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Mark 8:1-33

Taught on | Topic: Discipleship | Keywords: Pharisees, feed, miracle, heal, blind

The feeding of the 4,000 in Mark 8 is a miracle we don't often consider, but through this miracle, Jesus demonstrated that His love isn't just for the Jewish nation but for anyone who will receive Him. And, through the Pharisees' refusal to see Jesus' authority and the man Jesus healed from blindness, we get a valuable lesson in faith. We also learn that we should seek God first in all of life's matters and are reminded that when we fail to remember God's mercies, our hearts begin to harden.

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6/26/2013
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Mark 8:1-33
Mark 8:1-33
Skip Heitzig
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The feeding of the 4,000 in Mark 8 is a miracle we don't often consider, but through this miracle, Jesus demonstrated that His love isn't just for the Jewish nation but for anyone who will receive Him. And, through the Pharisees' refusal to see Jesus' authority and the man Jesus healed from blindness, we get a valuable lesson in faith. We also learn that we should seek God first in all of life's matters and are reminded that when we fail to remember God's mercies, our hearts begin to harden.
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41 Mark - 2013

41 Mark - 2013

Jesus Christ--fully man, fully God. As we consider the gospel of Mark, we gain a greater understanding of the suffering Servant and His human emotions, His service, and His sacrifice.

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Study Guide

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Mark 8

PREVIEW: In Mark 8, 4,000 men are miraculously fed and yet the disciples do not clearly see or understand this miracle. Jesus will make it clear to them by healing a blind man as an example of how their sight can be given greater vividness and what it is going to cost them to follow Him.

Four Thousand are Fed - Read Mark 8:1-10

1. Jesus called His disciples to Himself to discuss the multitudes. How long had they continued with Him and what did Jesus have on them (vv. 1-2)? (See also 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.)


2. Why do you think the multitudes continued with Jesus for this duration of time? (See also Mark 6:34.)



3. Who do you think comprised this multitude? (See Mark 7:31.) How might this multitude differ from the multitude in the feeding of the 5,000? (See Mark 6:32-33 and Luke 9:10.)



4. What dilemma did the disciple face (v. 4)?


5. What did Jesus’ question ask the disciples to do about their dilemma (v. 5)? (See also Matthew 15:34; Mark 6:38 and John 6:9.)


6. How did Jesus resolve the disciples’ dilemma (v. 6)?



7. The multitudes, along with Jesus and His disciples, all ate and were filled. Approximately how many people ate (v. 9)? How much food was left over (v. 8)? What word describes the baskets (v. 8)?


8. Read this section carefully, observing the disciples’ involvement in the feeding of the 4,000. How did Jesus use the disciples to meet the needs of the multitudes (vv. 1-8)?


9. How might you, as a disciple of Jesus, be used to meet a need of the multitudes in your community?


Pharisees Seek a Sign - Read Mark 8:11-13

10. What was the attitude and intention of the Pharisees in asking Jesus to show them a sign from heaven (v. 11)?


11. What was Jesus’ emotional response to the Pharisees’ effort to seek a sign from heaven (v. 12)?


12. Why do you think He responded this way? (See John 1:11, Deuteronomy 6:16, Luke 4:12, and Matthew 4:7.)


13. Jesus’ emotional response to the Pharisee’s request for a sign was obviously one of disappointment and frustration (v. 12).What was Jesus’ physical response to the Pharisee’s attempt to test Him by asking for a sign from heaven (v. 13)?


14. The Pharisees did not believe or receive Jesus as their Messiah, despite all the miracles and signs He had performed. They asked for a sign, putting Him to the test. Why is what the Pharisees did such a dangerous spiritual course of action for believers to follow (v. 13)? (See also John 12:36.)


Disciples Do Not Understand - Read Mark 8:11-21

15. What specifically did the disciples forget to bring that caused them to reason among themselves in response to Jesus warning them to “take heed” (vv. 14-16)?


16. Jesus warned His disciples to “take heed,” which means to guard against. What were they to guard against (v. 15)? (See also Matthew 16:6 and Luke 12:1.)


17. The disciples reasoned among themselves about what Jesus said. Why is “reasoning among themselves” a dangerous practice? (See 1 Peter 1:20-21, Proverbs 12:15, 14:12, Ephesians 5:6, Judges 21:25, and Matthew 23:16, 24.)


18. What could and should the disciples have done instead of reasoning amongst themselves? (See Isaiah 1:18, Mark 4:10, Matt. 13:10; Luke 8:9, and James 1:5-7.)


19. In Hebrew life, leaven played an important part, not only in bread-making but also in law, ritual, and religious teachings. Jesus explained to His disciples what He meant by the “leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” What does the “leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod” represent? (See Matthew 16:6, 12, and Luke 12:1.)


20. Why is it important to take heed against even a little leaven (incorrect doctrine) in our lives? (See Galatians 5:9, 1 Corinthians 5:6, Matthew 15:14, and Isaiah 9:16.)


21. Jesus was aware that the disciples thought He was telling them to take heed and beware because they had forgotten to bring bread (v. 17). Why did Jesus refer to the feeding of the 4,000 and 5,000 (v. 19)? What were the disciples to understand and remember about these miracles (v. 21)?


22. Why did the disciples not yet perceive or understand (v. 17), which caused them to “reason among themselves”? (See also Mark 6:52 and 16:14.)


A Blind Man is Healed - Read Mark 8:22-26

23. A blind man was brought to Jesus. What did those who brought him beg Jesus to do for this man (v. 22)?


24. What does Jesus do with the blind man before He begins to restore his sight (v. 23a)? Why might He have done this? (See Matthew 11:20.)



25. What did Jesus do to begin the healing of man’s blindness (v. 23)?


26. After Jesus began to restore the blind man’s sight, what did the blind man do and what did he see (v. 24)?



27. What did Jesus do and what did Jesus make the blind man do before his sight was fully restored (v. 25)?


28. Perhaps you see men walking, as trees, and your understanding and vision are unclear. What should you do in an effort to see things clearly? (See Jeremiah 29:12-13, Luke 11:9-10, and Proverbs 8:17 and 12:15.)


29. Not only did Jesus take the blind man outside of Bethsaida, but what did He specifically instruct him to not do, now that he could see clearly (v. 26)?


Peter’s Confession of Christ - Read Mark 8:27-33

30. The disciples didn't see clearly who Jesus was, as Illustrated by Jesus' statement in Mark 8:17-18, "Having eyes, do you not see?" Even though they had seen the feeding of the 5,000 and 4,000, they still reasoned amongst themselves (v. 16) and did not perceive nor understand (v. 17). Just like the blind man, they didn’t yet see clearly. Jesus was going to open their eyes and let them see clearly, by asking two questions that would allow them to see His true identity. What two critical questions did He ask (vv. 27-29)?


31. When Jesus had come to the disciples in their dark night (blindness) when they could not see clearly and thought He was a ghost as He was walking upon the water (Mark 6:45-52), the disciples were “greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled” (Mark 6:51). They too had a revelation (gained sight) of who Jesus is by declaring, “Truly You are the Son of God.” (See Matthew 14:33). Now they received complete sight of who Jesus is. What did Peter confess about Jesus (v. 29)? (See also Matthew 16:16 and John 6:68–69.)


32. How does Peter know this (see Matthew 16:17)?


33. Jesus asked His disciples, “But who do you say that I am?” (v. 29). Share with the group your answer to the question “Who do you personally say Jesus is?”


34. Jesus strictly warned the disciples not to reveal their revelation about Him to anyone (v. 30). Instead what did He begin to teach them (v. 31)?


35. The disciples now clearly saw who Jesus is (v. 29, John 6:69). Jesus began to show them what His plan is. However, just like the blind man who saw initially, but not clearly, and then was made to see clearly, the disciples didn’t clearly see that the Messiah would come twice. They expected the Messiah to set up the kingdom, overthrow the oppressive Roman government and reign (see Mark 10:37 and Matthew 20:21). What clear plan did Jesus reveal to His disciples (v. 31)?


36. The disciples thought Jesus was going to set up the Messianic kingdom when He went into Jerusalem, yet He explained that He would be rejected, suffer, and die (v.31). Peter, although now clearly seeing who Jesus is, didn’t clearly see what He was going to accomplish in His first advent, and he rebuked Jesus for saying He was going to suffer and die. What was Jesus’ response to Peter’s rebuke (v. 33a)?


37. The original language makes it clear that Peter continually rebuked Him. What name did Jesus refer to Peter as, and what does it mean (v. 33)?


38. What did He say Peter was not mindful of (setting his mind upon) (v. 33)?


39. Often we might be like the blind man, or like Peter, and not see the things of God clearly. How should we resolve this issue? (See Isaiah 55:8-9, Isaiah 55:6, Jeremiah 29:12-13, Luke 11:9-10, and Proverbs 8:17 and 29:18.)


Cost of Discipleship - Read Mark 8:34-38

40. Meditate upon the three things that Jesus said were to be done if a person were to come after Him (v. 34). What are those three things, and what do they mean?


41. PROMOTE: When Jesus called His disciples, He said, “Follow me” (Mark 1:17 and 2:14). Share with the group what the life of a person who follows Him should look like.


42. Mark 8:35 seems to be a paradox (a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement). The person who wants to save his life must lose it. The person who loses his life for Jesus’ sake will find it. How do you resolve this paradox?


43. Jesus gave a perspective on the value of a man’s soul (the life given to him). What value does He put on a man’s soul? (See also Psalm 49:6-9 and 1 Peter 1:18-19.)


44. Our souls (vv. 36-37) are extremely valuable from God’s perspective—they are worth more than anything and everything in this world. What price did God pay to redeem your soul? (See John 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, and 1 Peter 1:18-19.)


45. Since our souls are so valuable to God and nothing in this world can be given in exchange for them, what manner of persons ought we to be? (See 1 Peter 2:24, 4:1-6, and 2 Peter 3:10-13.)


46. What is the danger of being ashamed of Jesus and His words (v. 38)? (See also 2 Timothy 2:12.)


47. Instead of being ashamed of Jesus in our lives and of His Words, what should we be? (See Romans 1:16 and 2 Timothy 1:8-9.)

48. What is the cost of being a disciple of Jesus Christ and following Him? (See Matthew 19:21, Luke 14:25–33, and Philippians 3:7-8.)

Detailed Notes

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  1. Introduction
    1. Guinness Book of World Records documents the largest sandwich as 691 pounds in Mexico City
    2. In Mark 8 is the second-largest meal ever recorded
      1. The first largest meal is the feeding of the 5,000 in Mark 6
        1. 5,000 men
        2. Including women and children, some estimate there were 25,000 people fed on that occasion
      2. This second-largest meal is fed to a total of 4,000 people
        1. This miracle is neglected because it is so similar to the feeding of the 5,000 in Mark 6
        2. It is a separate account; a different place for a different reason
      3. Differences:
        1. Mark 6 (feeding 5,000), the crowd was with Him one day
        2. Mark 8 (feeding 4,000), the crowd was with Him three days and they were famished
        3. In Mark 6, Jesus told them to sit on the green grass—it's spring
        4. In Mark 8, they are told to sit on the ground—it's summertime
        5. In Mark 6, there were five loaves and two fish
        6. In Mark 8, there are seven loaves and a few fish
        7. In Mark 6, they picked up 12 baskets of fragments; kophinos
        8. In Mark 8, they picked up seven hampers of fragments
        9. Mark 6 location was in Galilee where there were hundreds of people
        10. Mark 8 location was in the Decapolis; small community with a Gentile population
  2. The feeding of the 4,000
    1. The disciples' question sounds odd (v. 4)
      1. Jesus could fulfill their need like He did the last time
      2. Their hearts are hardened
      3. They were like the children of Israel grumbling in the wilderness
      4. Our immediate reaction is to think, "This is hard, this is tough"
      5. Remember Sarah's reaction when told she would have a baby? She laughed (see Genesis 18:10-15)
      6. Is there anything too hard for the Lord?
        1. A common cold?
        2. Stage four cancer?
        3. "When God wants to do something wonderful, He starts with a difficulty; when He wants to do something really wonderful, He starts with an impossibility"
    2. Thousands of people had gathered
      1. Not like the Sea of Galilee that had populated towns and a lake full of fish
      2. They were in the Decapolis
        1. The wilderness—a sparsely populated area
        2. Ten cities; Decapolis
        3. The Roman empire on the eastern-most frontier
        4. Greek culture
        5. Occupied by the Romans, Gentiles
    3. "These people"
      1. The Gentile people
      2. Outside of the covenant area
      3. Jesus was the Jewish Messiah
      4. Jews had no dealings with Gentiles
      5. Jesus was getting them ready for the Great Commission (see Mark 16:15 and John 3:16)
      6. They believed that the promises of the Bible were only for the Jews
      7. Jesus showed them that His message, love, and compassion are for the whole world
    4. Jesus prayed—gives thanks
      1. He was in a Gentile, unbelieving area
      2. Perhaps the disciples and the crowd thought He was selfish; He was saying grace and then was going to eat His meal
      3. This incident is the only place that Jesus declared that He is compassionate (v. 2)
      4. Jesus did feed the Jews first; God's mercy and grace is to the Jew first and also to the Gentile (see Romans 1:16)
      5. He fed the disciples and He wanted them to be a part of feeding the multitudes
      6. Did Jesus need the disciples involved in the process?
      7. He was teaching them the lesson of the Great Commission
      8. God doesn't need any of us to do His work, He wants us
      9. In the end of days, God will dispatch an angel to preach the gospel to every nation (see Revelation 14)
      10. God uses us imperfect tools because then He gets more glory
        1. "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty" (1 Corinthians 1:27)
        2. A surgical team with all kinds of modern medical equipment versus a couple of surgeons with a Swiss Army knife
      11. After the meal, the disciples took up seven baskets of food
        1. Large baskets—hampers
        2. Remember Acts 9 when Paul, at Damascus, was let down in a basket (see Acts 9:25)
      12. This is the land that God brought the children of Israel to
        1. All the "-ites" were kicked out
        2. Seven nations occupied that land
        3. How many loaves?
        4. How many large baskets?
        5. God had compassion on them
          1. Splagchnizomai in Greek
          2. It speaks of the gut
    5. Alfred Edersheim, a great writer on biblical history
      1. He said that every phase of Jesus' ministry ended with a feeding
      2. When He was done ministering in Galilee, He fed the 5,000
      3. When He was done ministering to the Gentiles, the second phase of His ministry, He fed the 4,000
      4. When He was done with His Judean ministry, just before the cross, He ended it with the Last Supper for His disciples
    6. They got in the boat and came to Dalmanuth
      1. This is the only mention of this place in the Bible
      2. Matthew's account of this says they sailed to Magdala (see Matthew 15:39)
      3. Mary Magdalene was from there
  3. The Pharisees sought a sign
    1. They showed up everywhere
    2. They wanted to test Him
    3. Seems like what irked them was the fact that the crowds were taken by them—their popularity was decreasing
    4. In the name of religion, they argued with Him
    5. They wanted to see a sign
      1. From heaven
      2. Mark didn't use the typical word, dunamis, for miracles
      3. He used the word sémeion; they want God to authenticate Him
      4. Like when Jesus was baptized and God spoke (see Matthew 3:13-17)
      5. They want a personal manifestation of God the Father giving Jesus the authority as their Messiah
      6. They ask that because of what the Word says about false prophets in Deuteronomy 13 and 18
    6. Jesus sighed deeply
      1. He was fed up
      2. He walked away, got in the boat, and lef
  4. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod
    1. The disciples forgot to take bread
      1. They thought that was why he warned of leaven
      2. They had only one loaf of bread and it was a long boat ride
    2. Jesus wanted to use what just happened with the feeding of the 4,000 and the Pharisees' demand for a sign
    3. This is the problem when humans reason together without asking the Lord
    4. Leaven is used in the Bible to speak of evil that spreads
      1. In Matthew's account of this, it is referred to as false teaching (doctrine) (see Matthew 16:5-12)
      2. The teaching of legalism can spread through God's people
      3. In Luke's account, he called it hypocrisy (see Luke 12:1-3)
      4. The Herodians sought to change the spiritual temperature of the nation by political means
      5. Beware of that
    5. Why did the disciples not understand?
      1. Followers of Jesus Christ can have hardened hearts
      2. When you fail to remember God's mercy to you, and your spiritual history, your heart is susceptible to hardening
      3. You can become entitled and bitter
    6. Jesus was speaking about the persistent unbelief that existed in the Pharisees and the Herodians
  5. Jesus healed a blind man
    1. Mark is the only one who records this story
    2. It is the only time in Scripture where Jesus touched someone twice
      1. Someone brought this man to Jesus; like in Mark 2, where the lame man's friends brought him to Jesus and had to let him down through the roof (see Mark 2:1-12)
      2. Friends who love their friends so much; "Get him to Jesus!"
      3. His friends had faith
      4. There is a doctrine going around that claims you will not be healed unless you personally have faith
    3. Jesus leads the man out town
      1. Jesus had already pronounced judgment on this area (see Matthew 11:20-24)
      2. His doing a miracle with that kind of unbelief would have only stirred things up
      3. A disease encrusted eyeball covered in human spittle
      4. Why a healing in two stages?
        1. First touch the man sees light and color
        2. That would have prompted a faith to well up inside him
        3. He did it to draw out his faith
        4. Similar to the woman who touched the hem of his garment and the man whose daughter died
  6. Jesus is the Messiah
    1. After verse 26, you could draw a line in your Bible
      1. Scholars call this "the continental divide" of the gospels
      2. Everything before this point Jesus has been ministering to the masses
      3. He showed Himself to the Jewish nation and then to Gentile nations that He is the promised Messiah
      4. From here forward, He will be focused on the disciples; getting them ready for what is coming
    2. Jesus asks who they say that He is
      1. The backdrop
        1. Caesarea Philippi is probably one of the prettiest spots on a tour to Israel
        2. It's where the Jordan river begins
        3. It's at the base of Mount Hermon
        4. Herod built Caesarea Philippi for Caesar Augustus to honor him
        5. In that town Caesar was being deified
        6. There were 14 temples to different Gods
      2. Jesus deliberately took His disciples to a place that had false worship to make a comparison between who He is and who they are; and to the life-blood of the Jewish nation—the Jordan river
        1. The historian, Josephus, said that the Jordan river flowed out of a cave at the base of Mount Hermon
        2. It was important to the Jews; source of living water
        3. It was important to the Greeks; birth of their god Pan
        4. It was important to the Roman; deified Caesar
      3. Peter says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16)
        1. Messiah and Christ are the same thing
        2. Christ was not His last name
        3. Christ was His title as the Messiah
        4. The word Messiah means to smear with oil; anointed
        5. There were three groups of people that they smeared with oil: prophets, priests, and kings
        6. Because of the anointing of the kings, they saw Messiah as a conquering king
        7. Because of the Babylonian captivity, a hunger was born to see someone greater than King David to come and deliver the Jews
        8. By the time of the New Testament, there was a growing intensity for a king, a deliverer, a messiah
        9. Jesus wants to show them that they won't understand Him until they see Him as a crucified Messiah
      4. Jesus warned them to tell no one who He is
        1. Later He reversed that and tell them to go into all the world and tell everyone (see Mark 16:15)
        2. He didn't want a revolt
      5. Jesus rebuked Peter
        1. Peter completely misunderstood
        2. You need to see Jesus as the sin-bearer
        3. This was all part of the discipleship—the training of these 12

    Hebrew terms: מָשִׁ֫יחַ; mashiach, anointed
    Greek terms: κόφινος; kophinos, a large basket; Δεκάπολις; Decapolis, Decapolis, a group or district of ten cities (of the Greek type) in Palestine, mostly southeast of the Lake of Tiberias; the names and number vary in ancient authorities; σπλαγχνίζομαι; splagchnizomai, feel compassion, have pity on, am moved, to be moved in the inward parts; δύναμις; dunamis, might, power, marvelous works;
    Publications Referenced: Guinness Book of World Records
    Figures referenced: Alfred Edersheim, Josephus
    Cross references:Genesis 18:10-15, Deuteronomy 13, Deuteronomy 18, Matthew 11:20-24, Matthew 3:13-17, Matthew 15:39, Matthew 16:5-12, Matthew 16:16, Mark 2:1-12, Mark 6, Mark 16:15, Luke 12:1-3, John 3:16, Acts 9:25, Romans 1:16, 1 Corinthians 1:27, Revelation 14

Transcript

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Introduction: Welcome to Expound our weekly worship and verse by verse study of the Bible. Our goal is to expand your knowledge of the truth of God as we explore the Word of God in a way that is interactive, enjoyable, and congregational.

Skip Heitzig: Let's pray. Father, we calm our hearts, we still our hearts before you. The psalmist said that he would calm his heart like a weaned child. And just that idea of being satisfied after being fed and being cuddled and nestled by a mother like a weaned child, would be fully satiated and enjoying the warmth of that kind of intimate fellowship. We just nestle into you now, Lord, and give you permission to speak into our lives truths that we have forgotten, truths, perhaps, that we've never heard, truths that we have pushed aside and perhaps we need to be reminded of them again.

But we give you the permission, Lord, without marginalizing truth, without when he hear it, thinking this applies to someone else. We just want you to deal with us however you would with the same text of Scripture. Help us to understand it. Help us to understand the ministry of Lord Jesus Christ at this particular time, in Jesus' name, amen.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records the largest sandwich ever made was made on April 24, 2004, and displayed in Mexico City; a single sandwich that weighed 6,991 pounds, just nine pounds shy of 7,000 pounds--a sandwich. The top slice of bread took eight full-grown men to maneuver into place. Now, I don't know how practical that is, or what they did with it; they probably trashed it afterwards. It's hard to cut something like that up and make it practical. But these people do these kinds of things just to set records: largest sandwich ever made.

We come in chapter 8 of Mark to the second largest meal ever recorded in the Scriptures. The first largest meal is the feeding of the five thousand in chapter 6. You remember the story where Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish, blessed it, broke it, gave it to the multitudes? That was the largest feeding.

Because it says there were five thousand men, and it was gender specific, the Greek word, to include just the men. The heads of the household were counted; that was just how they did it. That's not to include the women and children that would have been present, so upwards of twenty--some even figure twenty-five thousand people were fed on that one lunch occasion.

We now come to the second largest feeding in the New Testament. And not as impractical as a sandwich in Mexico City that weighed seven thousand pounds, this was an individual lunch. But this time the crowd is different. This time it's not five thousand men, plus women and children, it's a total of four thousand people.

This miracle beginning in chapter 8 of Mark is probably of all of the great miracles Jesus did the most neglected of his signs and wonders. Because it is so similar to the feeding of the five thousand that some either skip over it or think it's a parallel account. It is not. It is a separate account in a separate place with separate circumstances for a separate set of reasons.

For example, in chapter 6 the feeding of the five thousand men, the crowd was with him one day. Here in chapter 8 the crowd is with Jesus for three days, and they are at this point utterly famished. Second, the feeding of the five thousand men, twenty to twenty-five thousand people in Mark, chapter 6, Jesus tells them to sit down on the grass, and Mark even includes the fact that it was green grass. So, we know that the episode took place in the Galilee region, probably late winter, early spring, because that's when the grass is green in Galilee.

Here they are told to sit on the ground. There is no mention of grass, probably because now that many months have passed by, this is the summertime, all the grass dies. It is, for the most part, barren ground. The third difference is that in chapter 6, the feeding of the five thousand, there were five loaves and two fish. In this account, the feeding of the four thousand, there are seven loaves of bread and a few fish. We're not told exactly how many.

In chapter 6, the feeding of the five thousand, this is now number four, they picked up how many baskets of fragments; do you remember? Twelve, twelve baskets of leftovers. In this account of chapter 8 they pick up seven. And the baskets are different. The Greek words that Mark uses for the two accounts are entirely different words. The twelve baskets in chapter 6 are little, tiny lunch baskets. Kophinos is the Greek word. In this account that we read they take seven large baskets. You might call them hampers, huge wicker baskets filled of leftovers.

And, finally, the difference was in location. In chapter 6 the feeding of the five thousand takes place in Galilee, the Jewish occupied area of Galilee where there were hundreds of towns and a huge Jewish population. This takes place outside of Galilee in an area called the Decapolis—something we mentioned last week at our outdoor service, and I'll just brush up on that a little bit in these verses—in a Gentile occupied region, not a Jewish region. So there's enough differences for us now to start.

Verse 1, "In those days," in those days meaning the days when he, Jesus, and his disciples were in this area of the Decapolis, "the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples and said to them, 'I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with me three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar.'

"Then his disciples answered him, 'How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?' He asked them, 'How many loaves do you have?' They said, 'Seven.' So he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude. They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, he said to set them also before them. So, they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments. Now those who had eaten were about four thousand. And he sent them away."

Our first reading of this sounds a little bit odd. It's odd that the disciples, we would think, would ask such a question. Now, it's been a few months, but it's something they're not going forget. When Jesus pulls off a miracle, like he did in chapter 6, and feeds twenty thousand people, they're not going to forget that. Would you forget that? No, you wouldn't forget that. So it's odd that they would ask in verse 4, "How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?"

You would think that their answer to Jesus saying, "I have compassion on these people. They've been with me for a few days. We've gotta feed them." You would think that the disciples would kinda get that little smile, that knowing smile, and say, "Okay, like, we know there's no bakery around here. There's no Panera Bread Restaurant, there's no Paradise Bakery, there's nothing like that in the area. This we know, but we're okay with that. We remember what you can do. You can speak it into existence. There's not a problem here. You can fulfill their need like you did the last time."

But it looks like, it sounds like they have forgotten the episode. Now their hearts definitely are hardened, as we will see. When I read this or accounts like this in the Gospels, I think back to the children of Israel when they were in the wilderness. How time and time again the Lord fed them with manna from heaven, opening up the Red Sea, bringing water from the rock, and after all of those provisionary miracles, the Bible says the children of Israel grumbled and complained and murmured in the wilderness.

And I used to be mystified by that. Really? After all of those miracles of the daily manna from heaven, the water from the rock, and the opening up of bodies of water, and all of that provision, you guys are still acting like that? And I come to the New Testament; I found out that not a whole a lot has changed. So, the disciple sort of react saying, "You know, there's not anything here that could sustain them."

I don't know how you are when you face a difficulty, but I imagine you're a lot like me; I'm a lot like these guys. I know God's Word, I know his truth, I know his promises, but my immediate reaction is the think, "Ooh, there's a problem here. This is hard. This is tough."

Do you remember Sarah's reaction when the Lord visited Abraham and audibly spoke to him saying, "I'm going to return in several months' time, at the set time of the year, because your wife Sarah is going to have a baby?" Do you remember her reaction? She was on other side of the tent flap when that conversation was going on and she laughed. And she laughed inwardly. It wasn't like, "Ha, ha, ha!" It was just like this little snicker inwardly.

And then she thought--she didn't say, she just thought, "I'm an old lady. Abraham's an old man. We're passed the ability to have children. Shall I have pleasure in my old age?" And then a voice came from the other side of the tent flap, "Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for the Lord?" And then Sarah said, "I didn't laugh." The Lord said, "Yeah, you did. I heard it."

Good question to ask yourself: Is there anything you can think of that's too hard for the Lord? What's hard for him? A common cold? If somebody has a cold or a flu, and they say, "Would you pray for me?" "Sure, I'll pray for you.'Lord, heal this cold.' "But then somebody else says, "I have stage four cancer, would you pray for me?" "Oooh." Well, that is hard for you, but is it too hard for the Lord? Is anything too hard for the Lord? It's always a good question to ask ourselves. Somebody once said, "When God wants to do something wonderful, he starts with a difficulty. When he wants to do something really wonderful, he starts with an impossibility."

Thousands of people have gathered. This is not like Galilee. Around the Sea of Galilee there were fish in that lake. There were towns everywhere. And there were thousands upon thousands of people that lived on the crowded shores of Galilee two thousand years ago. But now they are in a different area, more of a wilderness, more of a sparse populated area known as the Decapolis.

Remember that word from last week, the Decapolis? Deka--polis; ten cities. These are Greco-Roman cities, ten of them. The Decapolis was the--look at it as the Roman Empire on the easternmost frontier from Rome. The easternmost Roman frontier had ten cities that had a Greek culture occupied by the Romans, largely Gentile occupied. And it was more austere in terms of its geography, so it wasn't as comfortable and as populated and as abundant as the Sea of Galilee.

So, his disciples answered, "How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?" I think the key to understanding this is the term "these people" in the text. "How can one satisfy these people." It's not like they have forgotten the miracle Jesus pulled off and they are completely idiots about this whole thing. It's the only word I can think of; I mean, you'd have to be idiotic to have seen a miracle where God created food and then go, "You know, like, I don't know what we're going to do."

So, they're not that bad off. They would not forget that. But the key to the interpretation is realizing: "Look, I don't know how this is going to happen. I didn't know how the last thing could happen, but how can one satisfy these people?" Now, the reference here is to the Gentile people. "It's one thing for you, Jesus, the Jewish Messiah to feed Jewish people who are expecting their Messiah, but we are outside of the covenant geography. We are in the Decapolis area. We are in an area inhabited by non-Jewish people. You're the Jewish Messiah; what on earth would you have to do with these people?"

Remember Jews had no dealings with Gentiles. And strict Jews wouldn't even walk down a street where a Gentile had walked without placing his robes close to his body. Now, Jesus is getting these guys ready for the Great Commission to "go into all the world." "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." Well, Jesus can't drop that on them just before he leaves. "Oh, boys, by the way, not just to the Jews, but to the whole world go."

Because they wouldn't retain that; they had been conditioned to only deal with Jewish people and believe that the promises of the Bible are for the Jews. Jesus wants to show them that his message isn't just for the Jews, his salvation isn't just for the Jews, his love isn't just for the Jews, his compassion isn't just for the Jews--it's for the whole world. It's for the Decapolis, as well as every other place. So they're sort of wondering about: "Why is Jesus dealing with these people?"

So he asked them, without having to explain it, just, "'how many loaves do you have?' And they said, 'Seven.' So he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground." Now notice this, "He took the seven loaves and gave thanks." If you ever wonder why do we pray before we have a meal in public, it's a "private thing." Jesus did it in a Gentile, unbelieving area.

Now, I am sure that when he sat down and he had these loaves of bread and he started praying for them that maybe the disciples, and certainly the crowd would have thought, "Well, that's sort of selfish. He's about to say grace and eat his meal in front of us," not knowing that he was simply blessing the food in order to distribute it. So, again, keep in mind these disciples are thinking, "We're Jews, he's Jewish, these are Gentiles. Here we are; what are we doing here? Why would Jesus have compassion?"

And, yet, the only time that Jesus specifically declares that he is compassionate is in this incident when in verse 2 he says, "I have compassion. I have compassion on the multitude, this Gentile multitude because they have now continued with me three days." So he commands them to sit down. He gives a word of thanksgiving, a blessing; he breaks it, gives it to the disciples, the disciples give it to the multitudes.

There's an interesting principle here. Jesus does feed the Jews first. He gives it to his disciples first. The disciples give it to the multitudes second. That's a principle that we find even in Paul's writings, that God's mercy and grace is "to the Jew first and also to the Gentile." So, he feeds them, but then he wants the disciples to be a part of feeding the multitudes.

Now, think about this: did Jesus have to have the disciples even involved in the process? Not at all. He could have just said, "Boys, just back up. Watch this. Check this out." Raised his hands--foom. Instant manna falls from heaven. Happened before in the wilderness, could happen then. Or, "Boys, back up." Foom--In-N-Out Burger right in their laps. [laughter] Or I should be more geography specific, Blake's Lotaburger with green chile, and a slab of cheese, perhaps. [applause] Very unkosher, but these are Gentiles, could've worked.

Jesus could have done that. He didn't need to give it to them and have them give it to the crowd. Why did he? Simple, he's teaching them the lesson of the Great Commission, "Go into all the world." "For God so loved the world." And he's showing them that God wants to do a work in the world, but he wants to use us to help him do the work.

Do you think God needs you to do his work? Well, in case you don't know, let me give you the news flash--no, he doesn't. He doesn't need any of us to do his work. But he condescends; he limits himself to using imperfect tools to get the job done--us. He says, "Here, take this bread. You be the instrument in distributing it to the multitude. I want to use you. I want to use your gifts, your talents." He doesn't need you.

Now, I've heard sermons: "God needs you, God wants to do a work and he needs you. Are you doing your part?" He doesn't need me; he doesn't need you. In fact, to prove that point, in the end of days in Revelation, chapter 14, God will dispatch an angel to fly through heaven to preach the everlasting Gospel to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people on earth. He's going to get the job done once and for all where the whole world will hear the Gospel by an angel proclaiming it all around the earth, all around the globe.

Now, I've read that before going, "Why didn't he just start that from the beginning in every generation? Just—"Here goes the angel. He's going to make his weekly tour around the world and say the words and do miracles." God has determined that he wants to use imperfect tools. You go, "Why?" Because then he gets more glory. "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, the things that are weak to confound those that are mighty. So that no flesh would glory in his presence."

Here's the deal: If a surgical team left the United States tonight on a Boeing 747 equipped with all of the medical equipment that you could imagine aboard that plane, and landed in the heart of Africa, and with all of the latest equipment was able to perform surgeries and help a community, we'd say, "Well, that's a nice gesture." But if a couple of surgeons with Swiss Army knives and a few little alcohol swabs were able to go into the same part of Africa and perform surgeries and bring healing, you'd go, "Amazing doctors; amazing skills. These people are outstanding." So, when God does a wonderful work through limited means, he gets more glory.

So, take heart. I love that. I read stuff like this, I go, "I'm in, sign me up. If you'll take anybody, I'll be one of the anybodies. I'll be one of the whosoevers. I'll be one of the people who say, 'Here I am, Lord, send me.' "That's what the disciples are.

He breaks the bread, gives it to them, they disperse it to the multitude. "They also," verse 7, "had a few small fish; having blessed them," so, he prays a second time, "he said to set them also before them. So they ate and were filled." Glutted is the word; they were completely satisfied, satiated. "And they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments. Now those who had eaten were about four thousand. And he sent them away."

I mentioned that these baskets aren't the small, little lunch baskets as in chapter 6. This is a different word--large baskets, hampers. Some of you will remember Acts, chapter 9, when Paul was at Damascus and he got into trouble. And they wanted to kill him in Damascus, so the disciples, it says, let him over the wall in a--what? A basket. It has to be a pretty large basket to put a human being in. That's the word used there and here. That's the kind of basket we're talking about--seven large hamper-like baskets.

Now, I just want to throw something in, because to me it's fascinating, and it goes along with what we're saying. Bring your mind all the way back to Deuteronomy. In chapter 7 of Deuteronomy the Lord begins that chapter by saying, "When the Lord God brings into the land that you're about to go in and possess, he will drive out the nations from before you." This is the land of Canaan; this is the land of Israel that they're occupying now. "He's going to give you the land and he's going to take all of the nations out."

And then he mentions them: "Girgashites, Hivites"--now, let me start again. "Girgashites, Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Jebusites, Hivites," and I forget the other one, termites, turn out the lights, something like that. [laughter] One of the other "-ites." "Seven nations." Seven nations that occupied that land. How many loaves were there? How many large baskets of leftovers? Seven. Seems to be a correspondent truth that Mark wants us to get across.

These Gentiles nations that God would cast out, Jesus is saying, "I have a heart for. I am compassionate for them." And the word, by the way, that he uses in verse 2, "I have compassion" is three words in English, one word in Greek--splagchnizomai. It's a long word--splagchnizomai. It speaks of the intestine, the gut. "I feel deeply within me compassion for these people." And he displayed it by the way he fed them and provided for them. Now, those who had eaten," verse 9, "were about four thousand, and he sent them away."

Now, just a final note before we jump into the next paragraph. One of the greatest writers you can ever read on ancient history, biblical history, is a guy by the name of Alfred Edersheim, Alfred Edersheim. And he has a very interesting note, he says, "Every single phase of Jesus' ministry he ended with a feeding." When he was done ministering in Galilee, he ended it with the feeding of the five-thousand.

When he was done ministering to the Gentiles, the second phase of his ministry, he ended it with this, the feeding of the four thousand. When he was done with his Judean ministry, just before the cross, he ended it with a third feeding, the Last Supper for his disciples, before the cross.

Verse 10, "Immediately after he sent them away, immediately got into the boat with his disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha." Now, I hope you're going, "Where in the world is Dalmanutha?" Good question. Dalmanutha--this is the only mention of that place in the Bible. It is mentioned in ancient literature, ancient Jewish literature, but this is the only mention in the Bible.

In Matthew's account of this it says they sailed to a place called Magdala. Who is from Magdala? Mary Magdalene, Mary of Magdala, the little town just north of Tiberias on the southwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. That is ancient Dalmanutha, in New Testament times Magdala, or Magadan some of the texts say, and that's where they sailed.

If you've been with us to Israel, do you remember the day when we get into the boat that crosses the Sea of Galilee? We start at the dock in Tiberias, and then we start sailing? And we start sailing along the western shore and we end up in a place called Gennesar or the Plain of Gennesaret. And so we kind of take the little corner of the lake and we have a little service out there on the lake.

And as we skirt the shore there's these bulrushes that are growing up, and there's a set of ruins off to our left, just a set of ruins, archaeological digs. That's the area of Dalmanutha, right off to our left; picture the boat. I know some of you haven't been there, say "That's not fair." Well, come to Israel and you can check it out. Remind me and I'll point out Dalmanutha to you. That's where they came.

Now, watch this, they hit the shore, "Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven, testing him." Of course, these nincompoops start showing up everywhere. This is like the God squad, you know, they're just going to follow Jesus around. It seems like what really irks them is the fact that the crowds are taken by him, and they're starting to follow him, and they're pressing in around him. And his popularity is growing, and their popularity is shrinking. And out of sheer envy and jealousy in the name of "religion" they start arguing with him.

And it sounds funny, "We want to see a sign." And I would say, "Have you boys been following me the last week? How does feeding four thousand do for you?" What on earth are they talking about, "a sign"? Well, this is different. Notice it says, "a sign from heaven." The typical word that Mark uses for miracles, he doesn't use here. Usually he uses the word dunamis, which is dynamic, some dynamic, miraculous sign or wonder. Here the word is sémeion, and it's a different idea; it's a sign from heaven.

They want God the Father to personally authenticate Jesus in front of them. Remember when Jesus was baptized and John the Baptist had that authentication—a dove came out of heaven, the Lord spoke out of heaven, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased"? They want that. They want a personal, heavenly manifestation from God the Father giving Jesus Christ the authority as their Messiah.

Now, why would they ask that? Well, in Deuteronomy, chapters 13 and 18, it anticipates that even false prophets will be able to come along and work miracles, and bring people with them, bring people as followers of them. So, in Deuteronomy 13 and Deuteronomy 18 it says if somebody comes and performs miracles but draws you away from the word of truth, the Torah of God, the law of God, he's a false prophet; don't tolerate it.

So, there must be some authentication, and that would be that what he predicts coming to pass wouldn't be come to pass. So, "We want a sémeion. We want a sign. We want some divine authentication from God, from heaven that you are that Messiah."

Verse 12, this is just--I just--certain things just blow my mind I just love about Jesus, but he sighed deeply. Can you just picture it? It's like--sigh. Ever been just so frustrated with somebody who just are persistently blind or they just are persistently against you, and they just will not see and you just--sigh. He's just totally exasperated.

In fact, it's a very rare word, to sigh deeply. It's a word that is found nowhere else in Scripture, and found thirty times in all of ancient Greek literature. It means to be so totally fed up and exasperated with their persistent unbelief that he just says, "I'm done with you. I'm done."

In fact, watch, "He sighed deeply in his Spirit, and said, 'Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given this generation.' And he left them." He just turned around, didn't even acknowledge their request, and walked away. He was done. He was fed up. "And getting into the boat he departed to the other side."

"Now, the disciple had forgotten to take bread." So, they're in the boat, they're going across the Sea of Galilee, this time to the northeast side, Bethsaida, as you'll see. "The disciples have forgotten to take bread; they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. Then he charged them, saying, 'Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.' And they reasoned among themselves saying, 'It's because we have no bread.' "

Interesting insight into how these guys thought, you know. And, again, I read about the disciples, and I just, I'm just so glad the Bible records this stuff; makes me feel better about myself. They're all getting in a tizzy and full of drama because they have one loaf of bread. Well, it was a long boat ride. Remember one of the boat rides lasted more than eight hours crossing that lake, because of a storm. "We only have one loaf of bread, there's a whole bunch of us."

And so here they are worried about the bread, lamenting that they only have one loaf of bread, and Jesus wants to use what just happened with the feeding and with the Pharisees as a sign to teach them a deeper truth about evil. And so he uses the term leaven. He said, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees," he just had an encounter with them, "and the leaven of Herod." And they thought or "They reasoned among themselves, saying, 'It's because we have no bread.' "

Now stop for a moment. Can you see the problems when humans get together and reason among themselves without asking the Lord? Churches do this all the time. They have committees and they talk and they discuss, and they have this meeting and that meeting. Did you ever stop and pray? Now, think about it, who's standing right in front of them? Jesus.

All they had to do is say, "Uh, pardon me, what do you mean by that exactly?" And then it's over, they don't have to kvetch anymore. But they go, "Oh, man, we're just so really bummed out; we didn't bring any bread. He's really mad. That's like a passive-aggressive statement. He's trying to get our attention by saying--" [laughter] Just ask him, talk to him, and then you'll be okay.

Now, he's talking about leaven. Leaven is a sign of evils. Leaven, yeast is put in bread to make it rise, and it permeates, it goes through the whole thing. And typically in the Bible it's used to speak of the spread of evil. "Beware of the leaven," the evil that spreads quickly, "of Pharisees and of Herod." You go, "Well, what does he mean exactly?" Well, here's where you need to compare accounts.

In Matthew's account of this, Jesus says, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees," and then he says, "beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees," or the teachings, so that is false teaching of these religious legalists. And as some of you know, legalism, the teaching of legalism like yeast, like a cancer insidiously can spread through God's people. "Beware of that," Jesus said.

In Luke's gospel, Jesus said, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy." So, that's even worse, when you're all religious and put on airs, and you're so legalistic, but you're a hypocrite while you're saying it that's even worse. Beware of that, Jesus said, "and of Herod." There was a group of people called Herodians who sought to change the spiritual temperature of the nation by political means. I know people that try to do that today. It's all about their political agenda, their party, their candidate. Beware of that, Jesus said.

They reasoned because they had no bread. "So Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, 'Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? Having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves and for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?' They said, 'Twelve.'

"'Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of baskets did you take up?' They said, 'Seven.' He said to them, 'How is it you do not understand?' Wow, can I just say, I'm glad I wasn't in that boat. Have you ever had somebody say, "Man, I wish I was living during the time of Jesus." Really? You want to be hanging out with--"Yeah, I want to be one of those disciples."

Well, you're going to have some episodes like this. I'd hate to be that rebuked by Jesus, and it's not the first time. It's, like, "Are you dudes, like, totally clueless? Do you--cannot figure this out? Do you not remember what I've done? Are you hearts still heartened?" Followers of Jesus Christ can have hardened hearts. One of the biggest problems for spiritual people or moral people is this--hardness of the heart. And it's tied to something.

Verse 18, "And do you not remember?" When you fail to remember, your heart is susceptible to hardening, spiritual speaking. I don't mean hardening of the arteries. I'm not talking arteriolosclerosis here; I'm talking about a spiritual condition. When you fail to remember God's mercies for you, and your spiritual history, and you fail to remember that, when you put that out of your mind, your heart could harden. You don't stay tender anymore. You become entitled. You can become angry, bitter, because you forget, your memory fails.

So he says, "How is it that do not understand?" The Lord was speaking about the persistent unbelief that existed in the Pharisees and existed in the Herodians, and that spread like leaven does through bread. And, perhaps, was already a part of that group of disciples even though they had seen so much and heard so much that Jesus had said and done, and it spreads quickly.

Verse 22, "Then he came to Bethsaida; and they found a blind man." Not he found, they found a blind man. Or, "They brought a blind man to him, and begged him to touch him. So he took the blind man by the hand, led him out of the town. And when he had spit on his eyes and put his hands on him, he asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and he said, 'I see men like trees, walking.' Then he put his hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and he saw everyone clearly. And then he sent him away to his house, saying, 'Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town.' "

Mark is the only one that records this very interesting incident, and it is the only time in Scripture where Jesus touched somebody twice, not once. This bothers some people. Some people think, "Well, what happened with Jesus? Was there, like, a power shortage going on in his messiahship? You know, is he, like, warming up, then had to kind of get it right?"

First of all, I want you to notice that they brought him somebody who was blind. "They" being whoever they were in that town. "They" being probably friends of his or relatives of his. It reminds me of chapter 2, the lame man, the paralyzed man whose friends brought the man to Jesus and the crowd was so thick that they had to open up the roof and let him down on the ropes. I love friends who love their friends so much that their priority is: "We gotta get them to Jesus." That's the best thing you can do for your friends--get them to Jesus, tell them about Jesus.

"Hey, our friend is suffering, what do we do?" Bring them to Jesus. So they look for him and they brought him to Jesus. It wasn't that man's faith. I don't think that man had any expectations. He's just sort of, like, he's blind, they're just leading him along, and it was their faith. Is that important? It's huge.

There is a doctrine that has been going around; it's still prevalent today, that says, "You will not be healed unless you personally have the faith. And if you're not healed, it's because you didn't have enough faith, brother, sister. You're living a Satan-defeated life; shame on you. You could walk in perfect health. You could name it and claim it. You could blab it and grab it. It will be yours. [laughter] But the only reason you're not walking in that perfect health is because you don't have enough faith."

There's no record of this man having any faith. But evidently his friends had the faith that when Jesus hit the shore in that boat, they thought, "We gotta get him to Him." And they brought their friend to Jesus.

"So he took the blind man." Jesus had to grab him by the hand. What a tender picture of the Lord directing him around obstacles, and he leads the man out of town. Why? I mean, he's in town, why didn't he just stay in town and do it? He leads him out of town away from the crowd, away from the relatives, away from the people.

Here's what I believe: our Lord has already pronounced a judgment on this town, Bethsaida, along with Capernaum: "Woe unto you, Bethsaida! Woe unto you, Capernaum! Woe unto you Chorazin! If the signs and miracles done unto you had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have repented long ago." And he consigned them to judgment. Their hearts were hardened. His doing a miracle with that kind of unbelief would only just stir things up, would not further his cause at all.

So it's like: "This is between me and this guy," leads him out of town, and then he puts spit on his eyes. The idea of a disease--encrusted eyeball covered in human spittle--did I describe that adequately enough? [laughter] Well, it's repulsive to most of us. What is going on? Why is he doing this? It was not that uncommon actually; it was believed that certain--under certain conditions human spittle could actually bring healing.

But this is in two stages. [spits] Sticks his hands in the guy's eye, rubs that spittle around in those disease-crusted eyes. We don't know why he's blind. There was a number of reasons for it. But he's rubbing it around, and then he says, "What do you see?" "Uh, I see men like trees walking." "Okay, well, come here. Let me do this again." Lays hands on him. "Now, what do you see?" "I see perfectly clear."

Why? Why in two stages? Why not just an instant healing? It's not that he's getting warmed up. It's not that there's a power shortage; I hope you know that. He's already raised dead people. He's already cast demons out of people. It's not like this is hard for him. It's not like: "Yeah, you know, I didn't recharge my battery last night; this is really tough."

Here's what is happening, I believe: in touching him the first time he enabled the man for the first time to see light, color, shapes, though not clearly defined. Just that would have prompted a certain kind of faith to well up inside of him. And he put his faith and he would put his trust in Jesus, so that the next time it was a response to that man's faith. Touched him again, "Now what do you see?" "I see everything perfectly clear," 20/20 vision the second time.

He did it to draw out his faith as he has done so many times with the woman who touch the hem of his garment, had the flow of blood for twelve years, several occasions, the man whose daughter died. He always would draw out faith from the people that he was ministering to.

"And then he sent him away into his house saying 'Neither go into the town.' "So, evidently he didn't live in that town, but Jesus was there, so his friends brought him to that town. He didn't live in Bethsaida; he lived somewhere else. Jesus says go home, "'don't even go back to town, nor tell anyone in the town.' Now Jesus and his disciples went to the towns of Caesarea Philippi"

Okay, here's what you need to know: after verse 26 you could draw a line in your Bible. It's a dividing line; it's a turning point. A turning point into everything we have read so far in the Gospel account and everything that will follow. Scholars call this the "Continental Divide" of the Gospels. Everything before this point Jesus has been ministering to the masses, to the crowds. He's been doing miracles for the people. He's been showing himself to the Jewish nation and then to Gentile nations that he is the promised Messiah, and he's been teaching the crowds principally in Galilee.

Now Jesus leaves Galilee and everything will be focused from here on out, not to teaching the crowds, but to teaching the twelve, the disciples, training them, getting them ready for his suffering, his death, his resurrection; preparing them for what is coming. And all of his focus won't be the healing, won't be the crowds, but the disciples. And so we call that the Continental Divide. He's preparing them.

"Jesus and his disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked his disciples, saying to them, 'Who do men say that I am?' And they answered, 'John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.' But he said to them, 'Who do you say that I am?' Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ.' "

Let me paint the picture: Caesarea Philippi is twenty-five miles north from Galilee. It is a beautiful spot. It's probably one of the prettiest spots on a tour to Israel. The day that we go up north and we go to Tel Dan--do you remember Tel Dan? How many of you have been to Israel, raise your hand? Okay, do you remember Tel Dan way up in the north? It's where the Jordan River begins, very green, and in the summer it's very cool.

It's at the base of the highest mountain in the Middle East called Mount Hermon. There's snow on Mount Hermon year round; that's how tall it is. The Jordan River begins here. Caesarea Philippi was a town built by Herod Philip. Remember the whole Herod mess? Herod Philip built a town for Caesar Augustus to honor him. And by this time Caesar Augustus who reigned as emperor a total of fifty-seven years, he was deified by the Romans; they called him "lord."

In fact, this is one of the reasons the early church got into trouble is because they were told to stand at a statue once a year and put a pinch of incense in front of the statue and say, "Kaisar kurios," Caesar is Lord. And Christians refused to do this. They wouldn't grab the incense, and they would in defiance say, "Jesus Christ is Lord," and they'd kill them for that. So, already in that area, in that town, Caesar was being deified, worshiped.

Also in Caesarea Philippi there were fourteen temples to different gods. Not only to Caesar, but to Baal the Old Testament deity, Baal worship, and temples to another god called Pan, P-A-N. Some of you know who that is, or what that is. It's a false god in Greek mythology, half man, half goat, plays a little flute called a pan flute. That's where it comes from.

According to the myth, Pan, that god, was born in a cave nearby, the same cave where the Jordan River comes out of the rock. Jesus deliberately takes his disciples to a place that had false worship of other gods, other deities to make a comparison between who he is and who they are, and also to the very source of the lifeblood of the nation, the source of the Jordan River.

Now, the Jordan River has three sources: the Dan River, the Hasbani River, and the Banias River--all flow into the Jordan. And if you've been with us, we go over just those three tributaries that flow into the larger Jordan River. Josephus the historian tells us that originally the water flowed out this cave at the base of Mount Hermon, but eventually an earthquake came and it fell in. Today you can see that cave and you can see the remains of the earthquake spoken of by Josephus, and you can see the river coming out of the diverted part of that mountain.

It was important to the Jews; that was the source of what they called living water. It was important to the Greeks; it was the birth of their god Pan. It was important to the Romans; they deified Caesar. So, with all these different belief systems, Jesus takes them there to set himself in contrast to them, and says, "Who do men say that I am?" and the different opinions vary. We've already discussed this at length a number of times.

Second question on the test, the most important: "Who do you say that I am?" Peter said, "You are the Christ." Matthew gives us the whole answer, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Christ--Christos, means Messiah; mashiach is the same as Christos. Messiah and Christ are the same. Christ was not his last name. It's not, like, "Mr. Christ," and then, "This is Jesus, and that's his last name, Christ." No, Jesus was his first name; Christ was his title as the Messiah.

The word Christ, the word Messiah means to smear. The idea is to smear with oil. So Messiah literally means "the smeared one" or "the anointed one," because in the Old Testament there were three groups of people that they smeared with oil. Do you remember who they were? Prophets, priests, and kings. Priests first; later on when the prophets started developing, prophets; and then the kings of Israel.

Now, because of this third group, the anointing of kings, the original concept among the Jews of Messiah sprang forth. They saw the coming Messiah as a conquering king. And because of the Babylonian captivity in 586 BC, the monarchy, the Jewish monarchy let them down, was birthed a hunger to see somebody greater than David, the first real king after Saul, to come and deliver the Jews and to set up the kingdom age.

So, there was this growing intensity by the time of the New Testament for a king, a monarch, a deliverer, a Messiah. So they were looking for a political Messiah. They were looking for a military Messiah. Jesus wants to show them that you won't understand the Messiah unless you see him as a crucified Messiah. So, "Who do you say that I am?" "You are the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God."

They got that right, but watch this: "Then he strictly warned them that they should tell no one about him." Now later on he'll reverse that and say, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." But right now he doesn't want to have some kind of a rebellion, a revolt, have Rome come in and just destroy this whole thing. So he says, "Keep that part quiet." There's already crowds everywhere following 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. He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned around and looked at the disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, 'Get behind me, Satan!' "I told you there's sometimes you just don't want to be in that boat, or you don't want to be in the gang, or hanging around with Jesus.

I mean, it's like Peter, it's like ugh! Peter got the answer right, "You're the Christ." Probably felt really good about that, now he feels pretty low. "For you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men." Completely misunderstood the idea of who the Messiah was. If you're going to understand Messiah, you have to see him as a sin-bearer. And they didn't get that part yet, so this is all part of the education, the discipleship, the training of these twelve, getting them ready for the Great Commission.

Well, our time is up. I mean I could go on for another hour, but you couldn't and the children's ministry couldn't. Probably some of you could; I didn't mean that as slur, but times up. Let's pray.

Lord, as amazed as I am in reading the account of the Lord Jesus, I'm even more amazed reading the account of these disciples, these frail, common men. And the story is so truthful and so honest. So vulnerable are they, so weak, so filled with doubt and questions and hardness of heart, so filled with their own issues and their own personal ambition and their own misunderstanding. And I like that, I'm heartened by it, I'm encouraged by it, because they reflect me so often, and how patient you are with us.

Yet, you want to speak directly to the heart. And even your rebukes are filled with compassion and tender mercy. Thank you for your compassion, Lord. As Jeremiah the prophet said, "They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness." Lord, some of us are facing difficulties; others of us are facing an impossibility. I pray, Father, you will do something wonderful. Give us faith and in spite of our weak, faltering, and even absent faith, I pray that you would do great things in us and among us.

You know the issues we struggle with, with health, with family, with the economy, with plans that have gone awry. We are broken people. We come before a God who can do anything. You touched the bread and you fed a multitude. You touched a blind man and he walked away with perfect 20/20 vision. Touch us, Lord, in this time of gathering and worship that our understanding of you would be furthered, that our faith in you would be deepened. That we would, as we have sung even at the beginning of this service, walk upon the water. In those impossible situations we're walking with you, Jesus, amen.

Additional Messages in this Series

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4/3/2013
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Mark 1:1-31
Mark 1:1-31
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The gospel of Mark is a fast-paced, action-packed read—a small package full of great things! In chapter 1, we encounter John, a messenger who prepared the way for and baptized Jesus. Jesus was immediately sent into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. He then began His ministry—gathering four fishermen as unlikely disciples, casting out an unclean spirit, and healing Peter's mother-in-law.
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4/10/2013
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Mark 1:32-2:20
Mark 1:32-2:20
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Jesus Christ, the selfless Servant, is not "willing that any should perish" (2 Peter 3:9). He came in the flesh and touched contagious, sick, and demon-possessed people—He healed them and He forgave their sins. He ate with tax collectors and sinners—the ones that needed to be saved. The Pharisees scorned Him for that. But He didn't mind, because He didn't come to pour new life into an old system, He came to bring something brand new.
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4/24/2013
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Mark 2:21-3:35
Mark 2:21-3:35
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Jesus Christ is the rightful King who possesses ultimate authority. His authority is one of compassion before custom. In this text, Jesus heals and cares for people in ways that are in direct opposition to the rules and customs of the Jewish culture. Through His words and actions, He elevates the importance of relationships and compassion over religious traditions.
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5/1/2013
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Mark 4
Mark 4
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"To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God" (Mark 4:11). One of the ways that Jesus taught was through parables. On many occasions, Jesus shared a story of something familiar—farming or shepherding, for instance—in order to reveal truths that were previously unknown. These were stories with a message. Jesus wanted to teach the people spiritual things; He did it by showing them physical things. The power of a good, well-told story drives the truth home so that it can be applied in the life of the hearer.
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5/15/2013
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Mark 5:1-35
Mark 5:1-35
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Jesus has compassion on everyone who is lost and entangled with the enemy of God, Satan. From this study of Jesus’ encounter with a demon-possessed man, we learn that while Satan desires to rob us of joy and see us condemned to eternal judgment, Jesus has ultimate power and has already defeated this enemy.
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5/22/2013
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Mark 5:30-6:13
Mark 5:30-6:13
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God is not a prisoner to the laws of nature—He is God of the extraordinary. The miracles Jesus and his disciples performed validate who Jesus is and they reveal the heart of God. In this study, we learn to face life's difficulties, while remembering that God is good. Both faith and unbelief are powerful—and they carry eternal consequences.
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5/29/2013
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Mark 6:7-56
Mark 6:7-56
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Jesus made His disciples apostles by sending them out to deliver His message. That message was heard by Herod, whose worldly sorrow led to death—the death of John the Baptist. When Jesus invited His messengers to go with Him to a quiet place and rest, they discovered a multitude of people in need of compassion and teaching, like sheep without a shepherd. As believers, we too are called to become apostles—careful to share the gospel with those in need.
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6/12/2013
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Mark 6:45-7:23
Mark 6:45-7:23
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In this study, we learn that obedience to God's Word does not always equal smooth sailing. Yet, the Pharisees were more concerned with being ceremonially pure than morally upright. We must remember that God is first concerned with our inward attitudes before our outward actions.
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6/19/2013
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Mark 7:24-37
Mark 7:24-37
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No matter what we do, we cannot get to Heaven based on our own merit. Jesus came to earth to offer His life as a sacrifice so we could be reconciled to God and fellowship with Him. In this study, we see Jesus demonstrate His amazing love by seeking outsiders to bring into His covenant. We're reminded that God alone can satisfy us, and He offers His salvation as a gift, but first we must receive it.
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7/10/2013
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Mark 8:34-9:41
Mark 8:34-9:41
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Jesus presented two lifestyles to His disciples: They could deny themselves or live for themselves. Today, we face the same decision. Will we embrace the cross or ignore it? In this study, we learn that if we choose to follow Jesus, we must be willing to serve others, dethrone ourselves, abandon our personal ambition, and submit to God's will for our lives.
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8/7/2013
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Mark 9:42-50
Mark 9:42-50
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Jesus explained that the faith of true believers would be like the faith of a child: simple, open, and dependent. In this study, we learn a tough message from Jesus about how we should deal with our sins and take care of younger believers. As His followers, we must remember that we were bought with a price and our lives should be consumed with His glory.
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8/14/2013
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Mark 10:1-52
Mark 10:1-52
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As Jesus continued His journey to Jerusalem where He would be crucified, He knew He still had divine appointments with people—appointments that would change lives and teach timeless truths. In this study, we see Jesus address self-righteousness, salvation, servanthood, and what it truly means to have sight.
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8/21/2013
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Mark 11:1-33
Mark 11:1-33
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Mark 11 opens with Jesus' triumphant and peaceful entry into Jerusalem. As He encounters the chief priests, scribes, and elders in the temple, Jesus proves His rightful authority, God demonstrates His amazing sovereignty, and we gain insight about how our lives should look as we follow Jesus.
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8/28/2013
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Mark 12:1-44
Mark 12:1-44
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Jesus often spoke in parables, presenting earthly stories with heavenly meanings to all who would listen. However, the religious leaders would challenge Jesus, waiting for Him to make a mistake. Instead, the truths He proclaimed would stumble them. As we look at His responses to the religious leaders, we learn about stewardship and the greatest commandment.
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9/4/2013
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Mark 13:1-37
Mark 13:1-37
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In Mark 13, Jesus addresses His disciples in what is known as the Olivet Discourse. He warns them about spiritual warfare, false prophets, and the coming tribulation for the nation of Israel. As we study this teaching from Jesus, we are reminded as believers to be alert and to get busy telling the good news of Jesus Christ.
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9/11/2013
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Mark 14:1-26
Mark 14:1-26
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As we consider Jesus' last days on the earth, we look at His Last Supper with the disciples and get a glimpse into the hearts of some people who spent time with Him. In this study, we see Jesus' tender and unconditional love and are reminded to take every opportunity for personal intimacy with our Lord.
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9/18/2013
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Mark 14:26-72
Mark 14:26-72
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In Mark 14, we see Jesus preparing for His death on the cross, His trial before the Sanhedrin, and Peter's denial. As we study these moments, we understand the need for believers to be engaged in spiritual battle through prayer, Bible study, and being in the Lord's presence. We are also encouraged through Peter's life that even when we fail, God's grace covers us.
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9/25/2013
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Mark 15:1-32
Mark 15:1-32
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Jesus' claims to be God were so offensive to the Jewish leaders that they gave Jesus an unfair trial—even breaking their own rules—so they could have Him killed. As we examine the trials and beatings that led up to the crucifixion, we learn who the real Judge is and see the extent of Christ's love for us.
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10/2/2013
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Mark 15:22-47
Mark 15:22-47
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The early church leaders drew an interesting comparison between the sacrifice of Jesus and the near-sacrifice of Abraham's son, Isaac. We know God stopped Isaac's sacrifice, but He allowed Jesus to die on the cross. He acted as Judge: giving Jesus what we deserved and giving us what Jesus deserved. As we continue this study in Mark 15, we are reminded to keep Christ's sacrifice for us fresh in our memories.
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10/9/2013
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Mark 16:1-20
Mark 16:1-20
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The resurrection of Christ is the greatest miracle in all of history; it was central in the apostle's teachings. They wanted everyone to know that Jesus conquered death! As we wrap up our study in Mark, we learn about the evidence for the resurrection. But it's not enough to just have the facts. Our lives are a witness and testimony to the people around us, so we must allow these truths to transform our lives.
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There are 20 additional messages in this series.
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