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[0:00] Well, I don't want us to lose sight of the importance of this chapter, which is why I want to try to take all three of these events together this morning. And I think that it's important for us to remember that the overarching context of these chapters right now that we're going through, that we've actually been in for a couple of chapters now, the overwhelming context is in relation to the training of the 12 apostles.

[0:26] So when we study these events, there's all kinds of directions we can go, but we always want to keep an eye on the disciples. What is it that's happening with them? What's going through their minds the best that we can tell?

[0:37] How is it that they're responding to Jesus? How is it also that they're responding to the people that Jesus is interacting with? Because the overarching context here is that Jesus is training them.

[0:47] He's preparing them for his crucifixion and resurrection and departure because it's after his departure that these men are going to be responsible for taking this message of the gospel to the world.

[1:01] And so it's important for us to see how is it that they are perceiving the things that Jesus is doing and what is actually happening here in their hearts. And this chapter in particular is demonstrating the progressive nature of their understanding.

[1:18] And sometimes we maybe give the disciples a hard time because we think that just because they abandoned everything with this radical call that Jesus gave to follow, that they abandoned everything to follow him, that that must mean that they have figured it out, that they have figured out the things that they needed to know about Jesus.

[1:39] And we might give them a bit of a hard time, but that's not exactly how it happened. Just like it's not the way that it happens with us either, is it? When we hear the gospel and we are drawn by the Holy Spirit to respond to that and we trust Christ by faith, but we don't know everything there is to know about him.

[1:55] There's this whole lifetime of sanctifying, this whole lifetime of progressive growth and understanding that we go through. And what maybe is even a little unfair, at least from our perspective, is that we're seeing this transformation take place in the disciples.

[2:11] And so every time they fall short of maybe what the expectation is, it's a little easy for us to give them a hard time, isn't it? But the truth is, we're not very different from them. And in the midst of this chapter, Jesus heals a man, a blind man, that I think is a fitting illustration and intended by Mark to be an illustration of this progressive understanding for the disciples.

[2:37] We're not going to get to it today. We'll get to it next week, Lord willing. But in verses 22 to 26, Jesus comes across a blind man and Jesus goes to heal him and he touches him. And the first time that he touches him, his eyes are open, but he can't see clearly.

[2:51] It's all blurred. And he says, I can see men, but they look like trees. He couldn't discern everything, but he could at least see a little bit. And Jesus touches him again. And then his eyes are made completely whole.

[3:04] Now that's unique because Jesus's miracles typically were whole and complete from the start. Well, it's different with this man for a reason, because it pictures what's happening with these disciples.

[3:15] Their eyes had been opened by Jesus through their faith. They could see, but they couldn't see clearly yet. They hadn't even made it to the cross yet. How could they understand everything that they were supposed to understand?

[3:28] And then of course, at the same time, they were human and they were sinful and they struggled in the same ways that we struggle. And so we need to keep that in mind as we go through these.

[3:39] Okay. Let's start with feeding the crowd in the, in verses one through nine, feeding the crowd. Look with me at verse one. In those days, when again, a great crowd had gathered and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.

[4:02] And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way for some of them have come from far away. Now in those days in verse one is a callback to Jesus's movements in chapter seven.

[4:17] We went through those in detail last week. He and his disciples had left the Jewish area of Galilee and had gone on this essentially 120 mile walk to Tyre and Sidon and then back around to the area of the Decapolis.

[4:35] And it was on that journey that Jesus healed the deaf and mute man that we studied last week. And also he cast out the demon from the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman.

[4:48] And we remember that the primary purpose of this trip and of these miracles was again, further training for his disciples, especially regarding the fact that the gospel is for all people and that it is received by faith alone.

[5:07] It's the lesson that is over and over and over again, being taught to the disciples on this trip, especially as Jesus is doing all these things for Gentile people.

[5:19] Now, this particular event that we're getting into now took place in that wilderness region of the Decapolis. A vast crowd had gathered to Jesus and people were continually bringing sick and disabled people to the Lord.

[5:34] And he healed many, many of them of various maladies. And Matthew is the one that tells us a little bit more about that. Matthew 15 30, he writes, and great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others.

[5:52] And they put him at his feet and he healed them. And so perhaps even because of the disobedience of the man who was once deaf and mute, this tremendous crowd has gathered to Jesus in the mountains of the Decapolis in a desolate place.

[6:09] And they are bringing all of these people to be healed. They're listening to Jesus's teaching and a crisis develops. And the crisis is in relation to the fact that all the people that were coming to Jesus didn't leave after he was finished with them.

[6:26] For three days, for three days, they stayed with the Lord in the wilderness. And they kept bringing people to him and they kept listening to the teaching that he was giving because we know there's no doubt that Jesus was preaching during these moments as well.

[6:41] And for three days, people were camped out in the mountains just to see Jesus, just to hear Jesus and to witness what it was that he could do.

[6:52] And after three days, they ran out of provisions. And Jesus says that if he were to send them home without any food, they would have collapsed and probably even died some of them because their journey was actually quite long.

[7:08] And there was no place around for them to get the provisions that they needed. And so Jesus stating his concern and his compassion calls for those 12 apostles to come to him so that he can present the problem to them.

[7:22] Look at verse four. And his disciples answered him, how can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place? And he asked them, how many loaves do you have?

[7:34] And they said seven. Now, if I'm honest, I have to admit that I've really wrestled this week with the way that the disciples answered Jesus in verse four.

[7:47] This situation was not unfamiliar to them. They had been in this predicament before. We just talked about it a few weeks ago in chapter six. They were near Bethsaida in Galilee.

[8:00] And they saw Jesus feed 5,000 people with only five pieces of bread and two fish. It's very similar to what's happening here.

[8:11] And an experience like that cannot be easily forgotten. Yet, their question isn't exactly overflowing with faith and expectation that Jesus is going to do something here.

[8:27] And I've struggled with this just a little bit this week. How is it after seeing Jesus do this very thing on even a larger scale with even less food just a few weeks before, how is it that they're presented with the same situation again?

[8:42] And they just asked, how can we do this? And I don't think what is happening here is skepticism or doubt in the minds of the disciples.

[8:56] I don't think that that's what's happening. I think that they're actually acknowledging their inability to meet the needs of the people. They're acknowledging the fact that they are in the desert.

[9:08] They're in the wilderness. They have no money. And there's a lot of people. It's not that they're saying this can't be done as much as they're saying we can't do this.

[9:22] Okay? I don't think that there's skeptics of Jesus or necessarily doubting Jesus's ability. The problem is that it doesn't seem to have occurred to them that Jesus could and wanted to do this work for the people.

[9:40] And think about that for a moment. In the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, it was the disciples that came to Jesus pointing out the problem.

[9:50] Remember? They really wanted Jesus to send the people away. And they noticed that they were hungry and they came to Jesus and they said, yeah, send these people away. They're hungry. And we really want to get some rest. So it'd be great if you'd send them away.

[10:02] And then Jesus says, well, how many? Why don't you feed them? And they went through the whole thing, right? Well, this situation is different. It's not the disciples that come to Jesus. It's actually the other way around this time.

[10:13] Jesus comes to the disciples. And what is it that he says? He says, these people are hungry. They might die. I have compassion on them. I want to feed them. I want to feed them.

[10:25] It doesn't get much clearer than this, right? It's not that the disciples were hard-hearted here. It's that they were hard-headed here. It's not that they doubted what Jesus could do.

[10:37] It's that they didn't even think at all that Jesus would do it. The thought just didn't even come to their mind. How often has God done amazing things in our lives only for us to act ignorant of his power and initiative later on?

[10:55] I mean, we're just talking about a few weeks before they had been through this. And it's not that they don't think Jesus can do it. It's just that they don't think anything about Jesus in this moment. All that they can see is there's a problem and we can't fix it.

[11:10] And then notice this question again. Who can feed these people? How can one feed these people? From where can we get bread to feed these people, they ask?

[11:23] Is that not a picture of our spiritual condition? Every one of us, starving. In a desert of sin and unbelief?

[11:37] And who or what can provide the nourishment that we need for eternal life? We know that good morals, religious commitment can't do that.

[11:48] Isaiah said our morals are like filthy rags to the Lord. Paul said our religious commitment is as good as dung.

[11:59] It's trash. Rubbish. There's only one way to be spiritually satisfied. And that's through faith in Christ.

[12:12] And the point of both the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000 is that the one giving the physical bread is also the one that can give eternal life and forgiveness of sins.

[12:25] Jesus himself interpreted it this way in John chapter 6. I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. And whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

[12:38] So on one hand, this is a boneheaded question on the part of the disciples. But on the other hand, the question is so significant for us to see our own condition, isn't it?

[12:50] We so desperately need this bread. And the only place we can get it is in Christ. They at least knew that. If anybody was going to feed the people, it wasn't them.

[13:01] It would have to be Jesus if anything at all was going to be done. Look at verse 6. And he directed the crowds to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves. And having given thanks, he broke them.

[13:13] And gave them to his disciples to set before the people. They set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. Having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them.

[13:26] And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up of the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. And there were about 4,000 people. And he sent them away.

[13:38] Now even though the particulars of this event are varied enough to set it apart from the feeding of the 5,000, the overall similarities are quite striking, aren't they?

[13:49] But this repetition isn't without purpose. This event, remember, comes amid a series of miracles that have focused entirely on Jesus' work among the Gentile people.

[14:03] And it's a continuation of the points that the gospel of Jesus is for all nations. And that no prerequisites must be met before Jesus is willing to do his saving work in an individual.

[14:17] That's really the point of this gospel message as he's going through the Gentile areas. That's what he's teaching the disciples. And it's important for us to see this here. The Gentile group in the Decapolis were fed the exact same way that the Jewish group in Bethsaida had been fed just a few weeks before.

[14:38] They were fed in the same way by the same person as the Jews. There was no distinction in where their satisfaction was coming from.

[14:50] The same Jesus for the Jews is the same Jesus for those in the Decapolis. And just like feeding the 5,000, there was plenty left over, signifying that Jesus has an endlessly abundant supply of grace.

[15:10] He doesn't have to limit it to just the Jews. He doesn't have to limit it to just another group. He has an endless supply of grace. He wasn't just a Savior for the Jews.

[15:22] Neither was he just a Savior for the non-Jews. Jesus is the Savior of all people who will come to him in faith. And again in John 6, Jesus makes that clear.

[15:37] All that the Father gives me will come to me. And whoever will come to me, I will never cast out. This gospel is for everyone. Well, we see feeding the crowd.

[15:50] Now we see facing the Pharisees. Facing the Pharisees. Look at verse 10. And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha. The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.

[16:08] So after sending the people home, Jesus and the disciples boarded a boat and sailed across the lake to an area that was probably just south of Capernaum and Gennesaret.

[16:21] And waiting there, standing in stark contrast to the receptive Gentiles in the Decapolis, were the apostate leaders of Israel. And it's another surprising picture to us of these insider-outsider groups that Mark presents throughout his gospel.

[16:39] We would expect that the Pharisees, the ones who were so committed to the law, the ones who were so feverishly pursuing moralism, we would expect that they would be the gospel insiders in this story.

[16:56] But in reality, Mark presents them as outsiders to God's blessing here. And they came to test Jesus. They demanded that he give them a sign from heaven to prove his legitimacy as the Messiah.

[17:12] But of course, they came with skepticism, not actual genuine interest. You realize that? When they come demanding a sign, they're not actually looking for Jesus to perform a sign. They actually prefer that he didn't perform the sign.

[17:23] That was the whole point of testing him. And the ridiculous nature of their demand is magnified when you consider all that they had already witnessed Jesus do.

[17:36] These men had been blessed to witness so many of Jesus' miracles already, but they attributed them to the power of Satan instead. What more did they need?

[17:48] Perhaps some of them were there at the feeding of the 5,000. We know that they were there for a number of other miracles. What other sign did they need? They weren't coming to Jesus with general interest. They were coming to Jesus with skepticism.

[18:02] And on this occasion, they were literally asking for a sign in the sky. That's literally what they're asking here. Show us something cosmic, something in the sky that would actually prove you are who you say you are.

[18:15] But they actually wanted him to fail in meeting that demand because in his failure, they would be able to discredit him and pursue their purpose further to destroy him, as we have seen Mark say.

[18:30] Are you this kind of skeptic? You may come to our services, our worship services every week, every Sunday. You've read what Jesus did.

[18:42] You've heard people say what he can do for you. But you still seem to be looking for some kind of sign in the sky that would just really, this is, I can really know for sure if he'd just do this thing.

[18:58] Maybe you're still trying to determine, is he really the one that can answer the problem of sin in your life? And can I just ask, what more do you need from him?

[19:09] What more do you need him to do? Look at what he's done. Instead of genuinely seeking understanding, too many people come to the scriptures looking for all the possible ways that they might discredit it instead.

[19:30] They turn their backs on the overwhelming evidence that is there. And they hold out for any chance that they might just find something that's lacking. And any of you that have talked to people that struggle with this, you know how this goes.

[19:48] You've heard the question, how can we know he's the one? Well, have you ever seen someone else raise themselves from the dead? What else do you need?

[20:01] It's there. But the Pharisees, like many people, they came, they weren't really looking for an answer here. The answer that they're looking for was something negative.

[20:13] They wanted to actually say, no, he's not the one. It wasn't that they were actually looking for proof that he was the one. Look at verse 12. And he sighed deeply in his spirit.

[20:29] He said, why does this generation seek a sign? Generation here not being a physical like 20 year time frame of birth. This is generation as in a class of people, a class of people that are continuing to reject him despite the clear evidence of who he is.

[20:45] That's what he means. Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation. Now, last week we saw Jesus sigh in relation to the deaf man.

[20:57] He was sighing in grief over the man's physical condition, the effects of the fall on this man's life. And he was grieving over that. This week, he sighs over the spiritual condition of those who continue to reject him.

[21:13] And in this text, the sigh is actually more emphatic. He was exasperated at their unbelief. He sighed deeply in his spirit.

[21:27] It's like they come demanding the sigh. You can almost just picture it. Not because he's just frustrated with them like it's always an axe to grind.

[21:40] I don't think that's really why he's sighing. I think why he's sighing here is because he actually genuinely cares about our souls. To reject Christ is to reject life.

[21:55] It's to reject forgiveness. It's to reject the Father. Jesus knew that. And he knew the rejection and the hardness of these men's heart.

[22:06] And he stops and he just grieves. Nothing grieves him more than for us to reject this great salvation.

[22:19] Jesus declined to meet their demand for a sign. But Matthew adds something to his account that I think is helpful for us here. Matthew 16, 4. I'll read it to you. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign.

[22:32] Matthew writes that Jesus then added this. But no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. Now, that's interesting.

[22:43] You remember Jonah, right? Jonah was an Old Testament prophet of God. God had told him to go to the pagan city of Nineveh. Well, the problem for Jonah is that he didn't like Nineveh.

[22:56] And he didn't want people to be saved in Nineveh. And he knew if he went there and preached the message that God wanted him to preach, that God would save them. And that's not what Jonah wanted because he hated those people.

[23:08] And so instead of obeying God, Jonah disobeyed the Lord. And he actually went in the opposite direction. And amid his disobedience, he was thrown from a boat in the middle of a storm.

[23:20] God had prepared a well or a great fish or whatever it was. And he was swallowed up by that well. And for three days, Jonah was in the belly of the well.

[23:31] Well, after three days, God caused the well to get sick. He regurgitated Jonah. Jonah went on to Nineveh. And he preached the message that God wanted him to preach.

[23:42] And his preaching resulted in hundreds of thousands of people being saved. It's incredible, isn't it? It's an incredible story. And then he was mad because he knew they were going to be saved.

[23:52] And then he was mad about it. Well, Jesus said that the only sign that the Pharisees or anybody else was going to get, truly, was the sign of Jonah.

[24:03] And what's that all about? I think it's his resurrection. I think the sign of Jonah is the death and resurrection of Christ. Jesus actually said it in another place.

[24:16] Just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the well, so will the Son of Man be three nights in the heart of the earth. Referring to his death. And then he would be raised from the dead.

[24:28] Now think about it. Jonah spent three days in the well's belly. Jesus spent three days in the grave. Jonah was regurgitated. Jesus was resurrected.

[24:42] Jonah's message resulted in the salvation of Nineveh. Jesus' resurrection results in the salvation of all nations, the whole world. Now, why wouldn't Mark include such a remarkable statement in his account?

[25:00] Matthew includes it, and we gain great encouragement from that, don't we? Why didn't Mark include that? Because when it came to the Pharisees, it didn't matter.

[25:13] It didn't matter. Even Jesus said that there would be some that though one go to them from the dead, they still will not believe. Isn't that the point in Luke 16?

[25:25] He's telling this story about Lazarus and the rich man, how the rich man went to hell, and he begged that Abraham would send somebody to his brothers to tell them, tell them about the torment. And Abraham said, no, they have the Bible.

[25:38] And if they're not going to listen to the Bible, they won't listen to somebody even though they go back from the dead. And then what happens with these same Pharisees and religious leaders? Jesus is crucified.

[25:49] Three days later, he raises from the dead. And what did they do? They didn't deny his resurrection. They paid off the Roman guards not to say anything.

[26:00] And then they fabricated their own story so that it wouldn't become a problem for them. Even though one had come back from the dead, they still wouldn't believe him. They knew who he was.

[26:11] There was no way they couldn't know who he was. So Mark doesn't bring it up because it didn't matter. For these men, it didn't matter. Their hearts were too hard. There are people that if Jesus appeared in this room today in a physical form, still wouldn't believe him.

[26:29] You know how I know that? Because the Bible tells me so. Because there were people that saw him, they knew him, but they still didn't believe.

[26:41] Why? The hardness of their heart. You might ask, well, why didn't Jesus just do what they asked? God doesn't act according to our demands.

[26:55] He acts according to his own divine will. But Jesus knew in this case it wouldn't have mattered anyways. Their hearts were hard. And look at verse 13. And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.

[27:14] Aren't these some of the saddest words in the Bible? And he left them. What a tragedy.

[27:25] To be in the presence of Jesus, only to have him walk away because of your rejection. As far as the Gospels tell us, Jesus never had another interaction with these men in Galilee.

[27:41] This time when he walked away, he didn't come back. Sunday by Sunday, we invite people to come to these worship services.

[27:56] And I do my best Sunday by Sunday. To issue the Gospel call of the Bible. But don't be so foolish as to think that you'll hear his voice again.

[28:12] We've quoted Hebrews 4-7 often. Today, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart. Well, we see facing the Pharisees.

[28:25] Finally, we see forgetting the bread. All right, we're going to make it. We're going to make it to verse 21, okay? Look at verse 14. Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they only had one loaf with them in the boat.

[28:40] 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.

[28:53] Now, I can't help but wonder if the disciples saw the humor in this predicament. Of all the things for them to forget, how could they forget bread?

[29:07] I mean, the day before, they had bread coming out their ears. And they get on the boat, and the thing that they forget to bring with them is some food. I mean, it's funny, isn't it?

[29:19] And it's this lack of bread that Mark uses to set up the story here. Remember, this is fresh off of this interaction with the Pharisees. Jesus has sighed deeply in his spirit in that interaction with the Pharisees.

[29:33] This is something that's heavy on Jesus' mind. And no doubt, as they're sailing across the Sea of Galilee again, this time on their way to Bethsaida again, Jesus is sitting in the boat as the men are doing their thing, perhaps enjoying a nice evening sail.

[29:48] And he's got this on his mind. He's got this stuff on his mind. And perhaps Mark says that there was one loaf of bread in the boat, and perhaps the way that all of this begins is Jesus notices the one loaf that's there, and let's say that he picks up the loaf, and with it in hand, he uses it as an object lesson for the disciples.

[30:05] And what is it that he says? Holding bread in hand, perhaps, he says, Watch out, men. Watch out. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.

[30:18] And Matthew adds in the leaven of the Sadducees, the religious leaders, all of those who were not proponents of the truth of Christ. Watch out for these men. Watch out for these errors, he says.

[30:31] And as we understand this particular warning, we sense the urgency and gravity of Jesus' words.

[30:42] It's made up of two emphatic statements in the Greek text. He's urging them earnestly, Watch out. Beware. This is important.

[30:54] Listen to what I'm saying. And he uses this metaphor of yeast. Just like a little bit of yeast will greatly affect a large amount of dough, so a little bit of influence from false teaching can have dramatic results on our lives, on our spiritual lives.

[31:10] That's the point of the message that he's getting across. And I just want you to ingrain in your mind here the seriousness of which Jesus is speaking. And he's got this bread, and he's saying, Listen.

[31:21] Listen to me. This is important. This is important. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Why would Jesus give such a stern warning to these men?

[31:33] Although they were closer to Jesus than anyone else, they were still susceptible to the dangers of error. After all, one of them is going to betray the Christ soon, and he's going to actually contribute to the crucifixion.

[31:48] Their leader, Peter, struggled for years with the legalism that was endemic to Judaism. They needed to hear this over and over and over again.

[32:00] And there will never be a time when we are beyond the need of warning against false doctrine as well. If the men who walked with Jesus for the better part of three years were susceptible to it, you better believe that you and I are susceptible to it as well.

[32:16] Be careful who you listen to. Be careful who you read. Be careful the music that you allow yourself to listen to under the guise of worship.

[32:27] It's not all what you think it is. Be careful. Watch out. Because a little leaven, a little leaven can have dramatic results on your spiritual life.

[32:42] Now, it was important for the disciples to understand this, but they completely missed it. Now think about it. Maybe they haven't noticed up to this point that they forgot the bread.

[32:55] Mark just says it to introduce the section. But Jesus perhaps picks it up as an object lesson. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. And he's being serious with them. Emphatic with them.

[33:06] Giving these imperatives. And what do they do? What do our kids do to us? They started fighting about who forgot the bread. I mean, really?

[33:20] I know you parents know what this was like for Jesus. Many times we get serious with our kids. Ashlyn, listen to me. Watch out for this. Hey, what's for dinner tonight?

[33:34] Jesus is saying, listen, beware. And they see the bread and they completely miss what Jesus is trying to teach. It goes right over their heads.

[33:47] And look how Jesus responds. They were so focused on lesser things, they missed the most important things. Verse 17. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, why are you discussing the fact that you don't have bread?

[34:02] Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes, do you not see?

[34:12] Having ears, do you not hear? 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?

[34:25] And they said 12. You got to imagine that it took a little bit to get the 12 out of their mouths at this point, right? And the seven for the 4,000, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up yesterday?

[34:39] And they said to him, seven. And he said, don't you get it? Don't you understand?

[34:52] There's this rapid fire succession of questions that had to have pierced their hearts, right? That was the point that Jesus asked them. He was piercing their hearts. This is very different than what he did with the Pharisees, right?

[35:03] The Pharisees just turned around left. He's not doing that with the disciples. That's important to notice. He wants to pierce their hearts. But notice, these were some of the same statements that he once used to tell the disciples how he would judge unbelievers with parables.

[35:20] Do you remember that? In Mark chapter 4, verse 11, he said to them, to you it has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, speaking of the disciples. But for those outside, everything is in parables, so that they may indeed see, but not perceive, and may indeed hear, but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.

[35:41] And so Jesus looks at the disciples now, and he essentially asks, are you no different than the outsiders? Are you no different than them? Having eyes, do you not see? Having ears, do you not hear?

[35:53] Are your hearts hardened as well? And of course, he knew that they weren't like the outsiders, and his purpose was not to cause them to doubt.

[36:06] He had distinguished them from the crowds. He's the one that said, to you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God. But at this moment, they were acting as if they hadn't understood anything at all.

[36:21] It wasn't that their hearts were hardened toward Jesus, but that their hearts were dull to the spiritual realities that he had been teaching them all along. They were just spiritually dull.

[36:36] And then he confronts the foolishness of their misunderstanding. After they had witnessed him feed 5,000 people with almost nothing on two separate occasions, why in the world did they think he was worried about them forgetting bread?

[36:56] And it is humorous, isn't it? It's humorous until we recognize how much like them we are. Jesus says, I don't care about bread.

[37:12] Why do you think I care about bread? That's not what this is about. Don't you get it? Don't you see who I am? Isn't that what it was about?

[37:25] Don't you see who I am? Don't you recognize that all of these other people are telling you that I'm not who I say I am? And when I fed the 5,000, could you not see who I am?

[37:41] When I fed the 4,000, could you not see who I am? And you're so distracted with these other things. You're missing it. You're missing it. Don't you get it? Before we find it easy to criticize them, let's stop and think for just a moment how we often mimic this behavior.

[38:01] One moment we praise God for miraculous provision, only to despair in the next over whether or not he'll meet a lesser need. He just fed 4,000 people, and now they're frustrated because they only got one loaf.

[38:16] Don't we do that? God just really does something fantastic, and then something really insignificant comes along the way, and we just, we get mad at him, or we get frustrated, or irritated, and start to doubt whether he loves us.

[38:32] I mean, how fickle of a people are we? Some of us have been taught the truth of the Bible our whole lives, but we live as if it's had no impact on us at all. We get so distracted by lesser things in life, that we fail in obeying Jesus' command to seek first the kingdom.

[38:55] Isn't that ultimately what he was trying to tell them here? Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. All these other things you're worried about, I'll take care of those things.

[39:07] You seek the kingdom. In other words, pay attention, men. Pay attention, disciples. Look. Listen.

[39:18]  Understand. And we'd do well to learn this lesson ourselves, right? Thank you. Thank you.