Mark 8:1-9
Introduction: In this passage we see the Lord Jesus Christ feeding 4,000 men beside women and children. This feeding was physical however, we can see some things here that we want to consider as a Christian, if we want to be fed by God spiritually.
You and I should have a desire to be fed by God spiritually: Psalm 42:1-2 “As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?”
If you want to be fed by Jesus:
I. You have to spend time with Jesus- Vs 2 “They have now been with me three days”.
Jesus is eventually going to feed the multitude in Vs 8, however, before He does, that, the multitude spends 3 days with Jesus first. If you want to be fed spiritually, you have to spend time with Jesus too.
– You can’t be with Jesus for 3 days and not be affected, I’m sure they didn’t speak about: Sports/ Religion/ Weather/ Opinions/ Etc. Jesus is full of “grace and truth”.
– How much time did you spend with Jesus last week, in January, in 2021?
– You have to spend time with the right multitude in this Bible- John 1:1 / John 1:14. This is the right multitude here in church this evening.
– You can’t spend time with the wrong multitude: at movies / shopping / fishing / hunting / golfing / FACEBOOK, etc. Notice, this multitude is not with Jesus.
– Isaiah 59:1-4 – The wrong multitude will keep you from spending time with Jesus
– There are many anemic Christians today because they don’t spend time with Jesus.
II. You have to do what Jesus says– Vs 6 “and he commanded the people to sit down on the ground”.
Notice, Jesus commanded the multitude to sit. If they wanted to eat, they had to obey Jesus. After the multitude sat down, Jesus started to make the preparations to feed them. The same is true of us, if we want to be fed by Jesus spiritually, we have to do what Jesus says in this Bible.
The Bible says, “Quench not the Spirit” and one good way to Quench the Spirit is to disobey what God says to do. If you don’t do what Jesus says, you’re not going to get much from the spiritual food he’s’ trying to give you.
– Psalm 119:9-16- You are a Christian, you shouldn’t be doing these things. Doing what Jesus says to do and not to do, will keep us from doing this list.
– After you spend time with Jesus, reading the Bible, in fellowship, in communion, then you have to do what the Bible says to do, you have to stop doing what it says to stop doing.
– Romans 12:2 “and be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God”. You renew your mind by reading and doing what this Bible says.
III. You have to come back to Him for a filling- Vs 8 “So they did eat, and were filled…vs 9 “and he sent them away”.
– After this multitude had eaten, and were filled, (physically and spiritually) they were satisfied according to vs 4, “From when can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? However, this is only a temporary, physical filling.
– If these people wanted to keep on eating at a later time, they knew they had to come back to Jesus. Not only was Jesus willing (had compassion on them) but, He was also capable to feed such a large multitude(miraculously).
– The same is true of us Christians, if we want to be fed by Jesus, we can’t just come to him once a week, we have to keep coming to Him daily, for a lifetime.
– We don’t just eat every now and then, we eat every day. Spiritual food is just as needful as the physical food that we eat. We should eat daily spiritual food.
– John 6:47-52 – What this multitudes received was physical bread, what we need is spiritual bread.
– John 4:10-14 – What this multitude drank was physical water, what we need is spiritual water.
– This spiritual bread and water that comes from God, is worth coming back to on a daily basis. This is what will keep us sustained.
Conclusion: This multitude was fed physical food by Jesus. What we need is spiritual food from Jesus, and this how we get it. Spend a lot of time with Jesus, do what Jesus says to do in His Word by obey it, and keep coming back daily for a filling. Only He can satisfy you, drink and eat from this Word, and you’ll never go hungry.