I'm not gonna sing, but I am going to point out the last verse, and it is well with my soul. And Lord haste the day when the faith shall be sight. The clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. When the clouds roll back as a scroll and the trump resounds, will it be well with your soul? I pray that that is true, that it will be well with your soul. Before I begin my talk this morning, I want to make a quick announcement in regards to the men's meeting. We did cancel yesterday's men's meeting and going forward what we're going to do is we're going to meet when there is a specific task to be done. So note that when you get contact from me, it means we need you to come and help do something. It's not just to get you up early in the morning, but it's to get you to come out and take care of some specific duties. And along those lines, you'll get a call for next weekend. I've been told that there are some tasks to be done, so please be aware of that. Let's pray. Our Father, I'm thankful for this opportunity to be in your house and to serve the living Christ. Lord, we don't serve a God who's in the tomb, but we serve a risen Savior. And Lord, you're in the world today. By your Holy Spirit, you live in each of your people. And Lord, it is our desire to follow you according to your will and to do those things that are pleasing in thy sight. Lord, I pray that this morning that you would use the message today to your glory. Lord, hide me as the voice. and show yourself strong in the lives of your people. Lord, encourage us, guide us in your way, and we'll give you the praise in Jesus' name. Amen. In our Sunday evening Bible study, we are currently looking at the book of John. And the book of John has been a great personal blessing for me. to be studying this book. I'm learning in a much deeper way why the Lord inspired John to write this book of the Bible. And you know what? He gives it away. You turn to the end of the book, John chapter 20 and verse 31, he says, but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. So there it is. That's why the Lord inspired John to write that book. And I want to make one other comment about the young lady singing. I really love the fact that they have Bible verses up there with the words of the song. That's inspiring to me and that's encouraging to me because everything we do here, brethren, is about the word of God and what Jesus desires in our lives. It's not about our talent. It's not about our ability. It's about Jesus and his desire in our lives. So thank you, young ladies and the people that put that together, because that was encouraging to me to see the word of God there. You know, I'm impressed with the book, and I think I've mentioned it once before when I've been standing up here, by a gentleman named Simon Sinek. He wrote a book called Start With Why. Start With Why. And in it, he points out what makes some leaders different from others. If we start with the wrong personal motivation, even when we're hearing the truth, we can still be led astray. If we start with the wrong motivation, even when we're hearing the truth, we can still be led astray. So, I title my talk for this morning, Why Do I Follow Jesus? Why Do I Follow Jesus? And I hope I becomes you as we Consider this. As I said, we're studying in the Book of John, and right now we're in Chapter 6. And in Chapter 6 of the Book of John, Jesus fed the 5,000. Scriptures say there were 5,000 men beside women and children that were fed. And many of you are probably very familiar with the account of how, well, I'll read you some of it in Matthew Chapter 14. It says in verse 15 of chapter 14, And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past. Send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves vituals. But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart. Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, we have here but five loaves and two fishes. And he said, bring them hither to me. So you know the account. All these people in the congregation there that had been following Jesus, and Jesus challenged his disciples to feed them. If you were given the task, to feed just the people that are in this auditorium right now. If it was your task, okay, let's make it a little easier. Maybe it's 12 of you are given the task of feeding just the small congregation here. Oh, and let's do it in the next 30 minutes or so. Would you feel any desperation? Would you feel any stress about that? And not only are you supposed to give them a morsel, just a taste, fill them up, every one of them. Fill them. That's your task. Yeah, that would not seem like a doable thing. But the answer there is in verse 18, he said, Bring them hither to me. Bring them to me. And verse 19 says, and he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and took the five loaves and two fishes. Looking up to heaven, he blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude. Verse 20, and they did all eat and were filled. Filled. Filled. And they took up the fragments that remained, 12 baskets full. And they that had eaten were about 5,000 men beside women and children." A miracle. A miracle. And the miracle happened because they were brought to Jesus. The issue was brought to Jesus. And the issue was addressed. Let me ask you a question. I think I described a situation where the disciples felt trepidation. I didn't detect trepidation or desperation from the crowd. The crowd was just milling about, you know. And it came time to, it came dinner time. Now, one thing that I thought about was why Did Jesus feel like it was his responsibility to feed the crowd? They were following him. Wasn't that their responsibility to be fed? Well, you know why he did that? Because he recognized a need that they didn't even know they had. He recognized a need in them that they didn't even know they had. Romans 3.23 says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Are there people in the world that don't even recognize the need that they have? Who does recognize it? The Lord does. Jesus does. And then back up in Matthew 14 verse 14, It gives away the reason. It says, and Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. Aren't you glad that Jesus has moved toward compassion of those with need? I am, because I'm one of those that stand in need. And I'm glad that my Savior moves with compassion toward me. and not wrath, but compassion toward me. So why do I follow Jesus? John chapter six, verse 24 says, when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, this is later on in this account, he's fed them, he's left. and the people, this group of 5,000 or more that were following him. I don't know how many continued on this journey, but it says, when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus. He just fed them. Now they're following him. They're looking for where he is. And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? Verse 26 is what I want to get to. Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. Why were they following Jesus? He fed them. He fed them physically. They liked the food that he gave them, and they were filled. So they followed him. All men have needs that drive them to take action. All of you, myself included, have needs that drive them, that drive us, to take actions. The most basic needs, food, water, shelter, clothing, rest, health, relationships. Those are, in my mind, basic needs of every human being. Every person that's ever lived has those needs. You believe that? Because it's true. And when those needs are not met, any of them, when those things are not met in a person's life, there's a visceral reaction to rectify that circumstance. No food? We need to solve this. No water? We need to solve this. No shelter, no clothing, no rest, bad health, no relationships, isolation. Human beings don't work well in those situations. And they want to rectify that problem. They want to solve that problem. And if those problems are not solved, Human reaction can be extreme. It can be extreme. There's an account in the scripture, and for the sake of our little ones, I won't go into all of the details of it, and this may be the way to get some of our older kids to read it. Maybe you shouldn't read this, but it is in the scriptures, and it is true. In the book of 2 Kings chapter 6 and verse 25 it says, and there was a great famine in Samaria and behold they, the Syrians, besieged it. They surrounded the city. There were entities in a struggle. One of the struggles was in the city. One of the performers were in the city. That would be Samaria and the Syrians were surrounding them. And it's a way to win a war. Cut off supply. Cut off the supply of the person you're trying to overcome. They had cut off supply to that city to such an extent that that verse goes on to say, An ass's head was sold for 80 pieces of silver and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver. Silver precious, right? Ass's head, dove's dung, not so much. A great famine in the land. A great famine in the land. And it got so desperate, I don't want you to put this on the board, but take a look at verse 29. It got that desperate. It got that desperate because of the famine. Because of people being cut off. It got extreme. Jesus recognized need in the 5,000 that they didn't know they had. And I'm describing for you what is the circumstance when we're physically cut off from a basic need, when we're physically cut off from a basic need. Do you know you could also be cut off from a spiritual need that you have? Do you suspect that there might be desperation when you're cut off from a spiritual need? You know, the things that occur to us in this life, Jesus used that situation with the 5,000. He was wanting to teach them a lesson. They missed it. Many of them did. But he was wanting to teach them a lesson based on their physical need. They needed food. And he supplied it. You know, the nation of Israel had been warned about the outcome of worshiping false gods. And I won't go there for the sake of time, but this particular circumstance that I just read to you was forewarned in Leviticus chapter 26 and verse 29. It says there, you don't have to go there on the board, but, and ye shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. They were warned what would happen if they turned away from God. But there is a cutting off of spiritual sustenance. One of my favorite accounts of this is out of the book of Amos chapter eight. And in verse 11, it says, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. Look around in our culture today. Do you suspect there's a famine? What's your evidence that there's a famine? You know, when I described the other famine and the basic needs that people had, there were things, there were reactions. Physical hunger, what does physical hunger look like? Have you ever seen one of the TV commercials asking for donations for people in other countries that are destitute? You see the little flies flying around their faces of the little kids. Their head looks like it's three times the size of their body. Their eyes are sunken. And they're sad. They're sad sights because of their physical deprivation. their physical deprivation. When a person is hungry, it takes toll on the body. Vital organs such as the heart and lungs begin to shrink. Muscle mass is depleted. The body temperature lowers. The body swells from fluid. Dehydration creates intense thirst because the loss of water and salts that are essential. Our mouth suffers from inflammation that's caused by sores and infections. That's why the flies come around. Malnutrition leads to starvation. And often, even with proper nourishment after, the effects can't be resolved. So even if they did get the food later, it's too late. It's too late. So that's physical hunger, ladies and gentlemen. What about spiritual hunger? What does it look like in people's lives? People's hearts are affected. They become cold, small, and hard. They don't interact with people well. They have no joy, no happiness. They're usually irritable and difficult to be around because they're so cranky. Their vision is affected. They have difficulty seeing anything good. There's nothing good about this world. There's no beauty, no joy. Their mouth is inflamed with filthy talk Selfish, angry, argumentative words. Do you believe that's true? So it's evidence that someone is hungry spiritually. They're hungry spiritually. You know, that account that I read to you, I didn't put it in my notes, but I think it was Chapter 6, did I say? Yeah, 6 of 2 Kings. If you go to Chapter 7, basically the Lord resolved that issue, and he resolved it miraculously. You know, I told you they were besieging the city, the Syrians were, and inside the Samaritans were suffering. Well, the Lord resolved that by sending through the enemy camp the idea that they were about to be destroyed. And they didn't know where that came from. I mean, read the account in chapter 7 of 2 Kings. They didn't know where that came from, but the enemy became fearful. The enemy had plenty of food. They had plenty of supply. But the people in Samaria were besieged and they were in famine and they were reacting extremely. Well, what the Lord wound up doing is by putting fear into the enemy, the enemy ran away. The enemy ran away. What happened to all that food that they had? It was left sitting there. And there were some lepers, I believe they were, that happened to be outside the city already. You know, we don't let those lepers in the city. So the lepers were outside the city already, and they discovered that the enemy had departed. And the lepers went into the enemy camp, and guess what they found? Food everywhere, supply everywhere. I love what they said to each other as they talked about it. They saw all this food. They knew what was going on inside the city. They knew people were in desperate situation. And the lepers said to each other, when they discovered the food, they said, you know, we need to tell the folks in the city about this. They said, we do not well. We're not doing well if we don't tell them that there's food. Wait a minute, we do not well if we don't tell them there is food. We, my fellow lepers, we do not well if we don't tell them there's food. There's food for your desperation. There's food for your supply. miraculous food, an abundant supply of food. But we do not well if we don't tell them. Now I'll get to my actual message. And the actual verse that the Lord put on my heart when I when I started thinking about sharing this devotion. And it, again, goes back to our study in John. So thank you, Brother Kenny, for all your work on that. It's been a blessing. It really has. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 6. Would you put that on the board, please? Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. What's going to happen to them? They shall be filled. So in order for us to get people to a point of being filled, they need to be at a point of hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Hungering and thirsting is a natural part of the physical condition, and God placed it in all of us. He gave us the example of the physical, and thirsting as a physical example. We hunger and thirst for our physical needs often throughout the day. If we stayed here till two o'clock, Brother Brian, I believe you might have a rebellion. People's stomachs would be grumbling and rumbling. But you know what? That's a first world problem. You know what I mean by first world? First world is the western culture. Second world was the communist regime. And third world were those who were not involved in either one of those directly. A first world problem means that we're a society that has plenty of provision. How many of you have refrigerators at home? Wow, that is amazing. If we were to ask that question in a third world country, I dare say many hands would not go up because they don't have refrigerators. I could ask about running water. Do you have running water at home? Yes, you do. So even people that we look around in this society and say, oh, they're poor. Not so much. Not so much. We don't know what hunger is. When's the last time you've been hungry and could do nothing about it? You had no ability to do anything about your hunger. That hadn't happened. That has not happened. God, through the Holy Spirit, wants to create in us a hunger and a thirst for something we desperately need, something we cannot live without spiritually. You know what that is? Righteousness. He wants to create that hunger and thirsting. in us. And brethren, I wish I had a mirror here because this is for me. It's not just for you, it's for me. I need a hunger, a greater hunger, and a greater thirst for the righteousness of God in my life. Romans 10, And verse one says, Paul says, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. We have to hunger for the right kind of food. You can have your own righteousness, and I can have Krispy Kreme donuts. I can eat all the Krispy Kreme donuts that I want. How healthy would I be in about a month if I went on a Krispy Kreme diet? You all realize that it would not be to my advantage to do that, right? That's a physical example. Are there spiritual examples of Krispy Kreme donuts? No prayer, no Bible, no church, no fellowship. I can make it on my own. I don't need these people. Krispy Kreme Christians is what I would call that. So why do I follow Jesus? Do I follow him for the loaves, for the physical food? Is that enough? No, he gave us that example to bring us to him. The Lord, oh, I love the young lady's song, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. You want food? Let me tell you where food is. John chapter six, verse 35 says, and Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. You want food? That's where the grocery store is for spiritual well-being. I am the bread of life. We must come to Jesus for spiritual sustenance like we go to the refrigerator to satisfy our physical hunger. We have to go to Jesus. Why? There's no other source of righteousness. We don't have any. All we have is Krispy Kreme. So we're not going to sustain ourselves that way. I'm getting close to the end. How do we increase our spiritual appetite? How do we become more hungry for the things of God? and thirsting. Philippians 2.12 says, Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Paul isn't saying work for your salvation. That's not what he's saying with that verse. He's saying that the salvation that's in you is in Christ Jesus. and that his righteousness is the starting point for your hungering and thirsting spiritually. So get to know him. Learn everything you can. Interact at every opportunity. Pray without ceasing. And he will create that hunger in you. He'll create the hunger for more. My mom made a mean apple pie. And I tell you what, my mouth would water whenever she would get that thing sitting out there, and I was ready to go. Well, you know, the Lord Jesus is like the feeling I had about that apple pie. Makes your mouth water, and you want it. When can I get to this? When can I get more of this? I noticed something as I was looking at the Beatitudes here. Go to, put on the board if you would, Matthew chapter five, verse three. I don't have this in my notes. So, you know the Beatitudes. This is the Sermon on the Mount. This is Jesus teaching. I noticed a pattern. Look at the status of the first beatitude. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. How do you start off in your relationship to Christ? Poor in spirit. Poor in spirit. Go to verse four. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. We mourn because our sins are many. Why are we sad? Because we're sinners and we don't have a solution. We're poor in spirit, now we're mourning. Go to the next. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Poor in spirit, mourning. So how do you get to that relationship with Christ? You humble yourself. You humble yourself. That's a hard thing for human beings, but you humble yourself. You recognize, Lord, I have no righteousness. I need yours. You humble yourself. Go to verse six. After you've done all that, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Did you feel that when you were saved? When you were saved, do you remember your salvation experience? The thing that I felt and the thing that I'm sure you felt at that point in time was a hungering and a thirsting. I may not have known what it was I was hungry for. I didn't know what it was, but I knew I was hungry suddenly for something beyond me and beyond my ability. So Peter used one of my verses, and that's always a blessing to me when I'm scheduled to speak and I see a passage of scripture that I had thought about, 1 Peter 2. Verse one says, wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. If so be ye have tasted, tasted, tasted that the Lord is gracious. Why do I follow Jesus? Is it because of the loaves only? Why do you follow Jesus? Is it because of the loaves? You know, when a baby comes into the world, the first thing it learns to do is eat. Where's Doug? Right? Feed that baby. Somebody feed that baby so she'll stop crying. And the more the baby eats, the more they grow. If they didn't eat, they wouldn't grow. But later on, and I can continue to use Doug as an example because he has older children too. Later on, they want real groceries. They don't just want milk anymore. They want something else. Beans and potatoes and fruit and meat. That's the same way a Christian is to hunger and thirst for righteousness. Many Christians aren't spiritually satisfied because they're not spiritually hungry. And remember how I described what it looks like when someone is physically hungry? You could see it on the outside. When Christians are physically hungry, it's not visible per se, but you can still see it. You can still see that they're hungry. Something's missing. Something's missing in their life. It can be seen. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 1 says that I, brethren, could not speak to you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it. Neither yet now are you able, for ye are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are you not carnal and walk as men? It can be seen. That spiritual hunger can be seen. It was referenced about the verse in Hebrews, when the time comes you ought to be teachers and you have need that someone feeds you with milk because you're not ready. that you're not growing, that you're not the Formula One car that stopped at the pit stop and got renewed day by day, day by day. When we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we hunger and thirst for Jesus. When Jesus was baptized, a voice came from heaven and said, and lo, a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. The father was pleased with the son. Righteousness is pleasing the father. And the only way to please the father is to believe on the son. That verse from John, Why was John written? These are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name, through his name. Hebrews 11, six says, but without faith, it's impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. He's a rewarder. He provides the food. He provides the sustenance. Okay, I'm gonna skip on to the very end. Jesus said, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. What's the largest organ in your body? Anybody know? It's your skin. Oh, you don't think your skin is an organ? Cut off a little piece of it and bring it up here to me. And see how you feel about that. It can be a little bitty piece. Doesn't have to be a lot. Just cut it off. Yeah, you'll know that your skin is an organ. So we walk around in the flesh. And Paul said in Romans 7, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. If our focus is only on the external, and I'm only following Jesus for what he can do for my flesh, I have a bad motivation. That's a wrong motivation for following Jesus. You guys are all nice people. I love each one of you. I don't expect any harm from anyone in here. You know? So it's pretty cool to hang out with you guys. I like being around here. I'm not scared in this place. There are some places I could go that I might be fearful. But if I come here, I'm OK. But is that the only reason I come here? Is that loaves? Because you're fun people to be around? No. Paul goes on there in Romans 7 to say, oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Paul recognized what his body was about. It was about death. Last two verses, Psalm 42 one says, As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness. What a great description, panteth, panteth. It's like me and my mom's apple pie. Panteth after, desiring that. Okay, the last passage I'll read before I pray is Psalm 34, and I'm going to start in verse 3. It says, Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked upon him and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth around them that fear him and delivereth them. Let this last verse stick in your mind. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you for this time that we've been able to stand before your people. Lord, we thank you that you love us so, that you have compassion upon us. Lord, we are weak and needy, but Father, you are gracious and loving. I pray, Father, that you would use your word to your glory today. And Lord, that the things that we say and do, going forward even, would be from our hungering and thirsting for your righteousness. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.