Unbelief Permeates

Unbelief Permeates

Mark 8:11-21

Some of my biggest food temptations are carb loaded foods, which include yeast filled breads, like hot yeast rolls.

There is a restaurant near Branson MO called Lambert’s Café.

Lambert’s Café is known for their yeast rolls, which they throw to their customers, which has caused many people to call the place the “Throwed Rolls” cafe.

Yeast, which is sometimes called leaven, is a powerful fungus which can cause a lump of dough to rise into bread and it can also ferment liquids into alcohol.

“Leaven” is mentioned in scripture over twenty times and it often refers to sin or unbelief; which could be why the Bible mentions “unleavened” over sixty times.

Maybe, this is why yeast rolls are so attractive, yet so bad for us.

Please open your Bibles to Mark 8 as we continue in a verse by verse study, of that Gospel.

Last time, in the Gospel of Mark, we saw how Jesus showed compassion for people, as He and the Disciples fed 4,000 people who were mainly Gentiles.

Jesus had compassion for those Gentiles because they had been with Him three days and had nothing to eat; but, they were hungry for the Word of God.

Jesus will never send someone away spiritually hungry if they will authentically seek and surrender to Him.

We also learned that the Lord often teaches us lessons geared towards us becoming Christ-like; because Jesus has a purpose for everything He does and His actions are always deliberate.

Once the meal was over, there were 7 large baskets of left-over’s from the Gentile feeding of the 4,000.

The Lord will supply what is needed as we follow His directives

Today, our narrative immediately follows the feeding of the 4,000 and once again, the religious leaders come to accuse, and trap Jesus; but, ultimately the Pharisees get corrected by Him.

I. The Pharisees ask for a sign.

Read Mark 8:11-12

This is the 4th time Jesus was asked for a sign or to perform a miracle, by the religious leaders.

The word, “Testing” can mean to tempt, try, examine or prove.

“Testing in a positive way can mean to test something to find its worth; but testing in a negative way, can mean crafting to bring judgment or find fault.

The Greek lexicon says the word “sign” means “Miracles and wonders by which God authenticates the men sent by Him, or by which men prove that the cause they are pleading is God's.

When the Lord was speaking to Moses about the sin of the Children of Israel, while they were in the wilderness…

He said in Numbers 14:22, all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice. NKJV

The kind of “testing” the Pharisees were doing to Jesus comes from doubt, demanding something of God, to prove Himself.

Even though Jesus used certain miracles to show Himself as God’s Messiah; these religious leaders would not accept Jesus regardless of the amount of miracles He performed.

Miracles as a general rule will not change a person’s heart or make a person have faith in God.

John 2:23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.

John 2:24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, John 2:25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. NKJV

Jesus didn’t trust in these people’s belief, because He knew their belief in miracles would not create an authentic trust in Him.

There are times when people have seen too many miracles and become desensitized which causes lethargy and can hinder faith.

After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He predicted His death on the cross…

We read in John 12:37 although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, NKJV

These Pharisees had already seen so much evidence that Jesus was Messiah; yet, they refused to believe.

The Pharisees’ agenda got in the way of their believing what was right there in front of their faces.

II. Beware of Leaven.

Read Mark 8:13-15

William Barclay said, “Sometimes the Jews used the word leaven much as we would use the term original sin, or the natural evil of human nature.”

Here, Jesus the King of heaven, the Messiah, who came from the Father, sailed away leaving the Pharisees standing on the shore!

Left in vs. 13 means leaving yes; but, it also means abandoning.

Leaving the Pharisees was an act of judgment from Jesus, as He left the religious leaders’ because of their unbelief.