Don't You Understand Yet?

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

Mark 8:11

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

Mark 6:52

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

Mark 6 · chapter mention

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.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

Go down to about... Let's see if we can find

our verse here. About verse 50. Mark chapter

Mark 6:50

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

Mark 8 · chapter mention Mark 8 · chapter mention

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.