What is this leaven of the Pharisees? Christ leads his disciples through a catechism of questions to bring them to the understanding. Like the man partially healed, Peter confesses Christ, but it’s clear he only had a partial perception.

Turn now to the Gospel of Mark. Gospel of Mark, chapter eight. I’m starting at verse 10, but before we hear from the Lord and receive the preaching, let’s ask his blessing upon us in just that, his endeavor, let’s pray. Our great Father, we praise you and thank you for this, your word. Thank you, Lord, that you have not left us to grope around as children without the ability to comprehend what you have given us in this word. And even though it is indeed as a father lisping to his children Lord we give you praise and thanks for the infinite magnitude of this your word Lord. For we know from it from within there is life Lord that you work through your spirit to challenge and change us and to refresh us and remind us once again just who we are those who name your name Lord of those who are united to Jesus and so we pray that you would be with us now that the meditations of all of our hearts will be pleasing in your sight that we would receive from this your word that you have that what you have to give we pray also for the one who preaches and by your grace we would indeed know for certain that you are our father and for certain that we are your people. We praise you and we thank you. Be with us now. We ask this in Christ’s name and all God’s people said Amen. Amen. Mark chapter 8 starting verse 10. I’m going to read. I want to read to the end of the chapter. We’ll see how far we get. Mark chapter 8, starting at verse 10. Please give full attention, this is the word of the living God. This is right after the feeding of the 4,000. And it says, and immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dominutha. And the Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and said, why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation. And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side. Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, watch out. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And they began discussing. with one another, the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? Having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the 5,000, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? And they said to him, 12. and the seven for the 4,000. How many basketfuls of broken pieces did you take up? And they said to him, seven. And he said to them, do you not understand? And they came to Bethsaida, and some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. And when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked, do you see anything? And he looked up and he said, I see people, but they look like trees walking. Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again and he opened his eyes. His sight was restored and he saw everything clearly. And he sent him to his home saying, do not even enter the village. And Jesus went on with his disciples. to the village of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples, who do people say that I am? And they told him, John the Baptist. And others say, Elijah. And others, one of the prophets. And he asked them, but who do you say that I am? And Peter answered him, you are the Christ. And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan, for you’re not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. And calling the crowds in with his disciples, he said to them, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation of him will be the son of man also ashamed when he comes into his glory of his father with the holy angels. The word of the Lord. Amen. Please be seated. I wonder if you’ve ever heard by research or by accident, I’m sure, I hope, the TV people claiming to follow Jesus, who seem singularly focused on raising money for themselves. I wonder if you’ve seen this kind of thing. They name the name of Christ, but betray Him in everything that they say and do. And very often they’ve recreated Jesus into a Messiah who is just, so happens to fit precisely their health and their wealth view of life and their program. If you do run across these people, run the other way, I beg you. They’re not believers and they are not giving a biblical message, but I’m afraid that it’s not just the outlandish on television, But there are many well-intended Christians who believe a strain of the same error. You may know Christians who believe that God’s greatest function in their life is to assist them in fulfilling their hopes and their dreams. This is not something that’s uncommon, sadly. And it’s something that is addressed in this very text this morning. And that is, what is it ultimately? What is it that Jesus is showing his disciples, teaching his disciples and us in these passages. Well, he’s showing us and teaching us that leaven can blind and that the Lord can give sight. And he teaches us the location of blindness, the root and source of that blindness. And so if we look at verse 10 and following, we see first that leaven can blind. Jesus has taught, teaches and feeds the 4,000, as we’re coming out of this text, in the previous text into this one, who have followed him, who’ve listened to him, who’s accepted him. And it says, then he got into a boat and he leaves that territory, which is Gentile territory, and he goes and enters into a Jewish territory. And the first thing we see as he enters into that territory, his home field, if you will, is opposition, right? And so he goes from this warm reception of those outside the covenant to a place where there’s a frosty cold reception at the shores of his own people. And in verse 11, it says, the Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking for him a sign from heaven to test him. What kind of sign will you give us, they say, to show us you are who you say you are? And it’s a strange question, it’s an odd question if you’ve been following along in the Gospel of Mark, right? Think about it. What kind of sign is needed? This is the one who’s shown them certainly, and with certainty, that he has power over the devil in binding the strong man. that this one is the one who can give sight to the blind, and can heal the lame, and he can cast out demons. He’s the one who’s shown that he can feed the multitude. So many, many, many signs were given. And what happens with them? Still no faith. Okay, they say. It’s quite remarkable. We’ll believe, just give us a sign, is what they’re telling him. And with the brevity that is Mark’s style, it says in verse 12, and he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, why does this generation seek a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation. And he left them, got into the boat again and went to the other side. and this will truly stand symbolically of the future that awaits them. Ultimately this is what will be. Christ will leave them. He will depart from them and it will ultimately be left without Christ. And notice we see that as soon as this confrontation happened, it gets linked to the next story. Because the disciples, as they’re on the boat, Jesus talks to them. Often we see these little stories, these little events in history, and they seem disconnected, not really linked together. But they are linked together. That’s why I wanted to read the whole section. The disciples are being talked to by, they’re on the boat, Jesus talks to them, and he says, beware the leaven of the Pharisees. Speaking of the former conversation that he just had, and it’s kind of unimaginable, verse 14 comes again with this issue of the bread, right? And I know it’s hard sometimes to think back to the first time you read a certain passage of scripture. But this comes up again and again, this with the bread, right? Again with the bread, in verse 14. And the disciples, who have given us a little bit of hope, they say, great, he’s saying this because he knows we didn’t bring any bread. He’s just fed the 5,000, and after that he’s fed the 4,000. And there they are, just the disciples in a boat, and they have only one loaf of bread, which you would think is probably enough for him to multiply, you’d think. And they say, Oh man, that’s it. He found out that we didn’t prepare food for the way. And he’s frustrated with their lack of planning and they’re just kind of freaking out within themselves. And Jesus comes and he unfolds this list of questions to them. Do you still not perceive? Do you still not understand? Are you so blind that you can’t see? Are you so deaf that you can’t hear? And these questions really are highlighting what Christ intends for us to get out of this text. And he’s showing to us a certain kind of blindness as it concerns the disciples, right? Perception, understanding, seeing. But what is this warning? Why is Christ so frustrated, it would seem, that they don’t get it? Why is he so concerned and troubled with them? It says he sighed deeply in his spirit. What is he warning them about when he says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod. There’s much debate as to exactly what is being talked about here, what Christ is trying to pinpoint with this language of leaven. Many times in scriptures he used to speak of sin and of evil, but particularly here, what is the leaven of Herod and the Pharisees? These two groups that seem so opposed to each other. What’s the only thing that they agree with? It’s their enmity with Christ, their displeasure with Christ. That’s the point of commonality with them. And so what is it in particular about the Pharisees and the Herod that they have in common that Christ is warning the disciples? Caution, he says, beware, watch out for. Don’t be poisoned with what they’re poisoned with, what’s poisoning them. And what is it that they have in common? What they have in common is power. Herod is a ruler of sorts. He has a position, he has a prestige, he has a power as a ruler. And then the Pharisees, they have a different kind of power. They also have a place, a position in the community of great power. And so Christ’s presence threatens both of them. But their positions are at stake, both of them, with the coming of this particular one and the power has corrupted them. and that desire for position, it has blurred their minds, it’s blurred their hearts, they cannot see clearly who this one before them truly is. And we can see that this is the point when we see how this chapter ends. It ends with Christ talking about the willingness to give one’s life away in service, the willingness to become less in order to become great. And you see that conflict with their position, their place, and their power. And also we see in Christ’s return, I’m sorry, Christ will return to this teaching in chapter 10, and we see Jesus, he’s talking about service and his need to die, and the disciples, right, the star pupils that they are, show that they’re completely understanding it all, right, not really at all. Remember when Jesus is done teaching about his own death, you recall the brothers come to him, James and John, and they say what, you remember? So we’re thinking, when you come into your kingdom, how about we could sit on your right hand and on the left hand? So as he’s telling them about the great place of servanthood and of death, they were thinking of how great it would be if he would put them in positions of power and place. You see the irony there. We must see the language that Christ uses here. Having eyes you do not see, verse 18. Having ears you do not hear. And this is language that comes from the prophets. Oftentimes it’s pointed at idolatry, a very specific kind of idolatry. The people have become like idols. They’ve become what they are worshiping. They worship with eyes that can’t see, ears that can’t hear, and they use this idolatry to secure positions of power and place in the world. They do not like a place of weakness. It’s the opposite of what they want. So they flee from the God of Israel to go after other gods. And so it seems that what Christ is getting at here when he says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, he’s warning them, beware of this earthly mindedness. Beware of a mindset that says, I must exalt myself. Beware of that mindset that says, if you don’t take something for yourself, if you don’t get in front of everyone, they will take it from you. If you want something in this world, you have to go and get it. Beware of a mindset that says, my way, my desires, my position, my place are preeminence in my life. And Jesus says, beware, beware of that. But of course they don’t get it. Their concern is that they’ve forgotten bread on the boat and that they will be chastised for it and that they have failed. And Jesus asks them this whole list of questions. And you’ll notice how this ends in verse 21. He says, look, if you don’t think I can provide you bread, I don’t know what other illustrations I can give you. I’ve just fed 5,000 people, and we had leftovers. I fed 4,000 people, and we had leftovers. We didn’t have anywhere near enough food, and yet you’re worried about bread? And notice his final question in this, as a friend of mine calls it, this catechism of questioning. He says, do you not yet understand Do you not yet understand? And then the story ends. It seems like we’re kind of just left hanging there. From there we go on to another story that seems wholly detached from the story, but it’s not. And we’ll find that out in a moment. And you’ll notice that this question, the way it ends in the story, do you not understand? It just kind of leaves us hanging there. What is it that needs to be understood? What is it that they needed to figure out? Christ goes on to tell us what, in the way that he reveals these connected stories and gives them to us. And so we see that the leaven can blind, and then we also see that the Lord can give sight, that blindness can be healed by the Lord. And we see in verse 22, all of a sudden, there’s this very abrupt shift in situation, scenario. And it says, and he came to Bethsaida, And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch them. Right? And so this is how they relate these stories. Notice he’s just, God then asking the disciples, do you not understand? And in the midst of asking them that, he asked them, are you blind? Can you not yet perceive? Can you not yet see what’s going on? And he challenges them in this. And he’s questioned their ability of spiritual sight. And now he has a man who has got this physical sight problem. And it’s clear that sight is the really big issue in this text. And when Christ fixes that problem, he can see, but not quite clearly. And that seems strange. We see how this man is made to see, after Christ had just told his disciples, you can’t see yet? Not properly? You can’t see clearly? And so we see that this healing is more than just a physical healing, it’s a parable, tying all this together. It really is a message that’s given to them by Christ that will be revealed as this text unfolds. And we’ll notice there’s all kinds of these verbal connections to sight and seeing and so forth. And so when he asked them, do you not perceive or understand, are your hearts hardened? He’s going to show us what is needed through the healing of this particular man, blind man. You’ll notice that this healing itself is odd. It’s strange to us. It’s strange on many levels. And not just because of the spit and the other things that we talked about last week. They’re off-putting to us and seem strange. But Mark again has given us healing that takes two tiers, right? Two tries to accomplish. And they’re confusing to us. He can usually say things like, take up your bed and walk. And that’s the end of it. Or people touching Jesus and being healed without him even addressing them. Or healing people from afar. Go home, the demon has left your daughter. And yet here he takes two tries. It’s not that he’s weak on that day or that he needed a do-over or that he made a mistake on that first try and botched it. We know that we’re dealing with the Son of God, so those aren’t the reasons. Why is it that he doesn’t heal this man in the first try? We’ve all probably wondered this ourselves at some point. Why is it that he seems hindered from doing so? You notice he goes through all these steps and then he asks the man so that we can hear the question, right? What do you see? And again, very odd. We don’t usually see this in miracles, where Jesus has to ask the person, how did I do? Did it work this time? But he says audibly, what do you see? And the man answers, I see man, but they’re like trees walking. He’s got sight, but it’s not clear sight. He has vision for the first time here, but it’s not as precise as it should be. The clarity is not there. And so Christ touches him a second time, and this time he opens his eyes and he looks up and he’s fully healed. He sees clearly. And in that healing, we see that Jesus will ultimately do with the disciples. They too needed a second touch. They too needed their sight cleared up. They currently may see, but what they see, they do not see clearly. They do not fully comprehend. And because they don’t see clearly, they will miss the point and end up ultimately being affected by the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod. And this will happen if they’re not graciously corrected by our Lord. And so we see then lastly this location of their blindness, the root or the cause of their blindness. The source of their blindness is shown, and we see in verse 28, And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked the disciples, who do people say that I am? And in verse 29 he asked them, but who do you say that I am? And Peter answers him in that most well-known response, you are the Christ, you are the Christ. And again, we have to see that those stories are not just rapid succession of disconnected tales, but the confession is familiar to us. It’s a kind of preeminent confession of Christ. You are the Christ, the son of the living God, and other synoptic Gospels. The disciples are getting it. They’re beginning to grasp it, and that’s true enough, but the irony Mark places this text here and he says, the disciples seem that they’re getting it, but they don’t get it at all. They don’t get it rightly, they don’t see clearly. And he says, it’s one thing to say Jesus is the Christ, but the question is, what do you mean by that? What do you pour into that meaning, into that word Christ, Messiah? What’s the Messiah to be like? What are your expectations for this Messiah? What are your expectations for this Messiah in your life and in the community of the people of God? What is it that Christ will do for you? How will He function in the world that you have established for His coming? Peter means something by that word, but what he means is going to be challenged and overturned. What he is hoping for and waiting for in a Messiah is not what he will get, and it will stumble him greatly, we’ll see as the gospel unfolds, as you’re probably all familiar with. And it’s interesting, Peter’s confession means that he knows at one level the identity of Jesus, he’s the Messiah, but on another level he has no clue what that identity means and what it will require. The wording is correct, the vocabulary is right, But the wrong meaning is infused right into it. Peter says, thou art the Christ, but he has no clue in reality what he’s saying. And that is why you’ll notice that Christ even goes on to say in verse 30, he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And we’ve seen this earlier in the Gospel of Mark. Why in the world would Jesus, who’s come to be the Messiah, tell those whom he’s doing these wonders in front of? Don’t speak about this to anyone. We’re going to see the reason he tells them that. It’s because they have no idea what Messiah is or what Messiah, why a Messiah must come. This has not been revealed to them. They don’t get it. And so he doesn’t want them giving the wrong message about who he is. You’ll notice immediately after this episode, we hear these words in verse 31. He began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. So after this bold and glorious confession, this declaration of that confession, Jesus says, the Son of Man must suffer and die. And that dark declaration follows this glorious confession that everyone would agree with. Messiah is coming. He’s the Messiah. And then they’re hit with this truth that’s seemingly contrary to all that they’ve thought. And it’s this dark reality. It’s that very dark reality that is really highlighted against the backdrop of Peter’s confession, his profession, that thou art the Christ. And this is what needs to be learned. He says, ultimately, beyond just the signs, you will need to learn the Son of Man must, it is of great necessity that he suffer and that he die. This is the Christ, to be sure, the one who stills the storms, the bringer of food to both Jew and Gentile, the son of the living God, the giving of sight to the blind, Yahweh himself in their midst. And he’s the one who has come to die by the will of the leaders of Israel at the hands of their Roman oppressors, their enemies. And that makes no sense at all to these disciples. These two different visions of Messiah can’t possibly be linked together. the victorious Messiah, but yet he’s the weak Messiah that suffers and dies. But Christ is telling them, until you get it, until you receive the clarity of your sight, until you see the cross, and let that define who this Messiah actually is for you, and therefore why he comes, and what his coming means, until that happens, you will never see rightly. You’ll see men like trees walking, Jesus is the Christ, but until you see Jesus as the crucified Christ, you’ll never see God’s plan clearly. And this is something, brothers and sisters, that is still untenable for men to believe. And this, brothers and sisters, is why we see so many who deny this, right? They deny the second part of that equation, right? And they create a Messiah in their own image as the Pharisees had, and even as was common amongst the disciples at the beginning of this gospel. And so we’ll finish this up next week, looking at this in more detail. But for now, I want you to think about your own lives. And we ask questions of ourselves. Do you hold out a belief that God is truly there to give you all the things and relief in life that we fashioned in our own minds? Even good things. Do you believe that? Do you believe that that’s what God is there for? To satisfy his will for your life, or to satisfy your will for your life? Even good things, right, can be a problem. Because good goods still make bad gods. And good things that aren’t in God’s will won’t be the satisfaction that we seek. But how do we, even when we grasp the Messiah to whom we belong, in all that He is, the crucified Messiah, He is the one who’s victorious in death. How do we make it through in a world infected and corrupted by sin, with hearts that are corrupted and infected by sin? What would actually motivate us to say, I’m willing with my eyes fully open, looking at this Christ, to live in a new way, to concede to what he wants, to love his will for my life, that believes in God’s promises, that believes that giving away is how you get things, and that dying for the sake of others is how you truly live. How can I live for this one who’s already lived and died for me? And as you look at the cross and ultimately look at the resurrection and glorification of our Savior, you will find that his gift given to you, enough impetus, motivation, to see God’s promises are sure and His ways are right and He never takes away more than He gives back in return. And that you might have boldness, the boldness to go forth and say, let me live boldly in this way, giving myself away and believing that God keeps His word. And we can be sure that He does. As we look at a Savior, this one who has already lived, this life and calls us now to join with him in it. He now sits in a position of great power. He lost nothing of his giving away. And the question is, do you think that in any of your giving and self-abasement that God will leave you hanging? We are tempted to think this in many ways again and again. and many times, and you see the reason we fight and kick against God’s will and providence to us is because we’re reaching and grasping for things that we think will give us what we need and give us meaning in this life. And God is saying through these verses, you can’t out give me. You cannot out do me. Believe the way that I’ve called you to live and I will grant to you all of these things that are spoken here. Look at my son, your Savior. Your life is hidden with Him, and where He is, you shall be also. So may we follow Him through this life as those who indeed are willing to embrace the cross, because we see where it leads. It leads to glory. It’s suffering and then glory. And may we glory in that cross, knowing that losing was our salvation and victory. And may it give us clear vision to live at this present time, not for ourselves, not for our visions, but for God’s. knowing that he will, that his will is right and good and we can never out give or out do him. May we do so living for him to the praise of his glory for all of our lives even unto eternity. Amen let’s pray. Heavenly Father we thank you for this word. Lord we thank you for the ability to comprehend it. We pray that we would indeed believe what you have taught us here Lord that we would that we would indeed continue to grow away from the self-focus that we’re all plagued with, Lord, and that even those of us who are faithful and seek to please you and to live for you, it is so easy for us to fall into this self-centered thinking and even to begin to perceive you as one who is there to satisfy our desires and our needs. Lord, help us to submit and to have a posture of of longing and waiting in reception of all that you have for us and that we would seek your will in all things knowing that you will accomplish that will and father knowing that you are a good God and that you will use all the things by which you shape us and accomplish that will indeed for the good of those who belong to Christ and who are Christ indeed. Lord, we pray for this church that you continue to bless us and protect us in this world, Lord corporally, and that you would continue to bless and protect us even individually. Lord, we pray for the fathers of this church, that they would have a great comprehension of the weight of their calling on their lives that you’ve given them in raising children, Lord, and being a model to them, Lord, and being a fellow sinner seeking grace before them, Lord, that you would give them a demeanor of boldness, yes, but of tenderness and love as they are fathers and as they are husbands. And Lord, we pray for the mothers of this congregation. They will continue to submit to you and to submit to their husbands in the Lord as Christ submitted to his Heavenly Father, you Lord, and we pray that they would together serve one another, Lord, and that they would bless their children, Lord, and that you would bless those children. We pray for all of those children of this church, Lord, that you would guide them along the way, that you would give them faith, and that they would one day cling to Christ as their Savior, and they would come forward like the children of Zion, seeking to worship you, to please you, to live for you, as they follow their Savior. Father, we know that you tell us your people are your most treasured possession, and Lord, how much more so these young ones, Lord, so we pray, protect them physically, emotionally and spiritually in this dead and dying and seemingly increasingly corrupt and belligerent world, antagonistic to the truth of the gospel. Protect us, Lord, we pray. Even those who are single, whatever state we may be in, whatever age we may be, Lord, help us all to have a longing for Jesus and help us to know that he is to be the the true and full satiation of our hearts desires or help us to rid ourselves of anything that competes with Christ for our affection or we pray that you would bless the families bless this your family here in Fort Wayne Lord we pray that you would continue to lead us along that you would indeed provide for us A facility that is more accommodating to our size as we continue to grow. Lord, we know these things are in your hand. And so we pray that, Lord, you would continue to build your church and that you would provide for us in this way. Lord, we love you. We seek your face corporately in this worship. We seek your face and we seek to walk with Jesus even in our day-to-day lives as we avail ourselves to your word, as we pray to you, Lord, and we receive from you. Pray that you would be with us now as we continue to worship you, Lord, in spirit and in truth. We ask this all in Christ’s name. Amen.