I invite you to turn in the Bible this morning to the Gospel of Mark. If you're a visitor this morning, we've been preaching through and considering this book. And today we come to chapter 6, Mark chapter 6, beginning at verse 30. We will read all the way to verse 44, 30 to 44 of Mark 6. In your pew Bibles, that is found on page 1070. This is the word of the Lord this morning, beginning at verse 30. The apostles returned to Jesus and told them all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. Many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat. But he answered them, You give them something to eat. And they said to him, Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat? And he said to them, How many loaves do you have? Go and see. And when they had found out, they said five and two fish. And he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up the twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. and those who ate the loaves were five thousand men may the lord bless this morning the hearing of his word well the previous scene uh maybe one of the worst in scripture of course outside of the the death of christ uh you remember that was last week quite a section of scripture to consider with that wicked king herod a tyrannical king in israel and you'll notice that said there that he was the king in israel uh right at verse 14 king herod is there sitting on the throne but what a scene that that was where this tyrannical king is sitting on his throne at a great feast isn't he he's sitting on a throne at a great feast with all the nobles with all the elite with all the high ranking Jewish officials all the entertainment all the exotic dancing and what was served on a platter the head of John the Baptist that was the dish that was served at his meal isn't that just awful just to even think about it was an absolutely horrific scene there was nothing easy about that there was nothing easy about looking at that in fact it was disgusting it was murderous it was perverse I mean that is a scene fit for cannibals isn't it what an awful awful thing to have studied last week in Israel and that was the king in Israel think about that for a moment that was the king I looked out at some of you last Sunday and I noticed that it had really visually I from here I it really affected you it really affected I saw I saw even tears over that and I thought to myself i'd probably then by the spirit's work who gets all the glory uh did some real good in offending you i hope there was some kind of offense to that that was that was the intention the intention was uh to cause some real discouragement do you know that to make all of us feel the weight of discouragement that something like that i mean what a what a statement about humanity and the kind of rulers and kings that we can have and look at that utterly disgusting king and his family who sat on the throne i don't need to go into all the details again but look at what that king did to god's servants who were sent to preach the gospel who were sent to call people to repentance and faith look at the king and what he did to john the baptist now all of that is set in contrast, I believe now, to provide one of the most encouraging sections of Scripture in the midst of this section of a terrible enemy of Israel, who is the king. A great contrast is now given and is meant to be given to show you how wonderful the true king is, the shepherd king of Israel all of that provides this great moment here in John I mean in Mark 6 where we're looking at the feeding of the 5,000 so big the gospels really give a lot of attention to this we'll even look at why they do it twice later but notice here how radical the contrast is and that's what makes this so hard to do justice to it it's so beautiful it's so encouraging it's so uplifting a king unlike anything the world had ever seen or known is now presented to us on the scene set in contrast to this terrible wicked scene that we had studied last week is now our Lord and it invites us in every way to see the contrast and to understand what this king is like. That's the intention here. To help you. He's a king concerned about those whom he sends to preach his gospel instead of cutting off their heads. He's a king deeply concerned about his shepherds. He's a king deeply concerned about his sheep and has compassion on them. The radical contrast is here presented and illustrated as everything now becomes centered on him feeding his shepherds and his sheep. Training his shepherds to have the same kind of concern of compassion that he has for the sheep. so different so beautiful not just about feeding their stomachs but about something so important that jesus came and taught us and gave his life for this so that we have before us this morning is an incident of jesus training his disciples and now apostles as you as you caught there after they had come back from their own mini mission jesus to understand his disciples to understand his own compassion to carry that compassion to the nations the same concern to feed the sheep would now be embossed in their hearts after this particular incident so this is a beautiful section of scripture this morning that i think helps us understand the ministry helps us understand what this is all about helps you understand what kind of king you have and it should leave you here this morning as encouraged as you ever have been in your Christianity of how the Lord's love and compassion is shown to you and evidence, Lord willing, this morning in the own preaching that he has given for you to grow and understand him all the more. So let's look here at verse 30, beginning at verse 30, that we read the apostles had now returned. Remember, this is the sort of interjection last time with john the baptist now the apostles have returned from this trial mission that the lord has given uh to them and they returned to jesus and we have uh the statement that they told him all that they had done and all that they had taught the other gospels are clear about this that they went out preaching the gospel and healing the sick and they are on cloud nine it is a great success so successful that this is what had happened when herod heard it and how he responded was last time but during that time of course as we looked at this awful tragedy had happened with regard to john the baptist and putting together the scenes i want you to listen to how matthew captures this so you understand a bit of what jesus is feeling and going through at the moment himself in light of john's death i believe matthew captures that matthew says that when jesus heard it john the baptist death he departed from there by boat to a deserted place by himself it had deeply affected him now it's not that he didn't know it's not but he is looking now at the cross itself it's coming and here was the great prophet who had just been taken out if he had wept over lazarus he now needs isolation over john think about this it's a powerful moment in looking at the humanity of our lord it called for silence john's death called for that this wasn't a grand celebration of life as people do in funerals today it wasn't uh get up and rehearse and sort of cover up the terrible thing that had just happened uh jesus goes off in isolation over this he knew his hour was coming but all of a sudden the sudden it reads in mark's gospel that the disciples come back and they're telling him everything jesus you're not this is just wonderful let us let me let us tell you what happened we went out and we were healing and people were healed and we were preaching and people were responding we went through all the towns preaching the gospel and healing everywhere it's interesting what jesus does no response at least as mark gives it and he said to them come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. What a remarkable, beautiful verse, isn't it? Come away. Come aside. Let's go rest. It says, for many were coming and going. Many of his apostles were coming and going. He grabs them and stops them. I don't know about you, but that is one of the most beautiful verses I think we come across in Scripture. Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest for a while. there's something that just needs to be felt about that as you sit and you hear that this morning amidst all the turbulence all the terrible things that have happened all the hustling and bustling all the busyness i think we come to a real crucial moment here in the life of christ that he implements this the discouragement of the death of john the hit that was and yet perfectly in the plan of god such an event for his disciples required reflection prayer seriousness of heart understanding but the disciples were coming and going coming and going the imagery that we get here is that jesus his own disciples have been laboring for him but have been overtaken themselves by the busyness of it all already after one mission you'll notice that there they are overwhelmed it seems by the busyness of it all and it's at the height of this sort of convergence of discouragement and busyness that he stops them he stops them purposely for you to read here today in 2016 and to think a lot about this great halt for a moment come to a desolate place with me and rest for a while his concern is so beautiful when you start to put it together i want rest for you i want you to stop what a shining moment in the character and the person of our lord reading just about this tyrant and i'm trying to keep that contrast in front of you this morning that tyrant we just read about who when he heard that john was preaching went out bound him up and ended up cutting off his head in a foolish and rash oath. That's what that king did to the sent ones of God. And look at this king to his sent ones. Come aside for a minute. Immediately the presentation of the shepherd king is presented here, concerned for rest. There are some of us in all of our working and all of our busyness that we never stop. We never stop. running here and there. Some of you are probably workaholics. This is just life. This is what you do. Your work is your life. And our work can become a hindrance and even a roadblock to our spiritual need. And as we go through life, we never stop. We never stop. We never think. We never reflect. In all the discouragements that are happening, we just go, go, go, go, go, go. I can tell you right now that such an approach to life has the effect of making you a slave to your work. Slave, rather than a servant of your king. And when our lives become this, we begin to forget the very purpose for which we are doing what we are doing. I want you to think about that with me for a moment this morning. that you begin to forget the very purpose for which you are doing what you are doing. I believe that's captured here as the intention of this whole section is to use the common experience of our physical needs, which we know every single day we need, to illustrate something very spiritual. As we see this connection, we see the need that the disciples themselves did not even have enough time to eat. Did you catch that? They didn't even have enough time to eat. And this wasn't for soccer games, which I'm doing now. I said to my wife, the Saturdays are gone now. Here we go, you know, Saturdays are gone. This is not for that, as important as that is. As important as we should be doing these things. But the busyness of their spiritual work for the Lord. You see, the Lord is about ready to make a connection here to the busyness of life so that we don't even stop and get time to eat which is true of many of us and we know this we all know this with the sad reality that many are not being fed with christ as they should that many are running around with no shepherd there's a connection to this and i want you to stay with me it's so important that you see this this morning and that's important for ministry you see that's so important why we would have special emphasis given in the bible to ordained ministry and to understand what's put in place for you there's an order here of the blessing that needs to come from the head to his to his uh his servants to the people we often um say to people well what's needed most today is that people need to know what they believe and why they believe it and i say amen i i love that phrase i've used that phrase that is so important you need to know what you believe and why you believe it but is it not just as much true that we should know what we're doing and why we need to do it and why we are doing it what we're doing and why we are doing it how true it is that pastors can be doing all these things and shepherds can be doing all these things in the name of jesus and they law have lost why they're doing it they've lost and that's just basically true of every single christian here it's the greatest danger that you can be running around here and there in supposed christian service even preaching weekend and week out and doing all these quote kingdom activities and you yourselves are starving starving you know it was the the most perplexing experience for me you kind of have this dream of going to seminary so that you can put aside all the other stuff you don't really want to study and then get to get in i get to study the bible all the time i get to open the Bible and I get to hear everything about the Bible. Church history, theology, systematic theology. I'm just going to love that. It's going to be the most spiritually uplifting time ever. I can tell you right now that was the most spiritually dead time for me because it became a job. Slave to the grade. A thing that was such a blessing. I forgot the source of my strength and I forgot why I was doing it and that took place a month into seminary and that's the the vein and the sort of strain here that i think we have in this particular text in the midst of the busyness jesus is halting them doing something uh something very special that required stopping to remember why they are doing what they are doing and to understand it and to remember that they too are to feed on the head they too have their spiritual life in him that they are to be strengthened in him to feed others well they have to be fed to feed others well they have to be strengthened to feed others well they have to rest you can only feed the flock well when you are this is this is so important for this morning's message if you are taking notes then i want you to capture this one the only way you feed the flock well is when you are confident of where you find that food get that a worker can only flee feed the flock of this king when they know where to get the food don't you see jesus is concerned well this must have been forever impressed upon their minds for if you follow this they didn't get to rest so wait a minute you just made a case for rest you made a case for stopping which was jesus's intention and has every application to us there's no doubt but they didn't get to rest it's remarkable follow me for a minute you'll notice here in verse 33 that many saw them coming and going and recognized them and they ran there on foot all the towns from all the towns and they got there ahead of them so they're they're heading off in the boat to go off to this desolate place to take some rest and everyone's bolted and gone right in front of them so that when they arrive on the shore there are multitudes of people no rest for the weary right you'll see it in verse 34 when he went ashore he saw a great crowd as jesus is arriving on the shore they look up and there are in their eyes multitudes of people mulling around just mulling around wandering around waiting for a shepherd it's a powerful image if you think about it when he went ashore he saw a great crowd and the text says mark captures this the gospels capture this in a very unique way that he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Imagery is powerful. Jesus looks up and He sees them and we read that He welled up with compassion, however I'm to capture that today. It's a word the Holy Spirit wanted specially chosen for Him. We find it only in the Gospels. It was reserved for Him and as it happened, It was meant to be a deliberate contrast to that awful, wicked tyrant who welled up with anger and vitriol and hate toward the servants of the Lord and the people of the Lord. The murderous impulses of that king now are set in contrast to the compassionate king of Israel. What a choice by the Spirit. It's a real shock because people always attribute to God when amidst anything goes wrong or looking at the state of the world, the first thing they say is that God is some kind of evil tyrant who reigns over us and they would rather have Herod lead them. This is what's going on in the political process today. Look at the quality of leaders who we all now are excited about. Adulterous, murderous. Should I keep going? While the king installed on his throne, The true king is labeled by everyone in this world as a tyrant. Well, maybe this scene will be forever embossed on your hearts when you read that he had compassion. It means that in his inward heart, his lungs, his stomach, the deepest sense of emotion overcame him when he gazed on them. Not wrath. Now, he is just. I'm not exalting one attribute over the others. But as for the moment, I want you to think about this. I'm not setting aside things. He is compassion. He looked on them. And as He had come to this earth, His greatest desire was to solve their problem. These people were like sheep without a shepherd. Don't miss the contrast again. Herod and his noblemen and all the elite, all the top dogs of Israel, and I call them dogs, that's exactly what they were, were in a wild, revelrous party at the moment. And Jesus is out in the fields of Israel, in the scattered fields of Israel, in the lowly places, gathering sheep. Well, that sounds familiar. As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become prey and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts since there was no shepherd i'm quoting ezekiel you know this and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep and because my shepherds have fed themselves and have not fed my sheep therefore you shepherds hear the word of the lord thus says the lord god behold i'm against the shepherds and i will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves i will rescue my sheep from their mouths that they may not be food for them but thus says the lord god behold i myself will search for my sheep and seek them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock when he's among the sheep that have been scattered so i will seek out my sheep and i will rescue them from all the places where they've been scattered i'll feed them on the mountains of israel i'll feed them listen with good pasture and on the mountain heights of israel there shall be their grazing land they shall lie down in good grazing land and on the rich pasture pasture they shall feed on the mountains of israel i myself will feed my will be the shepherd of my sheep you think jesus isn't God he just said it here he is here's the connection the disciples in verse 31 were coming and going Jesus looks on the multitudes and what they're doing what are they doing they're coming and going they're running around you'll notice that statement they're mulling around they have they're scattered they're running they've been on foot running same thing the tie here is that both have no rest they're weary they've been going to find him and they had no time to eat these these multitudes of the people the disciples had been running around for him they had no time to eat they are hungry at this moment the disciples are hungry the people are hungry but here we are Jesus at this moment is moved with compassion so how do you as the shepherd of the sheep who have no shepherd what did his compassion lead him to do well you're all going to say well he he fed the 5,000 yep he fed the 5,000 how did he feed the 5,000 did you catch verse 34 so he began to teach them many things. Wait a minute. He didn't stuff their bellies first? You just had presented to you in verse 34 Jesus' answer for wandering sheep. He taught them many things. Now if we're beginning to put this together, the disciples needed refreshment. They needed to eat. And the same situation is here presented with the multitudes. The people were running everywhere. They needed to eat. The disciples had not yet been able to eat or rest. The people had not yet been able to eat or rest. And we read in verse 35 that Jesus spends the whole day teaching. I better never get that my sermons are long again. Do you guys understand that? Okay? That's over, right? You have weary people. You have weary disciples, and he teaches them all day. And here's where it comes together. I hope the common experience of our physical needs here, you see, is used to illustrate something of spiritual need. Notice how physical food has not been the solution yet. Jesus has washeld that from both his disciples and the people. It's not hard to figure out what he's saying to us. Namely, that it is in the preaching and the teaching of Jesus that you find the renewal and the refreshment that you need. That's it. It is in the teaching and the preaching of Christ that you find the renewal and the refreshment and the shepherding that you need. I thought, well, I wonder what Jesus taught them that day. I can pretty much guarantee you it sounded nothing like a sermon we get today in modern America. Nothing. I can't even imagine it, sitting there and listening to the mouth of our Lord teach. What do you think he chose to do? Well, if Luke 24 is any indication of his desire, he taught them all things in the law, the prophets, and the Psalms concerning himself. Can you imagine hearing that even at creation, Jesus is standing there saying, it's all made through me. At the resurrection, he's expounding to them in the scriptures all the things concerning himself. This wasn't the first time. He preached himself as the substance of their life. Now, what that means is that in the preaching of him, there is real grace and there's real strength for your life. Do you have that kind of confidence in what we're doing? See, he gives them a test now. It gives them a test. They come to him, and the disciples ironically come with the same concern that Jesus had for them. They're weary, they're weary. They don't have anything to eat. See it? That was Jesus' concern for the disciples. You don't have anything to eat. Come aside and rest for a while. He hadn't fed them yet. The hour's late, Jesus. Listen, you've been teaching a long time now, I think it's time we send them away, glaring statement. Send them away that they may go get something to eat. And he comes back in verse 37, ready? You give them something to eat. Yes, you do it. Huh? Imagine the conundrum. They just raise, where are we going to get the money to do this, to feed all this? You feed them. What do you mean feed them? We don't have anything to feed them with. You feed them. And even when they find something, it's just a few loaves and fish. You feed them. We can't. You feed them. Do you get it yet? Do you get the convergence here of what he's doing as he brings it together? In other words, you have more food than you ever know to give these sheep. Where? He makes them in front of the disciples all do what? Sit down in green pastures. And all the people were put in ranks and he takes the loaves and he breaks them. Supper starts really meaning a lot, doesn't it? When you see the bread broken, I stand there, boys and girls, and I go like this and that's all. That's all I break. Can you imagine the ranks of 5,000 people? He starts breaking the bread and there's baskets everywhere and he just starts filling and he doesn't stop. And by the time they're getting to the fifth row, they're realizing, where is all this bread coming from? And they just keep going back and back and back and back. And Jesus said, I want you disciples to carry it to them. Although they didn't understand this immediately, what he had just done was give them a visual of how He would be given to the multitudes in their ministry. Of how they would feed the sheep. The food is not the food in their hands. The unlimited food He is speaking of that people will never lack is Him. You feed them! With what? Me! Jesus was so concerned for their rest. But how did he solve that problem for them and for the people? Welling up in compassion. And when they saw, he saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd. What did he do? He taught them. He preached to them. Herod had just served up a meal. Remember what he served? John the Baptist's head on a platter. And that's meant to be the contrast. Christ serves up a meal. His broken body. See it? Which is what John the Baptist's life was signifying and telling about, talking about his death and his resurrection. He is serving up his crucified body. Welling up with compassion. He does the single greatest thing he could do for the people. He fed them in his preaching and teaching with him well into the evening. And that, you see, was the greatest need for the people and it was the greatest need for the disciples to understand and to receive themselves. So in the word, he had given the rest that he was so concerned about. So that when the disciples came to him and were worried about food for the people, Jesus could have asked the question, what do you think I've been doing? Oh, that's so important for the church today, isn't it? What do you think I've been doing? Do you think I've been neglectful in feeding? You've just been filled to the full, haven't you? What do you mean filled to the full? You just received the Word for hours. You know, one of the greatest encouragements to your pastor is when you say, after a sermon, I feel absolutely full. Do you know that experience? Any of you said it to me? You ever been to a place where you walk out of church and the pastor preached no sermon, no text, The word was absent. You tell me how you feel. Ripped off. Spiritually starved. For these last hours, all these last hours, they had just been filled to the full. Now we begin to understand what he meant when he said in John 6, I am the bread of God. I am he who comes down from heaven to give life to the world. I am that manna. I am what the children of Israel got in the wilderness. I am, when this is an allusion to numbers, no doubt. The same thing, same event when the food was supposed to come. I am whoever eats this bread, whoever eats this bread will never go hungry. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst. The rest and the refreshment came that day when they received his teaching. And then he solidified it, and then he confirmed it by filling their bellies. Think of what was impressed on their minds, beloved, that day, when he all then, in front of the disciples, in front of everyone, made them lie down where? In green pastures. See it? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not one. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. he restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Yeah, that shadow of death was right there with Herod, wasn't it? I'll fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I'd like to get an amen right now, but you'll think the sermon's ending. I'm almost done. Amen? The disciples wouldn't grasp this until after the resurrection. In Jesus' own death, that Jesus would come and say to Peter, Do you love me, Peter? Feed my sheep. Do you love me? Feed my lambs. Do you love me? Feed my sheep. Stay there. You're going to get pulled everywhere with busyness. Stay there. That's what they need. What I'm sending you to do, dear apostles, is to feed my sheep with me. What I'm sending you to do, dear pastors, is to feed my sheep with me. That's what you're going to go do in the Great Commission. You're going to show my compassion in this world that's twisted and messed up and full of evil murderers and adulterers and incestuous men who are kings in Israel. But you're recovering my sheep through my ministry of compassion. I'm the compassionate king. Now you see that Jesus was training them and gave them rest so that they are to give it to His sheep. But they too, they too must enjoy that rest. Yes, there's a need for physical rest. But they too must feed on the head. They too must come to the source. They too must be upheld from Him to give Him to them. It was the preaching of Christ and Him crucified that refreshed. For without Him, they could not uphold anyone else. Now remember why you're doing this. you'll be running around here and there, and I say this is a basic application to Christian life. You need to feed on the head. Especially if you're going to be servants of the King. Just as Jesus has done for you, then He would tell them, go do this for others. But you will show compassion to my sheep as you give your lives from the source. To feed them with me in your preaching. And that's so important for today. I asked you in light of all your needs today, what is your greatest need? What is your greatest need in coming up to the house of the Lord today? Do you know it is to be fed with God's Word? Do you really believe that? I would think this place would be busting at the seams every time we have it preached. Jesus told you it's the way He keeps you. The way He refreshes you. The way He desires to show compassion to you. He even created a Sabbath day so that you would have rest and refreshment even at the beginning of creation to give you a platform for this and it's still going it's still here that's why you need this there's a reason so many christians in the church today are starving if we are doing here if what we are doing here and devoting ourselves to the ministry of the word if that ever lost priority here or in any given church there you will find spiritually malnourished, starving sheep worried about and fighting for all the wrong things. This king is so wonderful. So full of compassion. Unlike the awful scene we studied last week, this king wells up in compassion for you. Therefore, he continues to send you, teachers and preachers, never take it for granted. Never take it for granted. I hope these words become really meaningful to you in your Christianity. Come aside. by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while. Come, eat bread without price. Eat what is good. Delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear. Come to me. Hear, hear, that your souls may live. Amen. Heavenly Father, such a wonderful text of encouragement after a text of discouragement, Showing us how wonderful our King is. And this uplifts our hearts today. For we are full. May we, Lord, desire as servants to find rest in the true King. To feed on what is good. And this is a bread we don't have to buy with money. It's a bread freely given to all who come so that our souls would be satisfied and that we live. Thank you for explaining the ministry to us today through this. Thank you for explaining our King to us. May we always respond by loving to be in your house to receive from you your compassions and the food that you give for our souls. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.