Grace for Our Hardest Moments
00:00:00.000 | Well, each of us have our own unique struggles in life, and each of us know what it's like
00:00:09.000 | to meet times in life when we find ourselves out of gas.
00:00:13.320 | So how do we keep pressing on when we feel completely depleted?
00:00:17.560 | This reality is certainly true inside Angola, the largest maximum security prison in the
00:00:21.840 | US and home to 6,300 prisoners, a place reserved for only murderers, rapists, armed robbers,
00:00:28.280 | and habitual felons, where the average sentence in Angola is 88 years with 3,200 people in
00:00:34.600 | one place serving life sentences.
00:00:36.800 | 90% of the inmates will die here.
00:00:40.960 | Warden Burl Kane led this place for years.
00:00:43.520 | He was an outspoken Christian and a man with a near-mythical reputation for turning Angola,
00:00:48.760 | once known as the bloodiest prison in the South, into a model facility.
00:00:53.160 | Pastor John preached in Angola's chapel on November 20, 2009 to about 800 prisoners.
00:00:57.880 | He preached on John 6 on Jesus' feeding of the 5,000 and His walk on water.
00:01:02.680 | Here's one of my favorite clips from what is one of my favorite sermons all time on
00:01:06.240 | the goodness of Jesus when it feels like we have run out of gas for life.
00:01:11.320 | Here's Pastor John.
00:01:13.480 | So far, He's done this miracle, the miracle of multiplying the loaves, the point of the
00:01:19.800 | loaves being let your eyes run up the beam of glory to see the one who with a simple
00:01:25.680 | word and a prayer can feed 5,000 people with a little basket full of food.
00:01:30.320 | See Him, love Him, know Him, make Him your treasure.
00:01:33.640 | That's what I hope is happening in your heart now.
00:01:37.680 | So let's go to verses 16 to 21.
00:01:40.520 | When the evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started
00:01:47.820 | across the sea to Capernaum.
00:01:50.180 | So they're leaving Jesus behind.
00:01:52.240 | Now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.
00:01:58.000 | Verse 18, "The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.
00:02:05.000 | When they had rode three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea."
00:02:13.440 | Let me stop there a minute, make a comment that Warden Cain mentioned to me earlier.
00:02:19.800 | He said, "You had a preacher here a couple of months ago that said what happened in the
00:02:23.480 | feeding of the 5,000 was that when Jesus took the little boy's lunch and gave it out, everybody
00:02:28.720 | was inspired to share their lunch, and that's how everybody got fed."
00:02:31.360 | Boy, is that ever classic liberal unbelief.
00:02:40.160 | The reason we know that's not what it means is not only because of the words I paused
00:02:45.680 | over that He distributed the loaves.
00:02:49.480 | They all ate from the loaves that He distributed, but what's He going to do with the walking
00:02:55.400 | on water?
00:02:56.400 | Who cooperated and gave their lunch to make that happen?
00:03:03.600 | Like the molecules cooperated.
00:03:06.840 | Let's turn into ice.
00:03:08.880 | Don't like that kind of unbelief, and I'm sorry it was preached in this pulpit.
00:03:14.720 | You guys are smart enough to see through it, I am sure.
00:03:17.480 | Okay, we stopped where we shouldn't have stopped.
00:03:20.000 | Verse 19, "When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the
00:03:26.760 | sea, and coming near the boat, they were frightened.
00:03:32.840 | But He said to them, 'It is I.
00:03:35.400 | Do not be afraid.'
00:03:38.280 | Then they were glad to take Him in the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to
00:03:45.900 | which they were going."
00:03:47.080 | Now there are several amazing, remarkable, surprising, almost inexplicable things about
00:03:52.800 | this, and I don't mean the walking on the water merely.
00:03:55.560 | I'll affirm it, I believe Jesus walks on water.
00:03:58.360 | He made water.
00:04:01.040 | He speaks water into being every moment of the day.
00:04:06.160 | He upholds the universe by the word of His power.
00:04:09.120 | This is no problem for Jesus to walk on water.
00:04:11.800 | So that's there and that's true.
00:04:14.760 | That's our God, Jesus Christ.
00:04:17.960 | But here's a couple of puzzling things.
00:04:20.040 | I said that the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 is unpacked in 71 verses in chapter
00:04:29.640 | 6.
00:04:30.940 | This miracle has no unpacking.
00:04:33.800 | It's never mentioned again in this gospel or in this chapter.
00:04:38.600 | It happens.
00:04:39.960 | The crowds never hear about it.
00:04:42.520 | Only the disciples see it, and it's over, and it's never mentioned again.
00:04:47.600 | What's the function of it?
00:04:49.200 | What's the purpose of this miracle here in this bread story?
00:04:54.320 | That's my question.
00:04:55.320 | Here's the second thing.
00:04:58.000 | When they see Him, wind is blowing, the boat's about to be sunk, they're three miles out
00:05:03.220 | from land, nobody's swimming to shore probably in this kind of water.
00:05:06.700 | It's dangerous.
00:05:07.700 | They're going to live their lives.
00:05:08.700 | Jesus comes walking on that tortured sea, and they see Him, and He says, "It's I," and
00:05:14.220 | they gladly, gladly welcome Him, Him, Him into the boat.
00:05:22.740 | And you know the next thing it says?
00:05:24.580 | They're at the shore.
00:05:26.300 | That story's over.
00:05:28.180 | There is not a word said about the storm stopping like in the other gospels.
00:05:35.980 | There's not a word said about the waves going flat and a great calm and the wind ceasing.
00:05:42.380 | Not a word about this storm being conquered by Jesus.
00:05:47.080 | That's not the point.
00:05:49.400 | The point is, He got in the boat.
00:05:52.760 | He got in the boat in the storm.
00:05:56.300 | No comment about the storm.
00:05:58.180 | And as soon as He's in the boat, the story's over.
00:06:00.700 | So here's what I think the point of this miracle is.
00:06:05.240 | I left out an important part of the bread story.
00:06:09.980 | Let me go back and pick it up and then relate it to this.
00:06:13.620 | What did I leave out?
00:06:14.620 | I left out the 12 baskets.
00:06:16.140 | Okay?
00:06:17.140 | Let's go back and get the 12 baskets.
00:06:19.540 | How many, tell me this now, how many apostles were collecting leftover pieces?
00:06:25.940 | 12.
00:06:27.240 | How many baskets did they take up?
00:06:30.100 | Do you think there's a reason for that?
00:06:32.460 | I do.
00:06:34.420 | What would be the point of Jesus seeing to it?
00:06:39.300 | This is amazing.
00:06:41.300 | Jesus seeing to it that 5,000 people are fed from 5 loaves and exactly 12 baskets are left
00:06:49.520 | over for 12 apostles.
00:06:52.420 | What's the point of that?
00:06:54.380 | And here's what I think the point is.
00:06:56.820 | Picture yourself now as one of the distributors of the bread.
00:07:02.100 | You see this little boy's got 5 loaves and 2 fish.
00:07:04.900 | Jesus prays, gives you a basket and you say, "Whoa, where did that come from?"
00:07:10.140 | And you start giving out and you feel like, "I can't feed 5,000 people.
00:07:13.780 | He's assigned me to feed 5,000 people.
00:07:15.900 | I'm going to run out of food."
00:07:17.820 | Or you might say, "I can't do this prison thing.
00:07:21.140 | I'm going to run out of gas here.
00:07:23.600 | I'm going to run out of emotional gas.
00:07:26.220 | I can't do this.
00:07:28.660 | This boat is going to sink and me in it."
00:07:34.820 | I think the reason for following the basket lesson with the boat lesson is to underline
00:07:43.940 | the basket lesson.
00:07:45.460 | The basket lesson is you join Jesus in His ministry here, there will always be just enough
00:07:51.940 | for you.
00:07:54.020 | Just enough for you.
00:07:57.500 | You're not going to get rich here.
00:07:59.140 | I ask about that.
00:08:00.860 | Of course, you may try and prove that you're an idolater.
00:08:05.060 | You're going to get rich.
00:08:07.100 | Finally, you're going to get rich.
00:08:09.740 | Forget that.
00:08:11.420 | We don't get rich here.
00:08:14.500 | We don't get rich on the planet.
00:08:16.020 | We get one basket, just enough.
00:08:19.220 | One for me, a personal attention to you from Jesus Christ.
00:08:24.060 | You join Him in His cause.
00:08:25.980 | He looks on you as an individual.
00:08:27.780 | I got a basket for you.
00:08:29.700 | I know what your need is.
00:08:31.340 | Tonight in the cell, I know what your need is in the dormitory.
00:08:34.460 | I know what your need is tonight.
00:08:36.940 | There'll be a basket for you tonight and tomorrow and the next day and the next day.
00:08:41.180 | My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
00:08:50.260 | But not everything you may think is a need.
00:08:53.860 | He knows what you need.
00:08:55.620 | You know what you need.
00:08:57.260 | He knows what you need, and it'll be there.
00:09:00.620 | God never runs my life the way I think He ought to, ever.
00:09:04.900 | I try to do stuff, and He's always got a different plan for my day, a different plan for my marriage,
00:09:11.340 | a different plan for my kids.
00:09:13.580 | And if I didn't trust Him as a good shepherd and a good father and a good guide and a good
00:09:19.140 | provider, I'd get very, very discouraged.
00:09:24.100 | So the point of the baskets is He individually provides for His own when they join Him in
00:09:30.700 | His cause and trust Him, and then you get on the boat.
00:09:35.180 | Three miles out, where's Jesus?
00:09:38.380 | He's three miles away up in the mountains, and they're about to drown in the middle of
00:09:42.740 | the Sea of Galilee.
00:09:44.900 | They think, "Well, I guess the basket lesson doesn't come true.
00:09:49.140 | Doesn't work on the water."
00:09:51.840 | And just when they think, "We're history," He comes walking on the water.
00:09:59.300 | Now what's the point of that?
00:10:00.580 | I will walk on water to do what I said I would do.
00:10:04.100 | I will walk on Angola water to get to you.
00:10:08.380 | I will go through bars to get to you.
00:10:11.100 | I will climb fences and cut my hands to get to you.
00:10:16.260 | Till I bleed to death, I will get to you.
00:10:21.320 | So I think the function of these stories for the followers of Jesus is you get a basket
00:10:30.940 | when you need it, just one for you, tailor-made, and in the moment when you think, "There can't
00:10:37.780 | be any basket for me here because the waves are slopping over the side of my boat and
00:10:41.960 | Jesus is three miles away," He comes walking on the water.
00:10:46.420 | And He gets in the boat and the story's over.
00:10:49.340 | This is not a story about getting people out of storms.
00:10:52.780 | This is a story about getting Jesus in the boat.
00:10:56.060 | This is the boat.
00:10:58.100 | I got my boat.
00:10:59.660 | I got my issues.
00:11:01.460 | They're not yours.
00:11:02.460 | And I got to trust Him for my family issues and my church issues and my health issues.
00:11:07.820 | You got your issues.
00:11:09.460 | You got your boat.
00:11:10.500 | You got your storms.
00:11:12.180 | You got your hungers.
00:11:13.940 | You can trust Him.
00:11:15.300 | Amen.
00:11:16.300 | Till I bleed to death, I will get to you.
00:11:18.620 | That is a powerful line.
00:11:20.100 | I love this sermon.
00:11:21.680 | And you can find the whole thing to listen to or to watch at DesiringGod.org.
00:11:26.260 | It's titled, "Jesus Came Not to Give Bread, But to Be Bread."
00:11:31.660 | Whether you listen in the car, at the gym, doing chores, thanks for inviting us into
00:11:34.540 | your busy day.
00:11:35.540 | And if you have not done so yet, you can subscribe to Ask Pastor John in your favorite podcast
00:11:38.740 | app in YouTube or in Spotify.
00:11:41.180 | To find other episodes in our archive or to submit a question of your own to us, go online
00:11:45.260 | to DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:11:46.260 | I'm your host Tony Rehnke.
00:11:50.500 | We're back with Pastor John in the studio on Friday.
00:11:52.820 | We'll see you then.
00:11:53.620 | [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:12:02.000 | you