends with the crowd wanting to make Jesus their king, Jesus withdrawing up the mountain, and the disciples setting sail in the sea. The crowd knows that Jesus hadn’t left with the disciples. 

    Verse 22: On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 

    The crowd had not seen Jesus walk on water, nor is there any indication they were aware that had happened. It’s morning and the crowd is looking for Jesus. Quite possibly they still harbor the hope of making him their king and leader. 

    Verse 23, other boats start to come to where the multitudes are: Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 

    Tiberias was on the other side of the lake and a group of boats had come over and that appears to be the means through which some of the crowd were able to rejoin Jesus. 

    Verse 25, the crowd is reunited with Jesus and they address him.  When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 

    Jesus responds to the crowd but he doesn’t answer their question. Nor does he tell them of his most recent miracle when he walked on water and calmed the storm. Certainly those would have been incredibly impressive events for the crowd to learn about. But they’ve just experienced Jesus feeding them, and Jesus has a rebuke for the real motivation of this crowd. 

    Verse 26. Jesus says to the crowd: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 

    How can Jesus say that? The people had been highly impressed by Jesus multiplying the bread and the fish. 

    John 6:14: When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 

    And in the following verse, Jesus withdraws because he knows they want to make him king. Following Jesus is not about merely liking Jesus. It’s not about merely being impressed with the things Jesus says or does. It’s about being a follower of him. The bread was not about bread. The signs that Jesus did pointed beyond themselves. And the feeding of the multitudes in their hunger pointed to Jesus as being the one who feeds a world that is starving in sin. The people came to Jesus because a physical need had been met and Jesus says that is the reason why they’re seeking him. 

    They weren’t seeking Jesus to find out if he’s really the promised the Messiah, they’re not seeking Jesus to hear his teachings and learn from him. They’re coming to Jesus because he satisfied a need. 

    And that was a blessing. But the issue is if they want to make their loyalty and devotion to Christ contingent upon him continuing to fulfill their needs. That’s a temptation of the world. That’s a temptation for why many come to Christ. 

    Jesus gives the parable of the sower. A sower sows his seed. Some fall on the path and is eaten by the birds. Some fall between the rocks, grows a little bit but ultimately withers because it does not have sufficient water. Some seed falls among the thorns and does not have sufficient space to grow. And then you have the seed which falls in the good soil and grows and flourishes. 

    When Jesus explains the parable, he tells of how the seed is the Word of God. For some, they’re led astray. For others, they don’t have strong roots and fall away in times of difficulty. For others, they don’t have roots and the cares and pursuits of the world distract them. 

    Finally, Jesus says of the fourth group in Luke 8:15: 

    15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. 

    Jesus knows that many of these people are not in good soil and are more enamored with the spectacle than the savior. They’re more focused on what Jesus does than who he is. They’re more interested in what he can do to meet their physical needs than their spiritual needs. Why are you a follower of Jesus? 

    There are all sorts of reasons why people turn to Jesus, look to religion. For some, it’s because of a health crisis; for others, it’s a health problem. For some it’s despair. And God uses that. And God meets us where we are. 

    But if we turn to Jesus just because we’re in difficult circumstances but don’t have beliefs about Christ which are grounded in the reality of who he is. If we come to Christ and are not rooted in the truth of what he did, we will be led astray. 

    Jesus is the savior of the world who came into a starving world to provide the eternal nourishment that humanity needed. That was the true point of Jesus feeding the multitudes. He’ll say that specifically next week when he tells them: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 

    (John 6:35) 

    Jesus had fed them but they missed the point of it. The feeding of the multitude was a sign which pointed beyond itself to who Jesus was and it pointed to the ultimate sustenance of the human soul which Jesus brings. 

    Why are you a follower of Jesus? It’s a serious question to ask yourself. To examine your heart. 

    You are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 

    Worshipping the gifts over the giver. 

    There is a modern-day temptation of the prosperity gospel movement. 

    If you’re not familiar with that term. The prosperity gospel is a movement that has its origins in America about a century ago and came to greater prominence after the Second World War. It has largely grown out of Pentecostalism and the Word of Faith movement. 

    It is the idea that it is always the will of God for genuine believers to be materially blessed and physically healthy. It’s essentially preoccupied with material blessings. 

    You are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 

    I’m not saying that this first century audience had a 20th and 21st century notion of a health and wealth gospel. But they’re drawn to Jesus because of him fulfilling a physical need. There are elements of what they believe which are picked up in the prosperity gospel movement. 

    It’s not the only place where we find this attitude in the New Testament. 

    Paul addresses a similar issue within the church at Philippi. Philippians 3:19-20: 

    18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

    They’re not looking to take up their cross and follow him. They’re not looking to die to themselves and their sinful ways. They’re there because of a free meal. The theology that looks merely at the material blessings of God has many problems. 

    First, it’s not the gospel. 

    The gospel is the message of Christ crucified and his redemption of sinful people for the glory of God. He died to save souls. The purpose of life is knowing and enjoying Jesus Christ forever. The purpose of life does not revolve around material blessings. 

    Secondly, prosperity theology teaches things that are not Biblical. 

    It undermines the doctrine of suffering. The Bible does not hide from suffering. Prosperity theology believes that it is never the will of God for a person to be sick, to die from cancer, to struggle with depression.  

    The Bible teaches that the Christian life does involve suffering. God uses it and works all things together for good for those who love him. Romans 8:28. 

    God uses suffering to work his purposes. Story of Joseph. We referenced it last week. Joseph is betrayed by his brothers, but through that betrayal, it brings Joseph into Egypt which allows him to be in a position years later to save his family during a time of famine.

    But we also see God’s providence and goodness through that evil. 

    Genesis 50:20: As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. 

    God uses suffering to sanctify and perfect his people. James 1:2-4: 2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 

    Notice that James says to count it all joy WHEN not IF you meet trials of various kinds. 

    To quote my professor D.A. Carson, if you’re not suffering, just keep living. 

    Romans 5:3-4: we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope

    God uses suffering so that we can have a positive influence on others. 

    Wonderful passage. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 

    God uses suffering to remind us that our ultimate need is in him. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9: 8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

    And we could talk for hours on many more passages. God allows suffering. In his sovereign will, God allows it. It is talked about constantly in the Bible and especially in the New Testament. 

    And you have televangelists and authors of popular Christian books who say the opposite of that. They’re teaching an idea that is not Biblical. Yes, God does ultimately promise healing, in heaven. But there is no promise given in the Bible that all true believers or faithful Christians will always experience healing in this life. 

    Third problem with prosperity theology. It turns God into your genie. 

    God does not primarily exist to fulfill to give you everything you want. A lot of times the things we want are not good. 

    If you have a child and just gave them everything they ever wanted, would that be loving? Of course not. Because a lot of things kids want aren’t good for them. Prosperity theology views giving not primarily as a way of giving back part of what God has given for the purposes of his kingdom, but as a way to receive material blessings back as a result of your generosity. Prosperity theology views prayer as a way to force God to give you what you desire. Prosperity theology believes that faith is rewarded by leading to prosperity. 

    Fourth, while turning God into a genie and believing in a theology where good things happen if you’re good enough or have enough faith, what that essentially teaches a person is that they’re in control of their own lives and destiny. 

    Not Biblical. The Bible teaches that God is sovereign. 

    Fifth, prosperity theology actually distracts us from true riches. 

    Ironically, God actually wants to give us so much more than what prosperity theology focuses on. But if we just focus on this world, on materialism, on what’s physical, we lose sight of that. 

    Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. 

    Sixth, prosperity theology distorts the teachings of scripture and takes the Bible out of context 

    It cherry picks the Bible. 

    We’re going through the Gospel of John. Prosperity gospel preaching churches don’t go verse by verse through books. Because they have a theological belief system that is not supported by the whole of scriptures and so they pick and choose what fits their system. 

    You don’t have great scholars or theologians of prosperity theology. Because honest reading of the Bible tears it down. 

    Seventh issue with prosperity theology is that it relies heavily on special revelations from God. 

    I know I’m hammering on this topic this morning. But it’s a highly influential, unbiblical movement that influences Christians here in America and across the world. 

    Many of the best-selling Christian books are written by prosperity teachers and preachers who do not teach or preach the Word but preach a worldly message. Many, I would say most, televangelists fall into this camp. 

    Our world eats up prosperity theology because it tells us that it’s all about us. It co-opts the gospel and replaces it with worldliness. 

    You are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 

    Why are you a follower of Jesus? Is it because he is the way, the truth and the life? Is it because he is glorious? Is it because he’s worthy? Is it because he’s the savior of the world? Is it because of the gospel. That you were dead in your sins and that the only way to redemption was through his life, and death and because of the shedding of his blood? 

    I’m hoping that I’m preaching to the choir on this. For those of us who love the Word of God, who have reverence for the scriptures, the prosperity gospel must be seen as a counterfeit gospel. 

    But here’s my challenge. Because while we might not buy into a health and wealth gospel, we have so many blessings in our country that there can still be a temptation into falling into the trap of thinking that we’re good and that our lives should be good. We should have good families. We should have happy marriages. We deserve to not really suffer. 

    It’s a constant temptation. But the Bible makes no such promises. 

    Why are you a follower of Jesus? 

    The Biblical message is not that we should follow Jesus so that everything will be easy. It’s that when you follow Jesus, you’re taken from death to life. It’s not a promise of ease but it’s a promise that the difficulties have a purpose. It’s not a promise of getting what you want, but it’s a promise of all things working together for your ultimate good. 

    People wanted to follow Jesus because he took care of a physical need, but Jesus came in order to tend to our spiritual needs.

     Final verse of the passage. Jesus has given his rebuke to the crowds. He’s exposed their heart and the real reason they’re following him. 

    27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 

    Jesus tells them to work for the food that endures to eternal life and that is the food which Jesus came to bring. 

    Not only did Jesus come to bring it, but it can come only through Jesus. As the end of the verse reminds us that it is Jesus upon whom God has set his seal. Jesus is the one who has come to bring eternal life to a sinful world. And he offers that life to you today if you believe in him by faith. Know that you are a sinner and that Jesus has come to forgive you of your sins and reconcile you to God. 

    Why do you believe in Jesus? Why do I believe in Jesus? 

    Because he’s the savior of the world. 

  • Sermon: Walking on Water – John 6:16-21

     16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. 

           Prayer 

    Our heavenly Father, 

    On this father’s day, I do want to pray for the dads in our church. No matter how young or old a father is, they have opportunities to bless, to love, and to share wisdom with their kids. It is a sacred role which you have created. 

    Lord, it is a day that can mean different things to different people. Some of us no longer have our father’s with us. Some of us might have had difficult relationships with our fathers. We thank you for the men in our lives who influenced us and helped shape us into the people we’ve become. 

    And with all of their greatnesses and imperfections, Lord may our earthly fathers point us to you, our true and perfect heavenly father. 

    You rule and reign with sovereign authority. 

    You know our needs better than we do. 

    You know the number of hairs on our heads. A sparrow does not fall without your knowledge. That is your exhaustive knowledge of our world. 

    You know the situations of our past, our present, and future. 

    Lord, you are our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

    In the stressful times, instead of trying to control situations, manipulate situations, worry about situations, grumble about situations, may we instead turn to you and trust in you. 

    In times of uncertainty, may we be certain of your goodness. In times of suffering, may we rejoice knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts. 

    Lord, may we trust that there is nothing in our lives, no matter how big or small which falls outside of your sovereign will. May we remember that you are eternal and eternally faithful to your promises and Word and that you never leave us nor forsake us. 

    Lord, in the frightening times of life, may we draw near to you not run from you. 

    Lord, please bless our time as we study your Word. 

    May we again be reminded of your gospel and rejoice in your Son who has come into the world so that we can be forgiven of our sins. 

    In Jesus’ name, Amen.

           Series context  

    We’re continuing in the Gospel of John this morning. Last week, we looked at Jesus feeding the multitudes. 

    This week, we look at the story of his disciples being caught in a storm and Jesus walking on water. It’s another one of his greatest hits and best known and loved stories in the gospels. 

    This event is recorded in three of the gospels. Matthew, Mark, and here in John. In all three of those gospels, it appears directly after Jesus feeds the multitudes. 

    John’s version of the story is the shortest by a significant margin. Matthew’s account is more than twice as long as John’s, but that makes the account no less important.  

    Also, I should mention that a good exercise to do sometimes when reading a story that’s recounted in more than one gospel is to look at the stories and see what one writer emphasizes more or less than another.

    Before we jump into our passage, I just wanted to make one more comment. Last week, we talked about how John chapters 6-8 echo a number of themes found in the Exodus. We’ll see that again in our passage this week. 

    Last week, we saw it in the time of year. It’s Passover, the same time of year when the Israelites had been freed. When Jesus feeds the multitudes, it alludes to the Lord providing manna during the Exodus journey. 

    In Jesus walking on water, it echoes the crossing of the Red Sea. In the preceding passage, the current passage, and next week’s passage, John continues orienting the geography of these events around the Sea. And that will be especially relevant today. 

    So we’ll jump in and this week we will again look at this passage in three scenes. A setting, a conflict, and a resolution. 

     First scene – Setting

    After the feeding of the multitudes, last week’s passage concluded by telling us that Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself (John 6:15). 

    Just as Moses has gone up to Mount Sinai alone, Jesus departs from the multitude of people to be by himself on the mountain. 

    Verses 16-17: When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 

    So there’s a shift in time of day.  It’s now evening. 

    And so the disciples go down to the sea. Last week’s passage told us that they were next to the Sea of Galilee. 

    Now, when I hear that something is called a “sea,” I tend to think that it’s a small ocean. But the Sea of Galilee here is actually a large lake. Not impossibly large. If the Sea of Galilee were in America, it would be the 80th largest lake in America. 

    The important thing about this lake isn’t the size but it’s geography. It’s more than 650 feet below sea level, but you have hills and mountains around the lake and so it can be susceptible to severe weather as cold air coming from over the mountains mixes with the warm air over the lake. 

    Verse 17 tells us that the disciples get into a boat and start heading for Capernaum. It’s probably about five miles away from where they are. 

    John  also mentions that it’s dark. Solidifying the mood of the story. He’s already said it’s evening and now he mentions darkness. 

    Light and darkness continues to be an important theme woven throughout John’s Gospel. Yes, it’s dark, literally, but it’s also dark in the sense that they do not have the light of Jesus with them. It’s one of the few places in this gospel where there’s a temporary absence from Jesus in the story. 

    Second scene – we see the conflict 

    Verse 18 into 19: The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles

    The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 

    It can be easy to just glance at that clause and keep on reading. That’s a very brief description but they were in a precarious situation. They’ve gone about three and a half miles. 

    Based on the other gospel accounts, we know that it’s about 3 in the morning. Keep in mind that some of the disciples were professional fisherman. They knew how to sail a boat. The trip should have taken an hour or two. 

    But they get caught up in poor weather. It’s night, it’s dark, waves on the Sea of Galilee can be fierce in poor weather. They’re undoubtedly getting exhausted as they struggle with this storm. 

    It would be a frightening situation. But then Jesus enters the story. 

    Third scene – we see the resolution 

    Verses 19-20: they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

    The disciples see Jesus walking to them and they are frightened. None of the gospels mention that the disciples were actually fearful of the weather. 

    All three gospel accounts mention that the disciples were frightened when they saw Jesus walking on water. 

    Matthew 14:26: when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear.

    They’re fearful because they don’t realize it’s Jesus. 

    In ancient thought, the sea was often thought as being an unfriendly and hostile environment.

    For some in the Greco-Roman world, they thought that if you drowned, you could not go to heaven and that your soul was lost. For the disciples, they might have thought that Jesus was an unfriendly spirit coming for them. 

    But instead, it’s Jesus. In the disciple’s time of need, Jesus shows up. He’s Lord even in the storms. He’s Lord even when a situation seems hopeless. He’s Lord even when we’re afraid. 

    Jesus sees the disciples struggling in this storm from several miles away. He walks out in this storm with waves crashing down on him and walks out to the boat with his disciples. 

    This is an allusion to a few events in the Old Testament. 

    It’s an allusion to creation. 

    Genesis 1:2:  The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 

    Jesus is the Lord who was in the beginning and who made all things. In both creation and this miracle, we see the dominion of the Lord over the water. 

    As I referenced in the beginning, we again see allusions to the Exodus in this event. 

    In Exodus, God had worked miracle after miracle to free the Israelites. He had brought plagues upon the Egyptians. He had displayed his righteous judgment upon Egypt for their treatment of the Israelites and refusal to release them. 

    But as a final step before entering into the wilderness, the Israelites were confronted by the Red Sea with the Egyptian army following behind them. 

    Did they trust in the Lord? Did they look at how far God had already brought them? 


    Exodus 14:10: When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly.

    The people question why they’ve been brought into the desert to die and talk about how things hadn’t been so bad in Egypt. 

    Their minds go to absurd places. Moses responds. From Exodus 14:13:  And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today.” 

    What happens next is one of the best-known events in the Bible. Through the mediation of Moses, God parts the waters of the Red Sea and enables the Israelites to pass through on dry ground and to escape their Egyptian persecutors. 

    For the disciples, in their time of need, it is Jesus who comes to their rescue. Not by walking through the sea but by walking on the sea. Again. Remember the time of year. It’s Passover and here you have Jesus walking on water to come to the rescue of his disciples. 

    And if you read chapter 6 in one sitting, John keeps orienting the story with its proximity to the Sea. He keeps bringing it back into the story for emphasis. 

    And the similarities to Passover do not end there. To quote again from Exodus 14:13: Moses had said to the Israelites Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord

    Jesus similarly tells the disciples not to fear. 

    Verse 20: 

     But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

    Don’t be afraid. In the Exodus, Moses was able to tell the Israelites not to fear because of the Lord who was bringing salvation. Jesus can definitively say not to fear because he IS the Lord who brings salvation. 

    Where he says “It is I,” we lose the meaning in translation. Literally what Jesus says in Greek is “I am, do not be afraid.” 

    In the following section, Jesus will give the first of what are known as the “I am” statements which are statements Jesus makes which further disclose his Messianic identity. 

    It’s possible that his point is simply to say “it’s me, don’t be afraid.” In the Greek, that’s possible. And perhaps the disciples didn’t catch the reference in the moment. 

    But given all of the allusion back to the Exodus, I believe Jesus’ “I am” statement is again referring back to the Old Testament. 

    In Exodus, when God first appears to Moses and tells Moses that he has been chosen to lead the Israelites out of slavery, Moses asks God to reveal his name and the Lord says to Moses in Exodus 3:14: “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”

    What does that mean? 

    I am. 

    That’s been debated since before the time of Christ. 

    In part, it speaks to God’s self-existence. That God is being in itself. That God is so uniquely and purely himself. 

    And so you have Jesus on the Sea near the time of Passover, coming to rescue his disciples and telling them not to fear because “I am” is with them.” 

    In the storm, knowing of the life and glory that was in Christ was the reason why the disciples were told not to fear. 

    You might be tempted to think “Yeah, but they actually had him with them. I wouldn’t be afraid if Jesus was with me either.” 

    How does Matthew end? 

    Jesus says: I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). 

    John 15;26, Jesus talks of the helper he sends us. The Holy Spirit: When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

    The Bible says that Jesus prays for us. 


    Hebrews 7:25: he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 

    Later in John’s Gospel, Jesus will say that he has gone to prepare a place for us. Fear not. For we have a wonderful savior. Is that always easy? It’s not. We’re still fallen and sinful. The world around us is fallen and sinful. 

    But one of the great temptations that we face is to doubt God when things don’t go the way we should. We so often put more stock into our will being done, than God’s perfect will being done. If you know Christ, then 100 percent of the things that happen in your life are for your ultimate good. Again, in the eyes of the world, that’s nonsense. In the eyes of the world, the cross is foolishness. 

    But to those who are being saved, it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18-20). 

    When God tells us to fear not it is not because every situation will always work out the way we think it should or the way we want it to. 

    We’re told to fear not BECAUSE every situation will work out to our great God’s sovereign will. 

    Did you know that the most common command in the Bible is to not fear. 

    An article on Crosswalk brought up that generally when the Bible tells us not to fear, it doesn’t just say that in isolation. 

    In other words the Bible doesn’t say “don’t fear. All right, onto the next thing.” 

    It says “fear not” and grounds that in a truth about who God is. 

    We actually saw that in the Exodus verse where Moses was addressing the Israelites. Final time quoting from Exodus 14:13: Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today.” 

    God tells Abraham in Genesis 15:1: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

    Genesis 26:24, God is speaking to Isaac: “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.

    Lots of other examples. In the Bible, people are told not to fear because God will fight for them (Joshua 10:8). 

    Joseph is told not to fear taking Mary as his wife because the child she was carrying had been conceived of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20). 

    In Luke, we’re told not to fear because God has given his kingdom (Luke 12:32). 

    I think that’s really something that should be instructive for us. When we’re fearful, or worried, or stressed, don’t put the pressure on yourself to just will yourself to not feel that way. 

    But instead, fill your mind with what God has said in his Word and hold to that in the difficulties. 

    Don’t just tell yourself to not fear, but tell yourself why you can trust in God. 

    Jesus says: “I am. Do not be afraid.” 

    Let us go to him in the times where we fear. 

    Jesus is Lord of the storm. 

    We’ve had a lot of storms as a society this year. 

    For some of us, health issues. 

    For others, struggles in our family.

    I think for all of us, we struggle with all of the little losses we’re going through right now. And those do matter too. Watching a game, going to a restaurant, traveling, the little things that add the little joys to our lives.

    I don’t know if I can think of a time in my lifetime where there was more uncertainty and angst about the future. There are concerns over the economy and what that will look like in the coming years. 

    There are worries about societal upheaval. There are worries about the future and the unknown. There are worries about our churches. Not just this church but churches throughout our nation and world. There is fear of the impact of that. There are fears for our society as America seems to be becoming increasingly secular. 

    In the Book of Revelation, also written by John, he has a vision of Christ and is terrified. 

    Revelation 1:17-18:

    17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

    God is still on the throne. 

    Fear not, for we have the God of the universe. 

    He is good. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He hasn’t forgotten us. And he loves us. 

    In Matthew 10, Jesus says:

    Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:28-31)

    Again, the subject of fear comes up. Jesus is Lord of the storm. 

    Final verse of the passage. The disciples now realize that it’s Jesus. They’re relieved. 

    Verse 21: Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. 

    They want to take Jesus into the boat with them, but Jesus has just nonchalantly worked another miracle. 

    The story ends with them safely reaching the shore. 

    I love this quote from Herman Ridderboss in his commentary on John: “in virtue of the glory given him by God, no darkness was too deep, waves too high, or sea too wide for him to find them and be with them in the midst of that tumult.”

    Jesus is the God who sees us in our struggles. He’s the God who comes to us in the storms. He’s the God who’s there at our lowest moments. He’s the God who tells us not to fear. Because the safest place to be is in his presence. Even if our body dies, for those who believe in the gospel of Christ, we are eternally secure with him. We don’t always see him. But in whatever we face, he sees us. He knows what we need. 

    Will you trust in him? 

  • Sermon: The New Temple – Haggai 1:1-11

    Prayer

    From Psalm 34 

    I will bless the Lord at all times;
        his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
    2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
        let the humble hear and be glad.
    3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
        and let us exalt his name together!

    4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me
        and delivered me from all my fears.
    5 Those who look to him are radiant,
        and their faces shall never be ashamed.
    6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
        and saved him out of all his troubles.
    7 The angel of the Lord encamps
        around those who fear him, and delivers them.

    8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
        Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

    (more…)