Do You Have a Hard Heart? — Mark 8

0:03 Good morning. Good morning. So good to be with all of you this morning. That's a beautiful song. Isn't that a great song?

0:11 I just love that song, and it gets me ready to to hear the word. So one of the one of the challenges is to to apply what you're saying, not just say it. So that's that's my my challenge. Alright. Well, this...

0:33 Today, for our for our potluck or after the potluck, we were gonna celebrate missus Weeks birthday. We're have cake and ice cream. Unfortunately, missus Weeks had to be taken to the hospital yesterday. Am I correct? It was yesterday.

0:49 So, we will not be able to do that but we're going to take a moment to pray for her. Is there anyone else that has a burden, something that's waiting in your heart that we could pray for? Says we're going to pray for that. Anyone? If not, we'll just bring her before the throne.

1:05 Alright. Everybody's healthy, happy, and ready to eat. So, I'm going make sure I end on time. Don't worry about it. I I notoriously finish on time.

1:14 Amen. Alright. So, let's pray. Father, we are we're just so grateful for missus Weeks. Thank you that she loves you.

1:23 And it's impressive, Lord, that even at her age and with her her weak... Weakening frail body, she wants to be here constantly. My lord, I just pray that I would be like that. That I would have that kind of a spirit. Comfort her now, lord.

1:39 Encourage her in in the sick bed. We pray that you would lift her up and that we would see her soon but we committed to your hands. They can't we cannot place her in better hands or better care than in your care. So, father, give her grace. Thank you for mister and missus Morrison.

1:56 Help them as they continue to care for her. We pray that you'll be glorified today, lord, as as we look at your word. Give us open hearts and help us to be ready to receive it. In Jesus name, amen. Amen.

2:12 Alright. Good morning again. It's wonderful to be here. Open your Bibles to Mark chapter eight. We're going to continue our study in Mark.

2:23 And out of reverence for the word of God, why don't we stand while we read it? Why don't we stand if you're able, of course? If if you are able, please stand. We're going to read one through 21. One through 21.

2:37 Mark chapter eight one through 21. Alright. In those days, again, when there was a great multitude and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples and he said to them, oh, by the way, as we're continuing to read, the keyword here is bread. You're to see the word bread all over the place. So, pay attention to the word bread, right?

3:05 Okay. So, they had nothing to eat. Going back to verse one and and he called his disciples and said to them, I feel compassion for the multitudes because they have remained with me now for three days and they have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their home, they will faint on the way, and some of them have come from a long distance. Kinda kind of appropriate.

3:31 They're gonna have a potluck today, because you're gonna be hearing the word of God. You're be hungry. Anyway, verse four, verse four. And his disciples answered him, where will anyone be able to find enough to satisfy these men with bread here in a desolate place? And he was asking them, how many loaves do you have?

3:54 And they said, seven. And he directed the multitude to sit down on the ground and taking the seven loaves, he gave thanks and he broke them and he started giving them to the disciples to serve to them. And they served them to the multitude. They also had a few small fish. And after he had blessed them, he ordered these to be served as well.

4:23 And they ate and were satisfied, and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. And about 4,000 were there, and he sent them away. And immediately he he entered the boat with his disciples and came to the district of Dalmanuta. And the Pharisees came out and began to argue with him seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. And signed deeply in his spirit, he said, why does this generation seek for a sign?

5:02 Truly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation. And leaving them, he again embarked and went away to the other side. And they had verse 14 and they had forgotten to take bread. And did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. And he was giving orders to them saying, watch out, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the, and the leaven of the, of, of Herod.

5:34 And they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? Having eyes, do you not see?

5:54 And having ears, do you not hear? Do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves and the... For the 5,000, how many baskets full of pieces did you pick up? And they said to him, 12.

6:09 And when I broke the seven for the 4,000, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up? And they said to him, seven. And he was saying to them, do you not yet understand? All right. Amen.

6:39 So there's two types of hearts. The believer's heart and the unbelieving heart. But both can be hard... Can be hardened. Alright.

6:51 So, we're going to take a look at the believer's heart first, at the believer's heart first. So, let's take a look at the, let's just consider a little bit about the disciples, alright? The disciples had been with Jesus already a good amount of time and they had witnessed many miracles. Correct? Right?

7:08 As we've been going through Mark and the parallel of the synoptic gospels. As you read them, you see that they were looking at demons being removed. You were looking at healings, all kinds of healings. Right. Well, all the sick, you know, the the dead people raised and they were just looking at so many miracles one after another and that was just so much proof that Jesus was the Messiah, but not just that.

7:38 But as they were observing Jesus and watching him, they should have concluded in their mind easily standing before us is not just an ordinary man, but the creator himself. Right? I mean, this guy... And if you read in Mark the passages before, this man was... They saw Jesus walking on water.

7:59 And they they thought he was a ghost. Right? They get all scared and it was just me. Relax. It's me.

8:04 And he calmed the water down. This is not the same as a storm when he was sleeping. This is when he was walking on water. And he calmed the water down because of those rough waters and he got in the boat with them. And so they saw that.

8:20 And and prior to this chapter, they saw him feed 5,000 people. Right? And so they they were there and we don't have any food. Okay. Well, what do we have?

8:31 We have some loaves. We have some fish. Already prayed over them. Now, give them to the people and they were just handing out... They were looking at a supernatural miracle right there.

8:41 Bread just kept coming out of nowhere and they were just feeding and feeding and feeding people. Right? Probably probably to, you know, what, 10, 14,000 people were fed? The 5,000? Right?

8:55 And so so they saw that. They saw the walking on water. They saw the people getting healed. They saw the the demons leaving people and and they were observing all this. So, you would think by now, they they would have learned to trust the lord.

9:09 That they would have faith that yes, we don't have to worry about bread because he already did it with 5,000. And so this is kind of a comical in many ways as you look at chapter eight because the the same thing happens again. The people with them, they're about three days and they had run out of food and he had compassion on them. He tells the disciples the same thing. Give him bread and so, obviously, they weren't capturing it and...

9:40 Because their their thought was, well, where are we gonna get enough to satisfy all of these people in this desolate place? Did you just ask that question? Didn't I just do that with 5,000 people a couple of days ago? That I I asked you the same question and you asked the same question again. You still don't realize that if I did for 5,000, I could do it for 4,000.

10:05 Right? And so it's just kind of funny. So how much do you have? Verse five, seven. And so tell him to sit down.

10:16 He broke it and everybody started eating. Right? And so after it was all done, they they gathered and they picked up seven large baskets. Now this word for large baskets, it's not like a like a basket this big, but it was a larger basket. In fact, the same Greek word is used when they put took in Damascus when when Paul was lowered down in a large basket.

10:43 Right? So it was a big basket. So it wasn't just small basket. It was a huge basket and it was full of leftover bread. And I'm assuming fish as well.

10:57 Right? So about 4,000 people ate and they... By this time, they were... They should have just realized, okay, god can provide food for us. God can take care of our needs.

11:26 So they left that scene. They crossed the lake, and we're going to come back to another section in a minute. But all of a sudden, they're in a boat again and they they thought, oh no, we forgot to bring bread. We forgot to bring bread. And it's like they should have not even worried about it, but they're panicking about it.

11:46 And and if you notice a text and you look at the other gospels, they actually start fighting about it. Well, why did you forget the bread? Where's the bread? We forgot bread. How can you forget bread?

11:58 And it's kind of funny. And so they had forgotten to take bread and they did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. And, you know, these are guys that are that are young and and they're they're, you know, rowing the boat and they're hungry. And it's like, all we have is one little piece of bread. And he was giving orders to them saying, watch out, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the and the leaven of Herod.

12:25 So, so, in between this scenario where they're in the boat, oh, we don't have any bread. What are we going to do? Jesus, all of a sudden, throws something at him. Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod. It didn't click with them.

12:44 They're like, you see, he's telling us about leaven and they all they thought of, he's saying leaven, so he must be talking about bread. Why don't we forget the bread? And they're just caught up with bread. That's all they can think about. They didn't even hear what he said.

12:58 They didn't even hear what he said. You ever been that way, right, when you're you're all concerned and somebody says something like, what what did you say? Didn't listen? Yeah. I do it all the time.

13:11 So do you and you know you do. Right? And so look at verse 16. And they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. And so when when you think about what the disciples were able to accomplish after the resurrection and come of the holy spirit, it's really supernatural.

13:33 You know, the lord picked these dudes to be the disciples. They can't even get past a piece of bread. I mean, that's all it takes to get them into a panic mode. Verse 17, And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? It's almost like, stop talking about bread, you know.

13:55 It has nothing to do with bread. And so why are you even talking about that? And then he says, do you not see or understand? Do you have... And and that's...

14:07 Here's the title, right, of the of the of the sermon. Do you have a hardened heart? Do you have a hardened heart? And he's talking to believers. Yes, they were believers.

14:20 They were his disciples outside of Judas Iscariot, but we're going to just ignore him right now. Right? So basically, what he's saying is, I have done a miracle of 5,000 where I fed them bread and you picked up even the leftovers. I did another miracle of 4,000 and you picked up large baskets of leftover stuff. Right?

14:43 And then we're at the point where we're on the boat, you forgot the bread and it's like, why would that topic even come up? My goodness, I can... How much bread do you want? I can just... You know?

14:55 And it's there. And why did he say, do you have a hard heart? Because they still had no faith. They still did not realize who Jesus was. Even after looking at the miracles, even after the 5,000, the demons removed, all the healings that he took place, the walking on water, everything they saw, they they were still at the point where they still cannot grasp who this was in their midst.

15:27 And and all they can think of is is their needs. We need bread. And so he like, why is your heart so hardened? Why can't you get to the point where you trust me and you realize who I am? Verse 18, and then he kind of really rebukes him and he uses a a passage from Ezekiel really that's talking about non believers and he says, you're acting like if you're not saved.

15:55 And so he says to them, verse 18, having eyes, do you not see? In other words, with your eyes, you saw what I did and don't you think that that would soften your heart and get you to a place where you have faith in your daily life? And having ears, do you not hear? I mean, they were hearing God in the flesh speaking to them truth, and they were hearing his sermons and and his lectures about God, and you would think that that would produce faith or some kind of a change. Do you do...

16:29 And he's... Don't you hear? And then he reminds them, don't you remember? So he takes them back. Right?

17:03 Obviously, they didn't forget and it did impact them because they were able to answer. They said to him, 12. 12. I remember it. It was 12 people.

17:13 All right, great. You passed the test. Now let's go to the next one. And when I broke the seven for the 4,000, how many notice it says again, large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up? And they said to him, seven.

17:33 Then he was saying to them, do you not yet understand? Let me translate that into my own paraphrase. You still can't trust me? You still don't have any faith? And so I was thinking about the fact that as soon as a problem arises and we lose our job or there's a problem, whatever it may be, right away we start to panic and we start to get anxious and we start to worry.

18:05 What are we going to do? How am I going to handle this? Oh, help. And we go into panic. Is it true or is it just me?

18:14 Right? And we get anxious and Lord, I got this problem and I don't know what to do. And he goes, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, haven't you read in the Bible? Didn't you realize that I did a miracle for 5,000, and I did a miracle for 4,000, and I walked on water, and I told the ocean to be... The lake, the storm to just be quiet, and I took demons out, and I did so much.

18:40 Don't you understand it? Is your heart still hard? Your heart still hard to where you still don't trust me? You you're still anxious and so we read in the New Testament, be anxious for nothing. Here we are worrying and there's nights where where we can't sleep and we're tossing and we're turning and what are we going to do?

19:02 Look at this problem before me. And so the Lord would say, you still don't understand? You you still don't get it that that I can handle that? That it's not an issue? You're still worrying?

19:16 You're still anxious? You're still wondering where am I going to get my bread? How am I going to retire? What what am I going to do? And so it's kind of funny because as I was thinking about this, I'm like, yeah, I'm just like the disciple.

19:30 Where am I going to get my bread? And and right prior to this chapter, there was a story about the Syrophoenician woman. She was a woman that was a Gentile and Jesus main ministry at first was to the Jews. And and he and this woman approaches him. Jesus, I have a problem.

19:49 And it's a big problem. And the Lord Jesus on purpose kind of ignores her. And she kept on saying, but but Jesus, you have to help me. I have a problem. And what did he say?

20:01 I didn't come to serve the dogs. He was using a common expression of the Jews the way they looked at the Gentiles. The the the Jewish people were so arrogant that they looked at them as just dogs. But of course, Jesus is not calling her that. He's just doing a a cultural wordplay, right, to to show you that this woman had come to the place to trust him, and the disciples still couldn't.

20:31 He goes, I I came to feed my people. He goes, yeah, but even even the crumbs fall off the table and and the little dogs get to eat it. Just give me a little crumb, Jesus, because I know who you are and I believe you. And what did Jesus say? He turned around and he says, my woman, wow, your your faith is great.

20:51 Faith is great. And right there from a distance, he says that the demon's gone from your daughter. He didn't even have to go near it. From a distance, he said, go go, leave her alone right now. And the daughter was healed.

21:05 And he goes, are you watching disciples? Are you paying attention? I just did the 5,000. Alright? This woman, I healed her daughter because she had genuine faith.

21:19 She trusted me. I did the 4,000 and your heart is still hard. Come on, believer. Why is it hard? Why can't you trust me?

21:30 Where's the faith? And so in in Matthew, he actually says, you men of little faith. You you still can't come to the place of trusting me as the God who can take care of your needs. And so how is your heart? Is it soft?

21:53 God loves faith when we trust him. And he wants us to learn and not to be hard hearted in regards to us trusting him. Not saving faith because you're already saved. It's trusting faith. To have faith that he's going to take care of you whatever your issue may be.

22:29 Verse 10, and immediately he entered the boat with his disciples and he came to the district of Damanuta. Excuse me. That's an unknown place by the way. Somewhere around that area though. And the Pharisees came out and began to argue with him seeking from him a sign from heaven to taste him.

22:52 I I taste him. I'm sorry. I got that bread thing so caught in my mind. They're like, now you're going taste him. Well, he did, he did say he was a better life, right?

23:01 And so, alright. Okay, but to test him, to test him, to test him. Alright. So, so, you know what? The the Pharisees and the Jewish people had had are also seeing the miracles and observed and saw everything they saw.

23:18 But they weren't convinced. And so they they they send these Pharisees out to meet him out there and they didn't come because they wanted to see if maybe he was the truth but they came to argue with them. Did you notice? And what did he say? They were arguing with him and they were seeking a sign from heaven to test him.

23:39 They're okay. Alright, Jesus. Alright. So, we saw you give the bread and we saw you heal demons and heal sick people. We saw everything you did, but we're not convinced that you're the Messiah.

23:52 So how about a real doozy? What we want is we were like a real fireworks show. We... You know, how about some fire... Notice they said from heaven.

24:03 Come on, give us a good one. Convince us. See, but the the request wasn't sincere. It was done really in mockery. You know?

24:13 So, yeah, you've done a lot of miracles, you've done a lot of great things, and and and you're saying this and that, but come on. Let let let let's see fire come down and let's see thunder and show us a good one and maybe we'll believe. But if you notice, the Bible gives us an insight that they were doing it to test him, so it wasn't sincere. And and look at Jesus' response to to their attitude towards him and sighing deeply in his spirit. So deep inside, he goes, oh, these people are so hard hearted that it doesn't matter what I do and how much evidence I give that that I am the Messiah, nothing is going to convince him.

24:59 And so he was deeply inside. It just like really bothered him that they could be so hard hearted. And then he said, what does this generation seek for a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation. So Jesus basically tells the Pharisees, I'm not even going to go over there with you.

25:24 You're not going to get a sign because even if I do a sign, because I can do it, but even if I do it, you're not going to change your mind. You're not going to change your mind because you came just to poke and and to see. And so they weren't going to get a sign. And so what did he do? Notice notice a text.

25:49 And leaving them, he went... He he again embarked and went away to the site. So he just left. Because you know what? I'm I'm...

25:56 In fact, I'm just wasting my time here. He he just left. He got back in the boat and went somewhere else. Because he knows the heart and he knows what's going on. So then, that's why he said to them in verse 15, and he was giving orders to them saying, watch out.

26:42 It's it's the way they are. So watch out for their leaven and Matthew, if you go to the gospel of Matthew, he says, watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. So why did Matthew say Sadducees and why does Mark say Herod? Because Herod and the Sadducees were were married at... They were connected at the hip.

27:07 Yeah. So Herod was... They were the the the elite and the Sadducees were connected with them. And so they had the same attitude. They were shrewd, they were wealthy, they were they were, you know, in the in the position to be able to to buy what they want and do what they...

27:29 All kinds of pleasures were available to them. But here's what here's what Herod said in Luke twenty three eight. Just listen. Now Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus. For he had wanted to see him for a long time because he had been hearing about him and he wanted to see some sign performed by him.

27:54 So Herod had been hearing about him. There's this Jesus. He does miracles. He does all kinds of things. And and so when Jesus is in the trial and Pilate sends him to Herod, Herod goes, oh, good.

28:08 I finally get to see this guy. Of course, at this time Jesus is bleeding and and all bruised and beat up. And he said, oh, that's Jesus? But when he brought him... When he came to him, was all excited.

28:21 He goes, good. I'm finally gonna get to see a dog and pony show here. Come on, Jesus. I wanna see some sign. See what he said?

28:31 And so Herod was... He's just like totally indifferent to who he was. Just do me some sign, entertain me for a little bit, and then I'm gonna let you go back to Pilate. Basically, what he's saying. So the the the the...

28:50 It was the the cynical, the I'm not going to believe. I'm not going to give up my pleasures, my position. You realize that that I'm king and and my wealth. I'm not going to give any of that up for for some Jesus. If he wants to come and entertain me for a little bit, that's good.

29:08 But that's about it. And so the Bible says, and the sadducees had the same attitude. They had the same attitude. And the Pharisees were just hard religious formalism and it it says in in Matthew that their sin was hypocrisy. They just wanted to walk around and be seen and look how religious we are and and they were strict and hard but they had no faith in Jesus.

29:40 So neither Herod nor Sadducees were about to repent and believe. Neither one of them. And so when he's saying, watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod, he was watch out with this type of attitude that you're not going to believe in Jesus because you don't want to give anything up. And so it was a hard hearted attitude. And so you could be here and you couldn't have heard about Jesus since you were little, since you were young and had all the evidence before you and still not really be saved.

31:10 And so you could have heard about Jesus. You could be sitting here but that doesn't guarantee that your heart has not gotten soft to the point where you have placed your faith in the lord Jesus. And so I don't assume anyone is has genuine faith unless it's continual and you see it and it's lived out. You keep checking your faith and and and that faith is going to be consistent until until the lord calls you home. You remember that Paul Paul said, I I have kept the faith.

31:48 But then he says, Demas. Demas, he didn't keep the faith. He he abandoned me because he loved the world. In other words, he was like Herod. He was like Herod.

32:03 And so we see the scenario here. We see both of these people, and neither one of them had faith. One had faith, they were true believers, but they couldn't get to the place where they trusted that he was gonna meet their needs. They were worrying about silly things, a loaf, a piece of bread. Then we get the the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and Herod, and we see that their hard hardness that no amount of evidence or miracles or signs we're going to get them to believe.

32:35 As a matter of fact, we go to Luke and Luke says, even if they were to see somebody rise from the dead, would they believe? And if people believe the the message of Jesus that he's resurrected, he's alive, and he's real, and if our culture right now would believe this, this place will be packed out. But the hardness of our times, of our culture is is really scary. So then I want to conclude with chapter eight and verse 27. Let's do that and with this, we'll close out.

33:17 And Jesus went out along with his disciples to the village of Caesarea Philippi and on the way, he questioned his disciples saying to them, who do people say that I am? And they told him saying because this is the way people were picturing him, John the Baptist, Elijah, others are saying one of the prophets, verse 29, and he continued to question them, but who do you say that I am? See, and that's the question today. Remember, we started out saying, do you have a hardened heart? If you're a believer, is your heart soft to the point where you're learning to trust him?

34:04 Or are you still anxious about little things? But the clear confession comes out finally, Who do you say I am? And Peter answered and said to him, Thou art the Christ. How refreshing. After so much doubt and and so much rejection, finally, to hear somebody say out of their lips, you are the Christ and what does Matthew say?

34:31 The son of the living god and what does Jesus add to this? The only reason you said that is because the spirit of god helped you understand it. Because unless the spirit of god opens our eyes, we are blind to the truth of who Jesus really is. And so this this morning, how is your heart? Who do you say that Jesus is?

35:03 If he is your savior, then he would want us to have a believing heart, a heart full of faith that learns to trust him, that could say, Lord, you say to be anxious for nothing, but I'm anxious. Strengthen my faith so I can get to the point where I believe you and I'm not going to worry about how I'm going to make my bills or how I'm going to eat or what how I'm going to handle this sickness or whatever your issue may be. Do you have a hard heart? He asked the the disciples. And then of course there's the unbelieving heart which hopefully everyone here knows the Lord Jesus and you have believed in him and you're convinced that he's the Christ and you're following him fully.

36:18 And I need to get to the point where I fully trust you, where my faith is strong. Help me, Lord. Help us. And I pray that you would be softening the hearts of those who hear your word, who have not believed. Yeah.

36:33 Even those who we witness to, oh, Lord, to the Holy Spirit, open their eyes so they can see that Jesus is the Christ. Now, father, bless our time of fellowship and thank you for this local body. Pray that we will learn more and more to love each other, that we will appreciate one another, that we will pray for one another, that we will care for one another, that we will love one another. Help us, Lord. Pray this in Christ's name.

37:02 Amen.