Lenox Federated Church - Firm Foundations, Creation to Christ

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Firm Foundations

Creation to Christ

Lesson 39 - Jesus Fed Five Thousand People

Questions for the LFC Firm Foundations Coordinator may be emailed to firmfoundations@lenoxchurch.org

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REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. Why did Jesus get tired, hungry, and experience all the other things we do? Because, although Jesus was God the Son, He was also a real man with a body like ours.

2. Who was watching over the disciples during the storm? God was.

3. Why could Jesus command that the sea and wind be quiet? Because Jesus is God and had created the sea.

4. Could the demon-possessed man deliver himself from the power of the demons, or could any other ordinary person deliver him? No! He was helpless.

5. Can you deliver yourself or can any ordinary person deliver you from the power of Satan? No! We are helpless.

6. From this story, how can we tell that demons hate people? Because the demons tormented this man and caused him to spend his life crying, cutting himself with stones, and living in caves where people were buried.

7. Who controls all of the spirits who live here on earth? Satan does.

8. Who is greater than Satan and his demons? God is.

9. Did the demons drown in the sea? No, demons are spirits.

10. Who completely changed this man’s life? Jesus, the Deliverer, did.

11. Who is the only one who can deliver all people from the power of Satan, sin, and death? Jesus, who is God.

How long can you keep a loaf of bread at your house? Before too many days, someone will either eat the last piece or else it will spoil. We know it won’t last long, but we still keep buying it, because we need to eat. It’s easy to recognize the importance of our physical needs. But what about our spiritual needs?

LOCATE THE SEA OF GALILEE ON MAP BELOW.

Why did these people follow Jesus?

- Did they see themselves as sinners needing a Savior?

- No, they followed Him because they were looking for material benefits from Him. They did not care about spiritual things. They wanted things for their physical benefit.

- Consider:

It will not help a person if he follows the teachings of the Bible in order to receive earthly benefits or wealth. Jesus did not come into the world to give earthly riches. Believing the Bible and trusting in Jesus as the Savior won’t assure us of better conditions. God does not promise anyone these things.

But here is the real reason why Jesus came. God sent Jesus to be the Deliverer from Satan, sin, and everlasting death.

- Recall:

At the Feast of the Passover, the Jews remembered the last night that their forefathers spent in Egypt. Do you remember that the angel of death passed over their houses because each family had killed a lamb and put the blood on the doorposts of the house? God told them that, every year, they were to kill and eat a lamb in remembrance of His deliverance of their forefathers. The Jewish people traveled great distances to participate in the annual observance of the Passover Feast which was held in Jerusalem.

- Consider:

Perhaps as many as 1,400 years had passed since the Israelites left Egypt that first Passover night. Why were so many Jews still celebrating the Passover? Were they all true believers in God, awaiting His Deliverer? No, they were not. Some did it just because it was a custom; others celebrated the Passover because they wanted to obey God’s law outwardly even though inside they didn’t really care about God and believe Him. But there were a few who observed the Passover because God had commanded them to and they believed God and trusted that He was going to send the Deliverer. God had done as He promised. Jesus, the Deliverer, had come at last!

Jesus had already decided what He was going to do. He asked Philip this question only in order to get Philip’s response.

- Philip had seen the other miracles which Jesus had done.

- Can you remember some of Jesus’ miracles?

- How should Philip have responded?

- Philip should have trusted in Jesus.

As Jesus broke the loaves and fish, they multiplied and multiplied in His hands.

- Consider:

Can you feed your whole family and all your relatives on one sandwich? No! No one except God who is almighty could do that.

- Jesus was able to do this because He is Almighty God.

The people seemed ready to agree that Jesus must be the Savior whom God had promised to send into the world. However, they still didn’t see the need for Him to be their Savior from Satan’s power, sin, and death. They just wanted Jesus to be their king so He would heal their sicknesses, give them food, and deliver them from the control of the Romans.

Man has been able to do a lot of things, but he can’t walk on water. Jesus created the sea, so it wasn’t difficult for Him to walk on it.

Jesus knew the minds of these people. He knew the real reason why they were looking for Him.

- Consider:

God knows every one of our thoughts. He knows if we don’t really agree with Him and are unwilling to obey His Word. God knows why we are listening to His message. He also knows if we agree with Him and realize our need for Him to be our Savior.

- Consider:

Jesus wasn’t saying that it is wrong to work for our food. But He was telling these people that they must not work just to get food for the body so they could live here in this world. They should also do all they could to make sure they would live forever with God when they left this world. Jesus was telling them to give thought and effort to obtain everlasting, spiritual food. This everlasting, spiritual food is the truth which Jesus was teaching them. Life continues on even after our bodies die. We will live forever in Heaven or in the place of everlasting punishment. What good will a healthy body or riches be to us if, when we die, we go to Hell?

- Recall:

What did the people who were bitten by the snakes in the wilderness have to do to be saved from death? They just had to look at the brass serpent put on the pole by Moses.

- Consider:

When you’re a passenger in an airplane, what do you have to do to reach your destination? You just sit there and trust the airplane and its pilot to take you where you want to go. This is the kind of trust God wants us to have in the Savior, Jesus Christ. He alone can deliver us from death and make us acceptable to God.

We cannot do anything to please God or make Him accept us. God just requires us to turn from trusting in all other things and trust only in Jesus as our Savior.

The people still didn’t believe Jesus; they wanted to see another miracle. They were just looking at the great things Jesus did, instead of listening to the truth He was teaching.

- They reminded Jesus of the manna which their forefathers ate in the wilderness for forty years.

- They attributed the giving of the manna to Moses, not God.

- They said that, if Jesus was really the Son of God, He should give a sign as great as Moses had given.

Jesus told them that it was His Father, not Moses, who gave the manna to their forefathers. Then Jesus told them that, just as His Father had given the manna from Heaven so the Israelites would not die in the wilderness, now God had given the true bread from Heaven.

- Jesus was speaking about Himself.

- Jesus is the bread which God gave so the world would not die and be separated from God forever.

But the people were still thinking of food for their bodies. They wanted Jesus to keep giving them food, just as He had fed them with the bread and fish.

- Recall:

Do you remember how Nicodemus could not understand when Jesus said, “You must be born again”? Nicodemus thought that Jesus was saying that we have to be born as a baby once again. These people, like Nicodemus, thought that Jesus was speaking about natural, earthly things.

- Consider:

God gave the Israelites manna from Heaven and water from the rock to save them from physical death in the wilderness. God sent Jesus from Heaven into the world to save sinners from eternal death. If a person refuses to eat food, he will die physically. But anyone who refuses to trust in Jesus as his Savior will remain dead to God, separated from Him, forever.

- Recall:

Do you remember that, when Adam and Eve sinned, they were immediately separated from God? Although they had been created in the image of God with the ability to know, love, and obey Him, they were no longer able to respond to God. They were under Satan’s control. Because they were now sinners, they were no longer in fellowship with God. And as Adam’s descendants, all of us are born sinners, separated from God.

- Consider:

A good meal can make you feel quite satisfied for a few hours. But then you get hungry again. The people ate what Jesus gave them, but then they wanted more the next day. But Jesus says that those who trust in Him will find true life— life that satisfies completely. How can Jesus do this for us? He can satisfy us because He alone can bring us back into a relationship with God. He came to give us new life—life that is everlasting, life that satisfies. Jesus fully satisfies those who depend on Him.

A beautiful passage in Psalms 107:9 says, “…He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness,…” Jesus Christ is the only one whom sinners need to make them acceptable to God and to give them eternal life.

All who trust in Jesus as their Savior will not need to trust in any good deeds they might do or in anyone or in anything else. All of us know that it takes work to keep food on the table. Most of us are willing to make the effort, because we get hungry and so do our families. But no matter how well you eat, it will only satisfy for this life.

What about your spiritual appetite? Are you hungry for the food that the Lord wants to give—food that is eternal? You can’t work for it; you can only receive it by trusting God to give what is needed. Only God can supply it, and that’s what He has done in Jesus Christ.

QUESTIONS:

1. Why were many of the people following Jesus?

2. What were the Jews remembering when they ate the feast of the Passover?

3. How many loaves and how many fish did Jesus have when He started to feed the five thousand people?

4. Why was Jesus able to do such great miracles?

5. Why didn’t Jesus let the people make Him their king?

6. How was Jesus like the manna which God gave to the Israelites in the wilderness?

a.

b.

c.

Suggested Daily Bible Readings:

Day 191: Matthew, Chapters 14 and 15

Day 192: Matthew, Chapters 16 and 17

Day 193: Matthew, Chapters 18 and 19

Day 194: Matthew, Chapters 20 and 21

Day 195: Matthew, Chapters 22 and 23