Mark 8:1-9
Their Bread’s Bad
The miracle recorded here is similar to the miracle recorded in Mark
6:44. It is NOT the same miracle, but it is similar. You can see the
differences very quickly by comparing them.
1. They happened at different places. The feeding of the 5,000
happened on the north end of the Sea of Galilee, not at but
closer to Capernaum. The feeding of the 4,000, happened as
we noted last time at or near the "coasts of Decapolis,"
\\#Mark 7:24\\ on the east side of the Sea of Galilee and
much farther south.
2. They happened at different times. We are not sure how much
time has passed, but the Bible has recorded several things
taking place since Jesus fed the 5,000—including Jesus
walking on water.
3. And the numbers were different.
a. The number of people were different, 5,000 vs 4,000.
b. The number of baskets were different, 12 vs 7.
c. The number of loaves were different, 5 vs 7.
d. And in the feeding of the 4,000, we are never told how
many fish Jesus started with.
4. Beside all of that, Matthew and Mark record both miracles, and
it would be hard to do that if one of them didn’t happen!
Why record two miracles which are almost identical? Maybe to show
that Jesus did repeat things. He did similar miracles, had similar
conversations, and preached similar messages in different places.
Why would Jesus do that? Because people in different places need the
same help and because different people in the same places need the
same help.
In this case, I believe Mark chose to record this miracle because it
connected with a lesson that Jesus shared shortly after in verse
\\#10-21\\.
Let’s consider three thoughts this evening.
I. Jesus was weary of the people’s sign seeking.
Mark 8:12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit,
and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a
sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign
be given unto this generation.
A. What was the sign this people was seeking?
1. Another miracle. Another healing. Another helping.
2. I mentioned this the last time.
a. Jesus did not mind helping people, but there was a
help they needed more than a healing.
(1) More than a miracle, they needed a sermon.
(2) They needed the truth.
(3) A miracle could help their bodied, but the truth
could save their souls.
(4) But what did they want? miracles, signs, helps,
healing.
b. And once the miracles started, they did not stop.
(1) Our bodies are broken.
(2) People were/are hurting. People were/are dying.
(3) Sure they did and we would want to be healed,
feed, and helped.
c. But Jesus did not come to seek and to save the hungry.
d. He came to seek and to save the lost.
e. And while miracles may help the body, only the truth
delivers the soul.
3. Jesus was trying to preach, but the people wanted signs and
miracles.
B. If Jesus was weary with that generation seeking a sign, He
must really be tired of this generation seeking prosperity.
1. That is today’s sign.
2. If you have God in your heart, your body is supposed to be
healed, your mind is supposed to be sound, and your
wallet is supposed to be full.
3. Oh how God must get tired of that!
4. But then I can think of other things He must get tired
of as well.
C. Jesus must get tired of our excuse making.
D. Jesus must get tired of our procrastinating.
E. Jesus must get tired of our compromising.
II. Jesus warned of the leaven of the Pharisees.
A. The Pharisees seemed to be following Jesus, and they were
definitely trying to trap Jesus.
Mark 8:10 And straightway he entered into a ship
with his disciples, and came into the parts of
Dalmanutha.
11 And the Pharisees came forth, and began to
question with him, seeking of him a sign from
heaven, tempting him.
1. Jesus was not in Jerusalem.
2. He had sailed to Dalmanutha which was on the west side of
the Sea of Galilee making Him some closer to Jerusalem,
but still many miles away.
3. The Pharisees have wanted to kill Jesus since
\\#Mark 3:6\\; but Jesus was not spending much time in
Jerusalem; and the longer it took the Pharisees to
gather (or to create) evidence against Jesus, the more
popular Jesus became.
4. So they quit waiting and started going to where Jesus was.
B. After dealing with the Pharisees, Jesus warned the disciples
about them.
Mark 8:15 And he charged them, saying, Take
heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and
of the leaven of Herod.
1. Leaven is any agent put into a bread to make it rise.
a. Yeast is what is most commonly used by most Americans,
but there are others.
b. i.e. baking powder, baking soda, even Vitamin C
2. But in the Bible, leaven is a picture of sin.
1Cor 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not
with old leaven, neither with the leaven of
malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth.
3. Leaven is considered a picture of sin because:
a. It spreads like sin. A little mixing moves it every-
where.
b. It effects like sin. The whole loaf rises.
c. It combines like sin. Leaven is easy to put in and
impossible to get out.
d. Sin introduced into a family, a church, a state, or a
nation, quickly spreads through the whole, inter-
weaving with every aspect of it in such a way that it
is almost impossible to remove it.
(1) Our world is the most connected it has been since
Babel: radio, television, travel, education, and
now the internet.
(2) A sin or foolishness that is introduced in one
place spreads across the entire globe in a mere
rotation or two.
(3) The spread of sin has hastened our condition and
will hasten the Lord’s return.
4. When Jesus spoke of the leaven of the Pharisees, He was
speaking of everything that was wrong with them:
a. Their sinful ways
b. Their false doctrine
c. Their wrong wants
5. To be honest, there was not much about the Pharisees
that Jesus liked.
a. In fact, there was only one thing.
Matt 23:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you
observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after
their works: for they say, and do not.
b. The only good thing the Pharisees attempted to do was
to preach the importance of holiness and purity,
although that is all they did with it.
c. In everything else, they were perfect models of what
NOT to do.
d. Today, as much as ever, the church needs to beware of
the leaven of the Pharisees, the false religion.
(1) Again as is usually the case, popular religion
has almost everything wrong.
(2) They are more concerned…
(a) …with structures than with souls.
(b) …with crowds than with the cross.
(c) …with miracles than with the message.
(3) Beware them. They will lull you into a
perverted, powerless religion that not only
denies but denounces the Bible and those who
preach and stand on it.
6. But let’s not overlook the other leaven that Jesus warned
against.
Mark 8:15 …and of the leaven of Herod.
a. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, the peddlers of
false religion, but also beware the leaven of Herod,
the peddler of wicked government.
b. Bad government is not new.
(1) Every generation and almost every people have
faced bad government.
(2) What our country has had has not been perfect,
but it attempted to give the people the right
and the means to rule over themselves as opposed
to some emperor.
(3) And whether we like it or not, that is still
largely what is happening today.
(4) I know that ignorance and evil have corrupted it;
but if it is not the majority of people making
the decisions, it is an awful lot of people
making them.
c. The truth is the church did make it itself non-
essential and irrelevant a long time ago
(1) That happened the first time the government said,
"Here. Let me do that for you;" and the
church said, "Okay."
(a) When the government said, "Let me teach your
children;" and the church said, "Okay."
(b) When the government said, "Let me help the
poor;" and the church said, "Okay."
(c) When the government said, "Let me feed the
hungry;" and the church said, "Okay."
(d) When the government said, "Let me take care
of your old, your orphans, and your sick;"
and the church said, "Okay."
(2) We need to reread the Book.
(a) Those were not things God told the
government to do.
(b) Those were things God told the home and the
church to do.
d. Jesus said, "Beware the leaven."
e. Some of the meme have said, "Beware the cheese."
f. It is the same difference.
III. Jesus wondered at the disciples dullness.
Mark 8:16 And they reasoned among themselves,
saying, It is because we have no bread.
17 And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them,
Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive
ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your
heart yet hardened?
18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears,
hear ye not? and do ye not remember?
19 When I brake the five loaves among five
thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took
ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.
20 And when the seven among four thousand, how
many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And
they said, Seven.
21 And he said unto them, How is it that ye do
not understand?
A. Jesus was surprised that His disciples could be so thick.
1. Because Jesus used a term that related to bread, they
thought Jesus was upset that they forgot to pack a lunch.
2. Jesus could and had feed thousands with little of nothing.
3. Why would He be concerned that they had forgotten lunch?
B. But isn’t that just like us?
1. I wonder how many times Jesus has wondered at my
thickness?
a. We think of bellies and bodies instead of our souls
and spirits.
b. Jesus was concerned about dangerous doctrine and we
are concerned about peanut-butter sandwiches..
c. We need to ask Jesus’ question of ourselves!
2. How is it that we cannot understand…
a. …that He came to seek and to save the lost?
b. …that He said He came to die on the cross?
c. …that He said, "Take up your cross and follow Me?"
3. How is it that we cannot understand…
a. …a man gains nothing if he gains the whole world and
loses his soul?
b. …that we are to go unto all the world and preach the
gospel?
c. …that we are to study to show yourself approved unto
God?
4. How is it that we cannot understand…
a. …"study to show yourself approved unto God"?
b. …"forsaking not the assembling of ourselves
together"?
c. …"be ye holy as I the Lord your God am holy"?
d. …"pray without ceasing"?
5. Let’s try to answer His question: How is it that we do
not understand? How is it we do not these simple words
of our Lord?
a. To Jesus, it is the soul not the body that is
important.
b. To Jesus, it is the eternal not the temporal.
c. To Jesus, it is the message not the miracle.
When will we understand? This section of Scripture ends without an
answer to that question. It is an open-ended question. Maybe that
is because we, everyone of us, must answer it. Let’s answer it
tonight. How is it that we don’t understand?
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