Seeking the True King

Well, even when we can't see him or we don't feel him, he is moving.

And we can rest in that promise this morning.

And I don't know what's going on specifically in your life as you sit out here this morning, but you can know that God is moving.

And even when we don't see it, even when we don't feel it, he is active.

And this morning we do get an opportunity to experience Jesus working this miracle.

So whether you grew up in church or not, you've all heard of miracles.

Whether you believed in Jesus or not, when the conversation of Jesus would come up, miracles typically are brought into that discussion.

And one of those miracles that typically is always discussed is the feeding of the 5,000.

But here's the thing: whenever this miracle is discussed or people start talking about this miracle specifically, it's always focused around the food, which makes sense because it's the feeding of the 5,000.

And typically it's always related to how much food there was to begin with, how much food Jesus multiplied, or how much food even was left over.

That's typically where the discussion stops.

In fact, as I was preparing this, I was looking through different commentaries and kind of understanding what some different commentators were saying, and there was even one commentary that I went to that just left out verse 15 completely.

Just John 6, 1 through 14, John 6, 16 on.

And I was like, wait, we're missing a verse here.

This doesn't make sense because when we come to this passage, everything hinges ultimately on verse 15.

See, the question we need to begin with is was the miracle here of Jesus taking five loaves and two fish only about food being multiplied?

Or is there something of greater significance unfolding in this moment?

Hidden beneath the surface, there lies this profound revelation, the people's deep yearning for a king.

That's what they were looking for.

But in reality, their expectations fell short about Jesus' true kingship.

So let's pray and then we're going to dive into verses 1 through 15 this morning.

God, we thank you so much for your grace.

God, we thank you for your kindness.

We thank you for this miracle lying here in John 6 that points us ultimately to Jesus, who is our true King.

I pray that you would prepare our hearts, that you would work through us this morning, that the Spirit would move mightily to convict us of sin and point us to Jesus.

In Jesus' name, amen.

So immediately preceding John 6, the Gospel writer John establishes a crucial connection between Moses and Jesus.

In John 5.

If you look at verses 46 through 47, listen to what John the Gospel writer said.

For if you believe Moses, and this is Jesus now talking, you would believe me, for he wrote of me.

But if you do not believe the writings, his writings, how will you believe my words?

Now this was from the passage that we heard Pastor Tim preach from last week, but if we don't understand and don't see the connection that the gospel writer here is making, we won't understand what he's doing in the first four verses of chapter six.

Now, to the Jewish people, Moses was the one they looked up to.

We have to understand that connection.

He is the one that pinned the first five books of the Old Testament, referred to as the Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

And the Jewish people loved those books.

They memorized them.

They talked about them.

This was everything to them.

When you think about who Moses was, he's the one who led Israel out of captivity in Egypt to the promised land.

God used Moses in a powerful way for Israel.

So the Jewish people, they cherished Moses.

They loved Moses.

And John records Jesus saying in John 5, 46, For if you believe Moses, you would believe me.

Why?

Because he wrote of me.

Then he concludes John 5 with, But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?

And this is where we see this connection begin in this chapter here with Moses and Jesus.

If you don't believe him being Moses, and what he said as he was pointing forward to me being Jesus, then you won't believe me either.

But if you believe what Moses said, then you must believe me, because he wrote about me.

It's me he wrote about, Jesus says.

And what this does is it sets us up for the first four verses.

And this is where we get to our summary of verses one through four, and it's this the parallels of Moses to Jesus.

Now Jesus had finished the conversations he was having with the Jewish people.

Now he has left, he's gone away, and we read in verse one that he's gone to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

And this is where we see four parallels from Moses to Jesus in verses one through four.

And all of these parallels relate back to the story of the Exodus back in the book of Exodus, where Moses leads Israel out of slavery from Egypt to the Promised Land.

Look at verse 2.

So as Jesus departs and goes to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, a large crowd follows him.

Now we will see later on in John 6 that the crowd had 5,000 men, not including women and children.

But this should turn our attention back to the book of Exodus and remind us of the large crowd that followed Moses out of slavery of Egypt, being led to the promised land.

Listen to Exodus 12, 37.

And the people of Israel journeyed from Ramesses to Succath, about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children.

Listen to Exodus 12, 50, verse 51.

All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.

And on that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their host.

And here we see not just the large crowd in Exodus following Moses, but we see a large crowd now following Jesus.

But why?

Verse 2, what did they see?

They saw the signs that Jesus had been performing on the sick.

Why did Israel follow Moses out of Egypt?

Because of the signs that he had been performing.

Listen to Exodus 4, 8 through 9.

If they will not believe you, God said, or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign.

If they will not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.

Moses was the one that God had sent to bring about the ten plagues that took place in Egypt.

And when Moses performed these signs, it was a sign to Israel that he was the one God had sent.

Now the Jewish people are witnessing Jesus performing these signs.

They're seeing these connections.

They are following him.

And where does Jesus and his disciples go?

Look at verse 3.

Jesus and his disciples went up on a mountain.

Moses also went up on a mountain to receive the law from God.

Listen to Exodus 19, 20.

The Lord came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain.

And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

And then we get to verse 4 where we read that the Passover is also at this time taking place in this moment.

And we have to remember what the Passover was.

The Passover was the time of remembering, it was a yearly celebration, a festival that Israel celebrated of God taking his people out of slavery and freeing them and delivering them to the promised land.

So the tenth and final plague God sent as signs was death of the firstborn.

God commanded Moses to have every Jewish family kill a lamb and spread the blood on the doorpost.

As a result, then, what would happen is death would then pass over.

If that doorpost had blood on it from that lamb, death would pass over and the firstborn would be spared.

So what John, the Gospel writer, here is helping us understand is the first four verses, there is this parallel between Moses and Jesus.

He's helping us make this connection and see what is taking place.

But John doesn't just stop there because he takes it a step further as we get to verses 5 through 14, and we see our summary of those verses as the sign of the prophet.

The sign of the prophet.

Now, what's interesting about this miracle here, the sign of this miracle in John 6, is that the feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle that is recorded in all four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

The only one.

As a result, this can help us understand what's taking place here in John 6 because we can get some other perspectives in the other Gospels of what has led to this point.

Now, here in the Gospel of John, all we get is John's perspective of this crowd coming towards Jesus.

But if we jump over to the Gospel of Mark, we get a little more detail of what led up to John 6, 5.

Listen to Mark 6, 33 through 35, and we read this.

Now 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.

Jesus had compassion on the people here, this crowd, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

Now, what's interesting about this analogy is we get this metaphor of a sheep without a shepherd description, and it's used to illustrate the spiritual condition of this crowd.

In biblical times, shepherds were responsible for guiding, they were responsible for protecting and caring for the flock.

This would lead the sheep to, so what they would do is they'd lead the sheep to green pastures, give them food, they'd lead them to water so they could drink, they would guide them, and they would help protect them from predators.

And so this phrase, sheep without a shepherd, implies that they were lost, they were vulnerable, and they were in need of someone to lead them down the right path.

Jesus recognized their spiritual hunger and responded with compassion.

He understood their longing, saw the void in their lives, just as a shepherd would recognize the needs of his flock.

Jesus not only emphasized with their condition, but also took action to fulfill their spiritual needs.

By doing what?

He began to teach them many things.

So much so that it becomes late.

And as a result, they are now physically hungry.

So when we come back over to John 6, 5, we have a better understanding of why Jesus moves right into the problem of the crowd being hungry.

He'd been teaching them for a while.

They've been sitting there.

So it would have taken them a long time to get to where they needed to where they could get food.

There was not enough food.

And so Jesus turns to Philip and he asks him a question.

When we look at the following verse, we understand why Jesus was asking Philip this question, where they're going to get food, because he tells us in six, in verse six, that it was intentionally to test him.

Because we read that Jesus already knew what he was going to do, he already had a plan here.

200, how does Philip respond here in verse 7?

200 denarii would not even be enough for every single person to even have a little.

At the time, a laborer would have earned one denarii a day.

So you got to think, in this situation, it would have been 200 days of work, and that wouldn't have even covered for everyone to have just, you know, even to be satisfied.

It would have been an appetizer, a taste.

Andrew jumps in and he's like, Well, we have a boy here with uh, you know, five barley loaves and two fish.

Basically an appetizer for a small group of people, right?

We've all been to a restaurant, you sit down, server comes out.

What can I get you for your meal?

You'd order, what can I get you to drink?

And then they ask you that question Would you like some bread for the table?

Am I at a restaurant?

Am I hungry?

Did I just order food?

Like, keep bringing it out.

But you think about that, you just go through bread after bread after bread.

And all of you, you're sitting there, you're going, I shouldn't eat all this bread.

But you do, and then your meal comes and you're like, it's like chips and salsa.

You just keep eating and eating and eating.

We've all experienced that.

And so in this situation, you have five barley loaves of bread and two fish for how many people?

And it makes sense in some ways in this moment why the disciples begin to be overwhelmed with how many people they see present.

John tells us that there were five thousand men, he says.

At that time, that's typically what they counted.

They did not count the women and children.

And so, in all actuality, what we probably have here is there were typically probably a wife and at least one or two children along there with them.

So now, if you think about the actual number, it's estimated that there was a minimum of between 15 and 20,000 people.

We're talking a sporting event.

And you think about how much food is distributed and sold at a sporting event, and then you think of five loaves of bread and two fish.

That is not much.

But here in this moment, what's fascinating is the disciples have forgotten who they are with.

I think we at times do the same things in our own lives as well.

We are very much like Philip in verse 7.

We start with human solutions to all of our problems.

Rather than starting with Jesus, we we face life's turmoils, whether it's a heart-wrenching loss we're going through of a loved one, a crumbling marriage.

You don't know how your marriage is going to go on.

A wayward child who is turned away from the Lord.

Work dilemmas.

Projects aren't going as well as they should at work, and your boss is hounding you, and you don't know if you're going to be in this job in the future.

Overwhelming fatigue from health problems and you can't sleep at night.

The frustration of misplaced keys, and I know that seems minor, but in the moment when you're late, misplaced keys is torturous and terrible.

Where if you are a parent, you remember the time when you lost that pacifier your child needed.

And by the grumbles, you've all experienced that.

And our instinct in those moments is rarely initially to turn to prayer.

Instead, we rely on our own strength, our own resourcefulness.

We neglect the opportunity to seek divine intervention in that moment.

We neglect to pause and ask the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, living within us for assistance and guidance.

Deep within our souls, there resides a belief that we somehow possess the capability to overcome any obstacle and fix any brokenness we're going through.

So, what do we do?

We attempt to be self-reliant.

We attempt all sorts of ways to stay in control and fix our own problems.

And you know why I know that to be true?

Because I do the same thing myself.

When all along, because of God the Son, Jesus, we can call out to God the Father through God the Holy Spirit.

We are just like the disciples here in John 6.

Well, there's a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?

Here's our solution, Jesus, but it doesn't matter.

I love how John captures what Jesus says next.

Have the people sit down.

Now, I wasn't there.

We weren't there.

I don't know if Jesus is like, sit down.

Let's do this.

Or if he's like, compassionate, have the people sit down.

There's many things my mind goes to in that moment.

There's no discussion of what he might do in this moment.

Imagine the spectacle of what is taking place here.

Thousands upon thousands of people, the crowd continues out.

It's a sea of people for as far as the eye can see.

They take their seat in this momentous event as it's about to unfold.

And what happens?

Jesus takes the bread, gives thanks to the Father, and then he begins to distribute not only the bread, but also the fish.

What the gospel writer here at this moment really emphasizes is the supply of the food.

He says what?

That the people had as much as they wanted.

When the people had eaten their fill, five loaves, two fish, thousands upon thousands have eaten their fill.

They've had as much as they wanted.

Jesus in verse 12 tells his disciples to gather up the leftovers.

That should blow our minds.

One boy, now every disciple is going to go out.

So much leftover that every disciple fills a basket.

John reminds us here in this moment of the starting point as well.

They filled up 12 baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, he says.

He wants us to capture this moment.

Jesus is supplying a ton of food from very little.

And when people saw the sign that Jesus did, how did they respond?

Verse 14, they respond, This is indeed the prophet who has come into the world.

Now remember earlier when I brought up John 5.46, John prepared us for this moment.

For if you believe Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me.

The people here in John 6.14, they are making the connection.

The people see Jesus as fulfilling the prediction of a prophet like Moses, who was promised all the way back in Deuteronomy 18, verse 15 and 18.

Deuteronomy 18:15

Listen to what Moses pinned from God in verse 15.

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.

It is to him you shall listen.

Verse 18.

This comes on the heels of Jesus having just provided a lot of bread in the wilderness, similar to how God provided manna through Moses as the people journeyed out of slavery from Egypt into the promised land.

And because of this, we end up seeing our summary in verse 15, and it's this the misunderstanding of the kingdom.

The people in this moment, they become intent on making Jesus king.

We have to remember during this time what was going on with the Jewish people.

They were living under a Roman rule and reign.

Once again, Israel has found themselves not free, but now enslaved to a Roman government.

Think about the Jewish people here in this moment.

They had grown up hearing all about the stories that were passed down from generation to generation.

It wasn't like us today where we have copies of the Old Testament and the New Testament, the Bible.

They would verbally communicate these stories to each other.

They would communicate them over and over and over again.

The stories we know of in the Old Testament.

From the time they were little to this point in their lives, they had heard story after story about how Moses and had God had used Moses to rescue their distant relatives, their family.

They'd be sitting around their dinner table and eating, and they would hear stories about how Israel was enslaved in Egypt.

As they walked around town, they would be told stories from their family about how Moses was, God spoke to Moses through a burning bush to go to Egypt and rescue God's people.

As they would go to bed at night, parents would tell the stories about the ten plagues in Egypt, and they would hear these stories over and over and over again.

And every year they would celebrate the Passover.

They were reminded of how God had brought them out and freed them.

If Moses was their first prophet who freed them from slavery in Egypt, then this prophet Jesus would free them from being enslaved to Rome.

D.A.

Carson, a theologian in his commentary about the Gospel of John, said this.

He well knew, being Jesus, that the wrong sort of king would not only divert them from the things that really mattered, but could lead them into a conflict with Rome from which they could not escape without a disastrous beating.

The Jewish people wanted and desired an earthly king who would establish an earthly reign.

That's what they were longing for.

A kingdom that would free them from all of their physical problems in this moment.

A freedom that would only truly bring temporary relief.

If you trace Israel's history, you would read and understand that they had been freed after 400 years of slavery in Egypt, and then years and years later, they would then be freed once again from 70 years of slavery in Babylon.

Now they're under this Roman rule and reign, and they believe that this is what is best for them.

They want to be freed, but once again, this would only be a temporary fix to a bigger problem.

It's like when my kids come to me and they say, Dad, I'm hungry.

Alright.

Well, what do you want?

A piece of candy.

I'm left thinking to myself, what?

Like, it's just gonna give you.

A boost of energy and then done.

Like, it doesn't work.

It won't last.

And I find myself saying that to them.

Like, what?

Like, guys, no, that won't solve your problem.

That's a temporary fix.

It's not going to fix anything for you.

It will never fulfill the hunger that you have.

And it was the same for the Jewish people in this moment.

What you are seeking will only satisfy you temporarily.

They really didn't want Jesus.

They wanted temporary relief.

They wanted Jesus to defeat Rome.

They were willing to settle for something far less than what Jesus actually came for.

And this brings us to our main idea today, which is this Jesus, the true king, brought a better freedom in a greater kingdom.

Jesus, the true king, brought a better freedom in a greater kingdom.

You see, all of Israel's hopes were focused on the coming of a military conqueror who could rescue them.

This is why in verse 15 this morning we saw that Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him what?

By force and make him king.

Why?

So that he could lead them to victory over Rome.

So Jesus could free them from the temporary problem that they were having being under this Roman rule and reign.

But that is not why Jesus came to earth.

You might be thinking, why not?

Why wouldn't he just rescue them?

God has done it before.

Why wouldn't he do it right now?

Well, later on, we read in the Gospel of John when Jesus is standing before Pilate.

Now we have to remember Pilate was a Roman ruler.

He's the one who actually presides over the trial of Jesus before he goes to the cross.

And he's having this conversation with Jesus in this moment.

And Pilate was just as confused as Israel was.

In John 18, Pilate asks the question: Are you the king of the Jews?

Now, if the Jews have a king, then there's a conflict.

Because that means they don't have the king of Rome.

So there's an issue.

So how Jesus answers this is important in this moment.

And Jesus responds to Pilate, even clarifying for all of us why he came.

John 18, 36, Jesus says, My kingdom is not of this world.

If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews.

But my kingdom is not of this world.

Now, what's interesting about what Jesus says here is he doesn't deny that he's not a king to Pilate.

Just in this one verse, he refers to his kingdom three different times, implying what?

He is a king.

And when he refers to his kingdom, he's referring to the kingdom of God, something greater than the kingdom of this earth.

Sam Storms, a pastor and author, he defines the kingdom of God as this the kingdom of God is the presence and powerful lordship of the person of the king himself, Jesus.

That's why when Jesus was being questioned by the Pharisees about the kingdom of God, Jesus responds in Luke 17, 20 and 21 by saying this, being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed.

Nor will they say, Look, here it is, or there.

For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.

The kingdom of God arrived in the presence of Jesus Christ and it continues on through his followers.

But he also clarifies something important about his kingdom.

Jesus says, if my kingdom were of this world, then I would not be in this situation right now.

Jesus' kingdom is not from earth.

Jesus' kingship is not of this world.

If Jesus' kingdom originated from this world, then there'd be fighting and there'd be violence taking place right now in this moment.

But what is happening?

In this moment, Jesus was handed over to the Jews.

He's standing before Pilate.

Remember what our main idea this morning was?

Jesus, the true king, brought a better freedom and a greater kingdom.

Freedom from Rome was earthly and momentary.

Setting up a different earthly kingdom would also fail like it always has.

Back in John 6, the Jewish people could not grasp this because they had heard story after story after story of their relatives being rescued and delivered from earthly kingdoms and earthly powers.

They have now witnessed Jesus performing these miracles, these many signs and wonders.

And the latest one here in John 6 of Jesus providing bread and meat would have reminded them of God providing quail and manna to his people in the desert through Moses.

So in some ways it makes sense that the Jewish people could not grasp why Jesus was here, what he was doing.

They wanted what they could see in the moment.

Their momentary problems.

I mean, over and over again for Israel, they go into physical captivity and they're rescued.

They go into physical captivity and then they're rescued.

The Jewish people here in John 6, this is so important.

Saw Jesus as a second Moses instead of seeing Jesus as a greater Moses.

Moses could only rescue Israel from physical slavery, whereas Jesus came to save his people from an eternal slavery to sin and death.

But you and I were not so different from the Jewish people.

We continue to look at our momentary present circumstances and think if God would just save me, if God would just rescue me, if God would just bring me out, then I'll be good, then I'll worship him as king.

Then I'll be happy, then I'll be satisfied.

But just like the Jewish people here in John 6, we also misunderstand the kingdom.

And this brings us to our story today, which is this we seek a lesser kingdom for lesser freedom.

We seek a lesser kingdom for lesser freedom.

I believe this is expressed primarily through the kingdom of self as opposed to the kingdom of God.

You might be thinking, well, that's not me.

I'm not focused on myself.

Look at everything I do for my family.

Look how I lead them.

Look how I how I work in my family.

Look, look how I work for my employer and my boss and all that I do.

I even serve here at Sacred Mission.

I do all these things.

I serve on Sunday morning, I serve in the kids, I greet people, I make coffee, I do all this stuff, and on and on the list can go.

I know I've left out a lot.

But let's be real honest with ourselves this morning.

Let's examine ourselves for a moment.

In what ways do we focus on the kingdom of self rather than the kingdom of God?

As I was preparing the sermon, I was trying to think through this, and I came across these list of questions, and no matter how I tried to do it on my own, I was like, I just can't beat what this guy said.

This guy came up with five questions.

His name is Paul Tripp, biblical counselor, author, pastor.

As I read these questions, I was like, man, I can't do this any better, and these are crushing.

Question one, it's all about self-focus.

Before making a decision, do you think, what's in it for me?

Or do you freely sacrifice for the good of another without expecting anything in return?

Question two is about self-righteousness.

Are you more concerned with and on the lookout for the sin, weakness, and moral failure of others than you are your own?

Question three is about self-satisfaction.

Do you feel regularly discontent, always looking for something new to satisfy you, instead of being satisfied with a God-honoring life?

Question four is about self-reliance.

Do you avoid living in an intrusive and intentional relationships where others admit their need for grace and seek the help of biblical community?

So fall into mission groups.

Are you not in a mission group because you're afraid of what people might realize about the skeletons in your closet?

Because you have to look a certain way or be perfect or you've got it figured out all on your own.

Question five is about self-rule.

Which law gets the most attention and the quickest response in your life and relationships?

The word of God or your own desires?

That one's an easy one to look around at Christians and say, man, we have the word of God.

God lays it out clear.

This is what it is to follow Him.

But I don't like that.

And it's easy to look out there and look at Christians who clearly don't hold the Word of God, but they say they're a follower of Christ.

But how do we do that in our own lives as well?

That's that self-focus.

Every one of these questions reveal whether you are more focused on the kingdom of self or the kingdom of God.

And these questions I hope should crush you.

Crush you under the weight of trying to live and serve the kingdom of self.

Because the more we understand the crushing weight of living under the kingdom of self, the more freedom and incredible the kingdom of God truly is.

The Jewish people here in John 6 believe their greatest enemy in that moment was Rome.

They also were serving the kingdom of self in that moment.

They didn't really want Jesus.

They were willing to follow Jesus as long as he did what they wanted.

As long as he overthrew Rome, then he would be their king.

Rome was not Israel's greatest enemy in this moment.

This was a momentary problem.

It was a symptom of a greater problem that Israel faced.

It's the same problem that you and I all face, apart from looking to Jesus as king.

Listen to what the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 2, 14 through 15.

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

The author of Hebrews makes it very clear here that Jesus came to deliver his followers from lifelong slavery.

Slavery to what?

Fear of death.

Who has the power over death?

Hebrews tells us the devil.

Apart from Jesus Christ, you are in a depressed and miserable state.

Like slaves under a terrible taskmaster with no relief, constant pressure.

There's no freedom, there's no comfort, there's no peace.

But Jesus comes along and delivers us from that lifelong slavery.

And this is what our gospel conviction is this morning.

Jesus, the true King, gives true freedom.

What the crowd in John 6 could not understand was why Jesus was actually here on earth.

J.C.

Ryle, who was an Anglican bishop in the 1800s, said this: In healing the sick and in raising the dead, something was amended or restored, which already existed.

But here was an absolute creation.

Only one other miracle in any way resembles it, his first, when he made wine out of the water.

These two miracles belong to a class by themselves, and it is surely significant, yea, most suggestive, that the one reminds us of his precious blood, while the other points to his holy body broken for us.

And here is, we believe, the chief reason why this miracle is mentioned by all of the four evangelists, being the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

It shadowed forth the gift of Christ Himself.

The gift of going through some of the worst torture you could imagine.

The gift of Jesus suffocating on the cross with no relief.

Jesus was not here on earth to triumph over Rome.

No, that was way too far small of a feat.

Jesus was on earth to triumph over sin and death, to free us from the terrible taskmaster who holds us in slavery.

Before the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are enslaved to sin and death, but now because of Christ we are free.

Before the gospel, we were living in constant grief, but now because of Christ we have comfort.

Before the gospel of Jesus Christ, we lived in hostility and at war with God and were his enemies.

But now, because of the gospel, we have peace with God.

We are children of God, brought into his family.

We receive all of this, all of that, because Jesus was crushed on the cross.

All of this should drive us to our gospel vision this morning.

That's what it should drive us to, and it's this seek first the kingdom of God.

Seek first the kingdom of God.

Jonathan Edwards, a theologian and pastor from the 1800s, he said this the seeking of the kingdom of God is the chief business of the Christian life.

The seeking of the kingdom of God is the chief business of the Christian life.

Remember how we had defined the kingdom of God earlier from Sam Storms?

The kingdom of God is the presence and powerful lordship of the person of the King himself, Jesus.

So if we are kingdom focused, then what would that look like in our lives every single day?

Oh, it would mean continuing to seek after Christ.

R.

C.

Sproull, who passed away a few years ago as a pastor and author, he said this.

When we are converted to Christ, we use language of discovery to express our conversion.

We speak of finding Christ.

We may have a bumper sticker that reads, I found it.

These statements are indeed true.

The irony is this: once we have found Christ, it is not the end of our seeking, but the beginning.

Usually when we find what we are looking for, it signals the end of our searching.

But when we find Christ, it is the beginning of our search.

It's just the start.

So if we are followers of Jesus Christ, then how does that look?

Well, if we were to take those five questions that I asked earlier that we discussed through and looked through, it would look more like this.

Being a follower of Jesus Christ is someone who freely sacrifices for the good of others without expecting anything in return.

It's being a follower of Jesus Christ who is more concerned with and on the lookout for the sin, weakness, and moral failure of ourselves before others.

It's being a follower of Jesus Christ who is no longer discontent and continually looking to something new for satisfaction, but is completely satisfied with honoring God where and what he has for you right now in this moment.

It's being a follower of Jesus Christ who regularly admits their need of grace for grace and seeks help within, for example, a mission group.

And it's being a follower of Jesus Christ who looks to the Word of God as a guide for your life and relationships over your own desires.

I recently, this week, I was listening to a podcast and I heard the individual say, the reason we choose sin is because we believe the temporary pleasure is far greater than the eternal pleasure found in Christ.

So we choose our own desires.

In John 6, 1 through 15, the massive crowd thought they were getting a meal.

But what they really got was an appetizer to the kingdom of God.

Their taste buds were satisfied, but their hearts were left longing for something more, a foretaste of something unimaginably greater, something beyond their earthly comprehension.

They were amazed by what was provided instead of by the provider.

Let us not make the same mistake ourselves this morning.

Let us always be like the psalmist who said in Psalm 34.8, O taste and see that the Lord is good.

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

And as a result of that, this should drive us to always seek Jesus, the true King, who brought a better freedom and a greater kingdom.

Let's pray.