Feed Your Faith on the Miracles of Jesus Christ!
The Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 15:29-39
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared August 17, 2022)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 15. Last time in vs. 21-28, God's Word reported the story of a desperate mother who had unshakable faith in our Savior Jesus Christ. This Canaanite mother was desperate because her daughter had been possessed by a demon. And as a parent, I can't imagine how horrible that would be. But she never gave up on Jesus, and listen to what happened in vs. 25-28:
25. Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, help me!''
26. But He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.''
27. And she said, "True, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.''
28. Then Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.'' And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
*"Great is your faith!" Christians: Wouldn't you like to hear the Lord say that to you? Then keep feeding your faith on the sure truth of God's Word. Remember that in Matthew 4:4 Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'' And today we can feed our faith on more of the Lord's miracles. Let's get started by reading Matthew 15:29-39.
MESSAGE:
*How much faith does God want us to have? He certainly wants us to have saving faith in Jesus Christ. But on top of that, God wants us to have more faith. He even wants us to have great faith, and today's Scripture can help us.
1. THAT'S BECAUSE JESUS' MIRACLES CONFIRM HIS COMPASSION FOR US.
*In vs. 29-30 we see the Lord's compassion in action:
29. And Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.
30. Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them those who were lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them.
*"They laid them down at Jesus' feet." What a great place to be, -- at the feet of Jesus Christ! This is the best place we can ever be. And the more we sit at the feet of Jesus, the more we will see His compassionate love.
*Then in vs. 31, "the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. And in vs. 32, the Lord spoke of His compassion. There, "Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, 'I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.'''
*Why did Jesus want to feed these 4,000 men, plus thousands more women and children? Simply because He genuinely cared about these people. He had compassion on them.
*The original word for "compassion" here is found 12 times in the New Testament, and it has the idea of gut-wrenching love and pity for someone. It's the kind of agonizing heartache that we feel over a sick baby, or spouse, or parent, or anyone else we deeply love.
*It's the same kind of wonderful compassion Jesus had in Luke 7:11-16. There God's Word says:
11. Now it happened the day after that He went into a city called Nain; and many of His disciples went with Him, and a large crowd.
12. And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her.
13. WHEN THE LORD SAW HER, HE HAD COMPASSION ON HER AND SAID TO HER, "DO NOT WEEP.''
14. Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise.''
15. And he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.
16. Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen up among us''; and, "God has visited His people.''
*Our God is full of compassion for people, and He wants us to know it. It's the same kind of compassion we also see in the Lord's parable of the Prodigal Son. In Luke 15:11-24 Jesus said:
11. . . "A certain man had two sons.
12. And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.' So he divided to them his livelihood.
13. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.
14. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.
15. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
17. But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18. I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,
19. and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.'''
20. And he arose and came to his father. BUT WHEN HE WAS STILL A GREAT WAY OFF, HIS FATHER SAW HIM AND HAD COMPASSION, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
21. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
22. But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
23. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry;
24. for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to be merry."
*This father must have been looking for his son long before he came walking down the road. I can see the father working in the morning as he tended his cattle, and he would stop to look down that road. As he stopped to eat his lunch, he would position himself so that he could look down that road. And as the day turned into night, as long as he could, he would look down that road. But why did Jesus tell this parable? Because our God is a compassionate God!
*I should know, because I was as big of a prodigal son as there ever was. When I was in college in Georgia 50 years ago, I was just as far away from God as I could possibly be. I started drinking heavily when I was about 16, started doing a lot of drugs when I was 19, and for about 6 years, I was a firmly committed atheist, a card-carrying member of the ACLU.
*But every time I went home to Macon, when I walked in the door, my dad would say, "The prodigal has returned!" I didn't have a clue about this wonderful Bible story, and I was as far away from coming home spiritually as I could possibly be. But every time I went home, my dad would say, "The prodigal has returned!"
*He knew it wasn't true. But he never lost hope. And 10 months before my daddy died, I really did come home, because I trusted in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I have failed the Lord countless times since then, but He has never failed me! And I found out that our God is a compassionate God. I hope you do too!
*God is full of compassion for us, and the best place to see this is in our crucified and risen Savior Jesus Christ! As Paul said in Romans 5:8, "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
*Jesus loves us so much that He died on the cross for all of our sins, and 3 days later, He rose again in everlasting victory over death! These were His greatest miracles of all: The miracle of all our sin and shame being laid on Jesus, the miracle of His resurrection, the miracle of us receiving a total pardon and everlasting life, when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the miracle of His presence in our lives through the Holy Spirit of God, and the miracle of an everlasting home in Heaven. What a compassionate Savior!
2. THE LORD'S MIRACLES CONFIRM HIS COMPASSION FOR US. THEY ALSO REMIND US THAT OUR FAITH CAN GROW.
*Even though the disciples had already been following the Lord for over 2 years, and they had already seen Him work countless miracles, they still had a long way to go when it came to their faith. We see this truth in vs. 32-33 where:
32. . . Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.''
33. Then His disciples said to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?''
*They were standing right next to the source of all the food the world will ever have. But they didn't have a clue where they could get enough to feed that crowd of 4,000.
*"Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?'' That is an astounding question, because no more than a few months earlier, Jesus had already fed 5,000 men plus women and children. And He did it with just five loaves and two fish! All of the disciples saw that first miracle of multiplied food, but when it came to faith, they still had a long way to go.
*They needed more faith, and so do we. The good news is that Jesus wants our faith in Him to grow, and it surely can. But what is faith? Hebrews 11:1 tells us that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
[1] FAITH IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR.
*The original word for "substance" there has the idea of something strong under us, something strong enough to stand on. And faith in Jesus Christ gives us a rock-solid foundation for life. It is the only sure foundation for our future, the only firm foundation for our godly hopes and dreams.
*What are you hoping for today? I hope you haven't given up on your hopes and dreams, because life would be terrible without hope. There's probably only one thing worse, and that is a life based on false hope. But when we have faith in Jesus Christ, we have a rock-solid foundation for all of our hopes. We have something solid to build our lives on.
*You see, real, biblical faith is not just positive thinking or having a positive attitude. Faith is not "The Little Engine that Could" trying to get up that hill: "I think I can. I think I can! I think I can!"
*Biblical "faith is the substance of things hoped for." This means that right now, our faith in Jesus Christ is a rock-solid foundation under our hopes and dreams. Our faith is something that we can rest on today, knowing that God will bring our godly hopes to pass.
*The original word God used here for "substance" was also the word used in business documents for "title deed." A "substance" then was a "title deed" or a legal guarantee of something you already owned. (1)
*And we already own our godly hopes, because Jesus paid the price for them when He died on the cross for us. So Christians, our faith is based on the perfect character of God, and the reality of what Jesus already did for us on the cross. Our faith makes it possible for us to stand with Paul in Romans 8:32, and say, "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"
[1] REAL FAITH, BIBLICAL FAITH IS "THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR." IT'S ALSO "THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN."
*Biblical faith gives us a revelation of the unseen world. It shouldn't surprise us that there is an unseen world all around us, because our physical vision is so limited. Of course, we can't see the future. We can't see the past. And our eyes can only see a small portion of the total spectrum that includes light.
*There are many unseen things around us, but faith is "the evidence (or proof) of things not seen." Matthew Henry explained that "faith demonstrates to the eye of the mind the reality of those things that cannot be detected by the eye of the body." (2)
*James Merritt tells us that: "Faith sees what the physical eyes cannot see. Faith sees the invisible, touches the intangible, hears the inaudible, and attempts the impossible. Our vision may be 20/20, but the eyes of faith can see farther, deeper, clearer, and better than our physical eyes will ever see." (3)
*"Faith is the evidence of things not seen." Faith opens us up to a whole new dimension in life. Faith opens us up to the most important things in life, because the most important things cannot be seen with our eyes. This is true in the physical world. We can't see air, but we can't live without it. I've never seen my heart, my kidneys or my liver, and I don't want to see them! But I sure am glad they are in here, doing their important work behind the scenes.
*The most important things in life cannot be seen with our eyes. This is also true of the love, joy, and peace in our hearts. And this is especially true when it comes to the things of God: The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Heaven, angels: We cannot see these things right now with our physical eyes. But faith opens our spiritual eyes, and we can see. "Faith is the evidence of things not seen." And Romans 10:17 tells us that this evidence comes by hearing the Word of God.
*One of the best-known preachers of the 20th century was Peter Marshall. Years ago, they made a movie about his life, and something very special happened while they were filming that movie. It was a scene where the actor playing Peter Marshall was preaching a sermon on faith.
*When the scene was over the cameras kept rolling. Many actors in the pretend church got up to congratulate the actor for a great performance. One of those cast members was a lady named Marjorie Rambeau. As Marjorie walked down the aisle, you could see that she was very emotional. The reason why is because Marjorie was walking, even though she had not been able to walk.
*Marjorie had been injured in a car wreck. And for over a year she had not been able to take a single step. But as she listened to those words of faith, God worked a miracle in her body. Marjorie got up and walked. And she kept on walking. (4)
*Now a doubter would say that Marjorie just got caught up in the emotion of the moment. But faith opens our spiritual eyes to see the Hand of God at work, -- even through an actor preaching God's Word.
*Christians: We all need more faith! And thank God we all can get it from the miraculous Word of God.
3. THE LORD'S MIRACLES REMIND US THAT OUR FAITH CAN GROW. THEY ALSO PROVE HIS POWER.
*We see another great example of the Lord's miraculous power in the feeding miracle in vs. 34-37:
34. Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?'' And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish.''
35. And He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.
36. And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.
37. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.
*What a miracle! Jesus fed 4,000 men, plus thousands more women and children with 7 loaves and a few little fish. But Jesus could have fed 40 million with the same amount of food! And we know this because in Matthew 19:26 Jesus said, "With God all things are possible.'' All good things are possible with God, through His infinite power!
4. THE LORD'S MIRACLES PROVE HIS POWER. AND THEY HIGHLIGHT THE RICH ABUNDANCE GOD HAS FOR US.
*In John 10:10 Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." God wants us to have an abundant life that lasts forever. And the feeding of the 4,000 gives us a small example of His abundance. It's in vs. 37-38, where "they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children."
*Those 7 baskets full of leftovers remind us that the Lord has a super abundance for us. But when Jesus fed the 5,000 they had 12 baskets left over, and at first glance, it seems like the 5,000 had more leftovers. But Bible scholars tell us that the baskets in today's Scripture were large baskets, -- much larger than the baskets at that first miraculous feeding. We know this because these two miracle stories use different original words for "basket."
*Campbell Morgan explained that the baskets at the feeding of the 5,000 were small baskets that people used to pack a lunch. But the baskets here were large baskets like the one used in Acts 9:25. That basket was big enough to lower Paul to safety outside the city wall of Damascus. There was much more food left over this time. And we are reminded that Jesus has a super abundance for us. He is always able to give us more than enough. (5)
*During World War II, a relief worker told of going into a war zone, and holding a glass of milk up to a child. The hungry little boy's eyes got big, and they seemed much bigger because of his thin, little face.
*Remembering the days when a cup of milk had to be shared by many children, the little boy asked, "How much can I drink, Ma'am?" The relief worker was greatly moved by his question, and she replied, "Drink as much as you can, son, -- as much as you can." (6)
*Jesus Christ says the same thing to us! There is no limit to the abundant, eternal life He wants to give us! And Jesus will give this life to everyone who will believe in Him and receive Him as their Lord and Savior.
*This is why in Romans 10:9-13 Paul wrote:
9. . . if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.
11. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.''
12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
13. For "whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.''
*Jesus Christ wants to give you His eternal, abundant life! And the Lord always has more for us. That's why in Ephesians 3:8 Paul said, "To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."
*We'll never get to the end of the riches of Christ! There's always more. So, in Ephesians 3:20-21, Paul lifted up this great praise to God: "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."
CONCLUSION:
*There's always more with the Lord. That's why we should have great faith in Jesus Christ, so keep feeding your faith on the Lord's miracles. And if you have never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, take that first step of faith today. Call on the Lord to save you, as we go back to God in prayer.
(1) "Robertson's Word Pictures" by Archibald Thomas Robertson - Hebrews 11:1 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
(2) Adapted from MATTHEW HENRY'S CONCISE COMMENTARY ON THE WHOLE BIBLE - Hebrews 11:1-3 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
(3) Adapted from Sermons.com sermon "You've Gotta Believe" by James Merritt - Hebrews 11:1-40
(4) From SEE YOU AT THE TOP, by Zig Ziglar - Pelican Publishing Company - Copyright 1982 - p. 18)
(5) EXPLORING THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "The Needy Heathen Multitude - How They Praised Jesus" - Matthew 15:29-39 - Downloaded to "Bible Study 6" from Olive Tree Bible Software, Inc.
(6) Adapted from Jerry L. Schmalenberger, St. John's Lutheran Church, Des Moines, Iowa - www.sermonconnection.com - Source: SermonCentral sermon "Rejoice in Hope" by Roy Fowler - Romans 5:1-11
