Chapter 8, verse 11. We'll eventually end up
on verse 21, Lord willing. So let's pray, and
then we will dig in. God, we come to you today,
and I thank you, dear Lord. that we have the
freedom and the privilege to come in this house
and worship you freely. I pray that you would
be with us this morning, God, that you would
just help us to be free of the worries and the
distractions and the stresses and the pains and
just all the stuff of this world, dear Lord,
that just weighs heavy on our mind and on our
heart. And I pray that we would not be distracted.
from you by those things, but that in these few
minutes, God, that you would just protect us
from any attacks of the enemy, any temptations
to wander off. But I pray that you give us a
heart to hear this morning, that you give us
ears to hear, God, that we would listen to you,
that your Holy Spirit would just meet us where
we are today, and that you'd do a good work in
us, God. We come here today to hear from you.
So I pray, dear Lord, that you'd be glorified
in these words. And I ask these things in Jesus'
name. Amen. In Mark chapter 8, verse 11, we are
going to kind of jump right in here to where
some Pharisees are approaching Jesus, wanting
to see a sign. And the Pharisees were really,
they were always kind of... following Jesus around,
and they didn't like Jesus' teaching. They always
were testing him and trying him, seeing how he
was going to respond, and that's what we see
here in this passage this morning in verse 11.
The Pharisees came out and began to argue with
him, demanding of him a sign from heaven to test
him. But sighing deeply in his spirit, he said,
Why does just this generation demand a sign?
I assure you no sign will be given to this generation.
Then he left them, got on board the boat again,
and went to the other side. So here are these
Pharisees. Now, by this point, Jesus had done
A lot of stuff. A lot of really cool stuff. He
had healed people. We see by this point in the
book of Mark, Mark really talks a lot about Jesus
driving out demons. And no doubt. that some of
the people who had seen these things would have
been Pharisees. At the very least, they had heard,
but I suspect that some of the Pharisees had
seen these things. And all throughout Jesus'
ministry, we see that there's this group of people
that are constantly demanding a sign, demanding
that Jesus do something. even up until his death
on the cross. There's this group that's just
constantly demanding, do this thing, do that
thing. But the problem is, is that Jesus had
done many things throughout his ministry. He
had healed so many people, and he had taught
the word of God so beautifully. He had even raised
people from the dead. It's not that they had
not already seen signs and wonders and miracles.
But they wanted more. It's almost as though they
wanted Jesus to perform on their terms. Jesus,
do this thing for us. Now, what's so bad about
that? If you look at other people in Scripture...
They come to Jesus and they're constantly asking,
Jesus, would you heal me? Jesus, would you drive
this demon out from my family member? Jesus,
would you do this or would you do that? What's
the difference between the Pharisees when they
ask Jesus to do something and all those others
who ask Jesus and often of which Jesus does what
they ask? The difference is the heart in which
they're asking it. You see, the Pharisees, they're
coming to Jesus, and they want Jesus to perform
on their terms. Jesus, you do what we ask you
to do, and then we will believe you. But they
would have never believed Jesus. Jesus could
have come off of that cross. He could have showed
all of his power, should he have wanted to. But
I suspect that that group of people still would
not have believed Jesus. Because their heart.
was not right because they had been exposed to
Jesus. They had seen Jesus. They had seen Jesus'
miracles. They had heard from Jesus many times
before, and they continued to reject Jesus because
their heart was not right. This was the group
of people that would have been really considered
to be the most religious people. I mean, these
would have been the group of people that would
have been trying to teach others the Word of
God, the Old Testament, and the laws of God,
and the instruction of God. These would have
been the holier -than -thou's, if we can call
them that. I mean, this is this group that keeps
demanding of Jesus a sign, but they never were
going to trust Jesus because the work that Jesus
did was good enough. And they were either going
to believe that Jesus was the Son of God, That
Jesus had the power to forgive sins. That Jesus
had the power to heal and do anything else that
he wanted to do. Or they were not going to believe
it. And so they often came to Jesus demanding
signs and wanting Jesus to do something for them.
But their heart was not right. But then we see
so many instances in scripture where others have
heard of Jesus. where others have seen the miracles
of Jesus. And they said, wow, there's something
about this man. There's something about the way
he teaches. I want to go hear him teach. There's
something about the way that he heals people.
There's something about this man that is unique,
it is different. And people who had that heart,
they would seek Jesus out and they would come
to him. Some probably were questioning. Some
probably were wondering, I don't know about this
guy. I hear these things. I want to investigate
a little further. But some in that crowd were
people who had heard of Jesus, who had believed
Jesus' teachings and what he said and what he
was doing, and they came to seek Jesus out. And
they came and they humbled themselves before
Jesus, and they would beg him just to... just
to heal them, or they would seek just to touch
him, just to experience his power. And those
people are the people who were saved. Not the
people who expected Jesus to respond and act
on their terms, their commands, but those who
come to Jesus to seek him and to follow his commands.
And so these Pharisees had come to Jesus, and
he says here, look, you want a sign, you're not
going to get a sign. Now he says in another scripture
we see that he says the only sign that they will
be given is the sign of Jonah. That is to say
that as Jonah was in the belly of the big fish
for three days and then he got out, so it will
be for the Son of Man. So it would be for Jesus
Christ. Here is the sign. He says if you want
a sign, there's coming a sign. Here's what the
sign is going to be. And listen, this is a sign
for us too. The sign is this, that Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, came to this world to do the
will of God, to give his life on a cross, to
be placed in the tomb, and three days later to
be raised and seated at the right hand of God.
That is the sign. That's the sign that we have
to say today. That's the sign that we have to
see right here today. All these things that the
Pharisees knew about, we know about. Well, not
all of them. They probably knew about more than
we do. We know about what's written in Scripture,
which is sufficient evidence. We know about what
God's Word says. We know about the miracles.
We know about the healings. We know about the
teachings. We know about the example of Jesus
Christ. And most of all, we know that He has
been raised from the tomb. So we have all the
evidence that the Pharisees had. And the question
is, what will you do with the evidence that you
see and that you hear from Scripture? Maybe today
you're like the Pharisees. You say, Jesus, I'd
believe in you if you'd just do this. If you'd
just do what I tell you to do, Jesus, I'd believe
in you. But maybe what Jesus is saying to you
today is if you'd just do what I tell you to
do, maybe then you'd believe in me. So today
we have the evidence of the Pharisees. Will we
accept him or will we reject him? They demanded
a sign, and they received that sign when Jesus
was crucified and resurrected, and so it is for
us today. So after he had this little interaction
with them, it says he got back in the boat. They'd
been in the boat, and they went on their way
to the next place. In verse 14, they had forgotten
to take bread and had only one loaf with them
in the boat. Then he commanded them, Watch out,
beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the
yeast of Herod. All right, so they get back in
the boat, and they were hungry, probably like
all of us. We were pretty blessed, and hopefully
we're pretty blessed that we all have some food.
We all eat snacks between times, and they had
been doing this work of Jesus, and they were
hungry. They wanted some bread, but they realized
that they didn't bring any bread with them. That
was what was on the mind of the disciples, that
they did not bring any bread on this trip with
them. And Jesus uses this opportunity to teach
them. Now, Jesus often used opportunities and
parables and things that maybe didn't make a
lot of sense in the time, but he would use these
practical things to bring forth these kind of
deep teachings that were crucial. And so they're
talking about bread. And in the process, Jesus
says, hey, you need to be aware of the yeast
of the Pharisees. Now, Jesus here is not talking
about bread. And they continue on in the next
verse. It says in verse 16, they were discussing
among themselves. They did not have any bread.
So they're talking about bread. Jesus says, hey,
why are you talking about bread? Beware of the
yeast of the Pharisees. And they kept on talking
about, we ain't got no bread. Jesus is making
a crucial point here. He's making a contrast
between the yeast, that is the teaching of the
Pharisees, and his teaching. Now the teaching
of the Pharisees were running rampant in those
days. As I said, these would have been very religious
people. And so they were teaching a lot of things
that were not right, that were not accurate,
that were not truly representing God and the
Word of God and the commands of God. And that's
why when Jesus came on the Sermon on the Mount,
he would say stuff like, you have heard it said,
but I tell you this. Jesus says, I'm going to
show you and I'm going to teach you what the
Scripture says because many of those who are
teaching you now are not doing a good job. So
I'm coming and I'm going to teach you these things
so that you understand them in a better way.
And at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, they
say, hey, this man teaches as one who has authority.
There's something that's different about his
teaching. Why? Because he was preaching and teaching
godly things. The religious group, the Pharisees
and all these other people, they were preaching
and teaching religion and following a set of
rules, many of which they made up that did not
draw people closer to God, but only put a greater
burden on them. And Jesus says, I am coming to
free you of that burden. I don't want you to
be religious. I want you to be made righteous.
I want you to understand that when God gives
some of these crazy instructions in the law,
here's what God really means. And that's why
Jesus sums it up so beautifully when he says,
I'm paraphrasing even what Jesus said, love God
and love your neighbor. Jesus says, this is what
the law boils down to. This is what you need
to get. This is what you need to understand.
This is how you need to live your life. You need
to live your life serving God and loving your
neighbor. And if you get that, even 2 ,000 years
later today, if we get that, we've got it. If
we get that, we're on the right track. If we
don't get that, If we just come to church and
we still read the Bible and we don't get that,
then we're probably not any better than the Pharisees.
We're just religious people looking for signs
when Jesus says, look at what I did. Look at
my preaching. Look at my teaching. Look at the
things that I've done. The Pharisees' teaching
was... Bad yeast, so to speak. Now, when you
make bread, bread is probably the most simple
thing in the world to make. It requires two ingredients,
flour and water. That's it. If you've got flour
and water, you can make bread. Now, if you don't
put anything but flour and water, it's going
to be flatbread. It's just going to be pretty
flat. It's not going to rise. It's not going
to do anything. But even with just flour and
water, you can take that and put it in a jar,
let it sit for a few days, take a little out,
add a little more to it along the way, and pretty
soon it's going to begin to ferment. It's going
to build up some bacteria, and you can use that
to put in your bread, and then you can have sourdough
bread. Or you can go out, and you can go all
into the wilderness, and you can scrape bark
off of trees, and you can find fungus all over
the place in everything, and it's a little fungus
that you can put in your bread, and it's... And
what does that do? You put it in there, and all
of a sudden that bread begins to bake up nice
and pretty and rye so nice and neat. Y 'all didn't
know I knew all this stuff about bread. I should
have baked y 'all some bread and brought it to
you today. But yeast is important. There's nothing
wrong with a flat bread. Maybe you've had flat
bread before. Maybe you've had sourdough bread.
But boy, a good old yeast rising fluffy piece
of bread with some nice butter slathered on that,
that's good stuff. So yeast in and of itself
isn't a bad thing. But you've got to use good
yeast if you want good bread. And Jesus says
be very careful. Because the Pharisees, the things
that they're teaching you, it's not going to
amount to nothing. It's going to stay flat. If
you live by their teachings, you're going to
stay flat. But Jesus said, I want you to rise.
And so he says, you need to be aware of the teaching
of the Pharisees. And the disciples didn't get
a bit of it. It went right over their head. Went
right over their head. They said, we didn't bring
any bread. Maybe they were thinking, well, we
don't have any Pharisee bread. We don't have
any bread. Don't worry about bread. Jesus is
trying to teach them the deeper and more important
things of life, and they are worried about bread.
No, we don't ever do that, do we? We're probably
guilty of that sometimes when we have our big
eatings at church. We get in here and we got
all that food back there, boy, it starts smelling
good. And then I get wound up and I preach until
like 12, 15, and y 'all are like, this is the
worst sermon ever. And you don't even really
know what the sermon's about. You just know that
it's past 12 o 'clock and therefore it's the
worst sermon ever because we're too worried about
our food or when we don't have food, we're too
worried about what's outside of those doors and
we're too worried about everything except for
what God wants to teach us. And here they are
with Jesus. And boy, you would think that these
disciples would just be soaking up every word
he said and be saying, Jesus, tell us what that
means. Jesus, tell us what that's about. But
that's not how they're portrayed. You read the
book of Mark. They're not really portrayed, these
disciples, as being too bright. And we say, boy,
if I'd have been there with Jesus, I'd be seeking
every word he said. No, you wouldn't. Because
you don't do it today. You don't read the word
today. You don't spend time seeking to do God's
word today. You say, but if I'd have been with
him, I would have. No, you wouldn't. So we're
no better than the disciples. We're just as rotten.
We're just as slow. It's not that we don't love
Jesus. It's not that we don't believe Jesus'
words. We're just kind of slow sometimes. And
Jesus may want to teach us in such a deep and
beautiful way, and we're worried about bread.
And Jesus goes on to tell them in the next verse.
Verse 17, aware of this, he said to them, why
are you discussing that you do not have any bread?
Don't you understand or comprehend? Is your heart
hardened? That's interesting language. Now, when
we think about people in scripture who have a
hardened heart, probably the first person most
of us think about is Pharaoh in the Old Testament.
That Pharaoh was supposed to let God's people
go and he said, I'm going to let them go and
he wouldn't let them go and he's going to let
them go and he wouldn't let them go. And it says
God hardened his heart because he continually
rejected the things that God was trying to show
him. And God hardened his heart. And we think
about people who have a hardened heart. We think
about really bad, evil people who reject God.
But listen to what Jesus said here. Why are you
talking about bread? Has your heart been hardened?
And this is not the first time Jesus has said
this to them because he said the same thing to
them back in Mark 6, verse 52. They're in the
boat. The storm comes. No, they're in the boat.
Jesus comes walking across the water. They're
afraid. They think it's a ghost coming across
the water. They're terrified, and Jesus says
the same thing to them. Let's flip back to Mark
chapter 6. That's a good story. We're going to
flip back there. It's just a couple of pages.
It's easy for you to get to. Mark chapter 6.
Go down to about... Let's see if we can find
our verse here. About verse 50. Mark chapter
6, verse 50. For they all saw him and were terrified.
Immediately he spoke with them and said, Have
courage, it is I, don't be afraid. Then he got
into the boat with them and the wind ceased.
They were completely astounded because they had
not understood about the loaves. Instead, their
hearts were hardened. Now isn't that interesting?
Both of these passages are very similar. Here
Jesus is walking across the water. They're terrified.
He says, look, don't be afraid. It's me. Don't
be afraid. And it says they did not understand
because their hearts were hardened because they
didn't understand about what? About the loaves,
about bread. Isn't that interesting? Now, right
before this, Jesus had just fed 5 ,000 people,
which is pretty incredible. If you've ever been
part of a big feeding before, it's an incredible
thing to feed a lot of people. It takes a lot
of work and a lot of preparation and a lot of
food. But Jesus fed 5 ,000 people with five loaves
of bread and two fish. Jesus said, look, these
people need something to eat. The disciple says,
how are we going to feed them? Jesus says, what
you got? Well, we got five loaves and two fish,
and Jesus says, let's feed these people. He blessed
it. They started handing out the food, and they
fed all of them, 5 ,000 men plus women and children,
remember how many that was, and they still had
bread left. Jesus had took a little bit of bread
and he had used it to feed thousands and thousands
of people and the disciples still didn't understand
the power of Jesus. They should have understood,
whoa, this is amazing. This is amazing what Jesus
has just done. He has just done a miracle. But
it says that their hearts were hardened. They
did not understand the loaves. They still did
not recognize the power of Jesus. And when Jesus
come walking on the water, when the winds were
blowing, they still were afraid because they
were not trusting in Jesus and they hadn't fully
recognized Jesus and who he was and what he could
do. Flip back to Mark chapter 8. Back to Mark
chapter 8. End of verse 17. It says, Don't you
understand or comprehend? Is your heart hardened?
Now Jesus is fixing to teach them something important
here, that he wants them to understand. He's
talking about the yeast of the Pharisees' teaching,
but he's also talking about his teaching and
his life and his examples and his ministry, and
he wants the apostles to understand his power.
He wants them to understand and to trust who
he is. And he says in verse 18, Do you have eyes
and not see? And do you have ears and not hear?
And do you not remember when I broke the five
loaves for the 5 ,000? How many baskets full
of pieces of bread did you collect? Twelve, they
told him. When I broke the seven loaves for the
4 ,000, how many large baskets full of pieces
of bread did you collect? Seven, they said. And
he said to him, and he said to them, don't you
understand yet? Now here these disciples are.
They get in the boat. They talk about bread.
Jesus says, look, don't fall into the traps of
the Pharisees. They're worried about bread. They're
worried about bread. The apostles who had just
a few weeks or a few months earlier had seen
Jesus feed 5 ,000 plus people with five loaves
of bread and then right before this story had
seen Jesus feed 4 ,000 plus people with seven
loaves of bread and the disciples are worried
about bread. Jesus says, don't you get it? Do
you not understand who I am? Do you not see what
I've done? Do you not know that I will provide
for you? Do you not know that I'm not going to
let you go hungry? That you're sitting in the
boat with the Son of God? That I can make something
out of nothing? That I could take one loaf of
bread and feed the whole world? Do you not understand
yet, Jesus said? Have you been with me all this
time and missed my power and missed the miracles
and missed everything that I've come to teach
you and to show you? Do you not understand yet?
And what about you and I? Do we not understand
yet? Maybe we're just as guilty. Of the apostles.
And we see the works of Jesus. And we believe
that he is the Messiah. Eleven of them did. Eleven
of these apostles did. They believed that Jesus
was the Messiah. They believed that he was the
Son of God. They believed that he could do miracles.
They knew who he was, but they still didn't get
it. They still weren't trusting in him fully.
They still weren't fully dependent on him. They
still were worried about the simple things of
the world when Jesus says, don't worry about
what you'll wear or what you will eat or where
you will live. I will take care of these things.
Don't you get it? Don't you understand yet, Jesus
says? Seek me. Follow my teachings. Don't give
in to the things of the world. Don't seek the
things of the world. Don't seek the ways of the
world. But I will take care. care of you. And
perhaps we need to be reminded of that today.
Perhaps for some in this room, you know who Jesus
is. You know that He is the Son of God. You know
that He is raised from the dead. You know that
He has done miracles. You believe it. But we're
not any better than the apostles. Life comes
along. We wonder where our next bread is going
to come from. We wonder about our health problems
that we're up against. We worry about our loved
ones. We worry about our job. We worry about
all of these things in the world that are real
and they are serious. And they are on our minds
every day. And they frighten us. And we are afraid.
And we wonder, how am I going to make it through?
Lord, will I make it? And maybe Jesus wants to
tell us today, do you not understand yet? Do
you not understand that I will take care of you?
Do you not understand that I will provide the
bread that you need? That I will be with you
as you walk through the valley of the shadow
of death? Do you not understand that my teachings
are good and they are right? Do you not understand
that the way of the world and those around you
is not good for you? It doesn't provide for you,
but I will never leave you or forsake you? Do
you not understand yet? Maybe today the Lord
is calling us to give it all to Jesus and say,
Jesus, I don't understand, but I want to understand.
I believe, but help my unbelief. Jesus knows
that we are weak. Praise the Lord, God knows
that we are weak. And we don't understand, but
what we need to understand is that Jesus loves
us today. That Jesus will take care of you today.
You have seen the power of Jesus in Scripture.
And if you haven't, then read the Scripture.
You'll see the power of Jesus. You'll know what
He has done and what He can do. And I can promise
you today that He is with you and He will not
leave you. That He will provide for you. And
I cannot tell you today that your life will be
easy or that your situation will be better when
you leave this place. But I can tell you that
Jesus Christ is with you. And he's going to take
care of you. Don't miss him. Boy, the disciples
were slow. It took them a long time to be with
Jesus and to see Jesus and to try to learn from
Jesus. And Jesus would do some of the most amazing
things, and they'd just be scratching their head.
And they'd say, Jesus, can you tell us what you
mean? So don't feel bad. Maybe we sit here today
and we confess to ourselves, God, I don't understand.
God, I don't understand yet. But God, I want
you to help me to understand. I want you to help
me to put my trust in Jesus Christ. Let's pray.
God, we come to you this morning. We thank you
for this good word, this good story, dear Lord,
that you share with us through your word. And
I pray that you would help us to not be like
the Pharisees this morning, dear Lord. That we
would not seek a Savior who does what we want
when we ask Him to, but that we would seek a
Savior that we need, dear Lord. Not because we
are deserving, but because He loves us, God.
So I pray today that we would be those who come
in faith to know that we need Jesus, that we
have heard of who Jesus is. I pray that you would
help us, dear Lord, to continually be in your
Word to see Jesus. To see His miracles, to see
His love, to see His mercy, to see His compassion,
dear Lord. Maybe there are some here this morning,
God, that have never seen that about Jesus. They
don't know that about Jesus. I pray today that
they would know that Jesus Christ has given His
life on a cross so that their sins could be forgiven.
That He is seated at your right hand, God. that
he is victorious today, that he is strength for
us today, that if we would just call out to you
and seek you, dear Lord, you'd be faithful to
forgive us of our sins if we would just confess
and repent, dear Lord. So maybe there are some
here today and they don't know, they don't really
know Jesus. Maybe they know about him, dear Lord,
but they don't follow him. They've never confessed
their sins. I pray that today that they would,
dear Lord. Maybe there are some who came into
this room today and they didn't understand, but
maybe today for the first time they do have some
better understanding. Maybe they understand for
the first time that Jesus is the Savior of the
world. God, maybe there are others in this room
and they're yours, and we are just as boneheaded
as these apostles, dear Lord. We love you and
we know your word, but we just... We just fail
to understand. We fail in sin. We doubt. Our
faith is weak, dear Lord. We see your word. We've
seen your power. And we should trust you in everything
and never question and never doubt or never worry.
But dear Lord, we do. We've seen your power and
we still just, we just don't get it, dear Lord.
So I pray that you would help us to get it just
a little bit better today. Dear Lord, you ask,
do you understand yet? And God, maybe we understand
some, but we don't understand all we want to,
so help us to understand better today when we
leave than when we came into this place. God,
that we would know you provide for us, that you
take care of us, that, God, you can do a lot
with a little. And maybe there are some in here
today in their life in many different areas.
There ain't much there. Maybe there's a little
that they're struggling with, but, dear Lord,
you can take that little and you can do something
great with it. just as you took that few loaves
of bread and did a miracle, dear Lord, so you
can in our lives. So I pray, dear Lord, that
you would help us to seek you today, to grow
in you today, and to trust you more today. In
Jesus' name I pray it. Amen.