This morning we are turning in the Old Testament to the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 5. I'll be reading verses 21 through 31. This is found on page 757 in our Pew Bible. Hear now the word of God. Now hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear. Do you not fear me, declares the Lord? Do you not tremble in my presence? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, an eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it. Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail. Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it. But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart. They have turned aside and departed. They do not say in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives rain in its season, both autumn rain and the spring rain, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have withheld good from you. For wicked men are found among my people. They watch like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap, they catch men. Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become great and rich, they are fat, they are sleek. They also excel in deeds of wickedness. They do not plead the cause, the cause of the orphan, that they may prosper. and they do not defend the rights of the poor. Shall I not punish these people, declares the Lord, on a nation such as this? Shall I not avenge myself? An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority, and my people love it so. But what will you do at the end of it? Now we turn in the New Testament to Mark chapter 8 and again today we are looking at verses 11 through 21. The Pharisees came out and began to argue with him seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. Sighing deeply in his spirit, he said, Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation. Leaving them, he again embarked and went away to the other side. And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. And he was giving orders to them, saying, Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up? They said to him, Twelve. When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up? And they said to him, Seven. And he was saying to them, Do you not yet understand? Let's pray and ask God's blessing. Lord, we thank you for your patience and kindness with slow and dull people, people like us. Give us now eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to understand and believe, and wills to obey. For we ask in Jesus' name, Amen. Last week we took our first look at this passage, and we saw the wickedness of the Pharisees. Coming out to attack Jesus, they demanded a sign from heaven in order to test Him. In their hubris, they believed they had every right to badger the Son of God with their questions. They demanded a sign and he better produce something sufficient to prove himself. This is really an outgrowth of their corrupt and misguided doctrinal package, which Jesus labels the leaven of the Pharisees. It's an expression of their unbelief. So it's no wonder that Jesus turned his back on them and sailed away. It's also entirely understandable that the Savior would warn his own disciples against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. Jesus doesn't want his closest followers to be infected with such dangerous and misguided opinions. Well, that was last week in a nutshell. This week we turn our attention to the disciples and their responses to Jesus' wise words of warning. As we look at this text, I want to begin with cognitive difficulties. Then we're going to examine Jesus' line of questioning and finish with reasons for hope. Have you ever been in a situation where you're only half listening to another person? You aren't really giving them your full attention and so you only catch a few occasional words or phrases. Well, that seems to be what was happening here as Jesus warned his disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. The only word that they really seem to hear is leaven. They pay no attention to the Pharisees or to Herod, and their subsequent conversation makes no reference either to Herod or to the Pharisees. It's as if Jesus hadn't even mentioned their names, but had just said the word leaven. Because of this, the disciples make a logical leap which demonstrates their cognitive difficulties. Due to the abrupt departure from the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, they had forgotten to take along bread, or at least sufficient amounts of bread. They did have a single solitary loaf with them, But one loaf wouldn't be enough for that crew, and so they were short on supplies. This is not the first time that the disciples had made such a mistake. When they were with the 5,000 out in the wilderness, only five loaves had been found in that whole group. With the 4,000 more recently, it was slightly better. Seven loaves were available. But whether it is five or seven or one, it is hardly sufficient for a group of grown men. In this regard, these men show a stereotypical male ignorance and indifference to practical matters. These are men being men. They just don't always pay attention. Somebody should have gone shopping at the local bakery before they left on their trip. Feeling a bit guilty about their oversight, the disciples begin discussing the fact that they had no bread. I just wonder Was there finger-pointing? Were there some subtle suggestions that somebody or other had fallen down on the job? Was this really more of an argument than a gentle discussion? Although it's hard to say exactly, it is clear that Jesus did not approve of their talk. It was really fruitless to debate this point. There were no floating grocery stores in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. But what is worse than what they said is what they didn't say. Nobody was talking about the problem with the Pharisees. There was no evaluation of Herod and his obvious failings. In fact, they didn't seem to understand at all that Jesus was speaking metaphorically rather than literally. They jumped from the mention of leaven to physical bread and the lack thereof. But Jesus was using leaven here figuratively in order to caution them about a spiritual danger. These men had been around Jesus long enough to know that he often used figures of speech in his teaching. He frequently employed parables, which borrowed facts from everyday life in order to make a spiritual point, to teach a spiritual lesson. And so they should have known how Jesus taught, how he conducted his teaching ministry. But they completely miss it. And not only that, they seem to have forgotten the very recent past, the feeding of the 4,000, and the more distant past as well, the feeding of the 5,000. This is not the finest moment for Jesus' disciples. Now in that vein of forgetfulness, they did not seem to remember that Jesus had miraculously produced enough bread to feed 4,000 people. And before that, he had multiplied five small loaves into enough food to feed 5,000 men plus women and children. And how they failed to connect these dots It's just mind-boggling. They had previously been without adequate supplies, and Jesus had provided more than enough anyway. He had done it twice, and yet they don't get it. He certainly could do it again, if they would ask, He would provide their daily bread if they prayed, but they appear to have forgotten almost everything." And you just think, what are you guys doing? What's going on between your ears? Not much apparently. You've had so much placed right in front of your noses You've seen things repeated, and yet you don't seem to get it at all. Now, in view of these cognitive difficulties by Jesus' disciples, He asked them a series of eight-pointed questions. And the first of these questions is in verse 17. Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Why is this even worth considering? What motivates you to spend your time and energy discussing this very tangential fact which is entirely insignificant? I think it's fair to assume But the disciples suspected that Jesus was poking at them just a bit. That he was sending them a subtle message criticizing them for their lack of preparation. Honestly, sometimes people do this. Sometimes preachers do this. They use a comment to send a very subtle, secret message to a particular person about their specific failure. But that approach, which is sadly quite common, is really not honest, and it is hardly courageous to send covert messages to people. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't do that. He was honest, he was truthful, he was straightforward. What you see was what you got with the Lord Jesus Christ. And no, he was not chiding them for their oversight regarding supplies. That was not in his mind at all. I think it's fair to say he didn't care about that. That wasn't his top priority. Why didn't these rotten disciples get enough food for us? Not even on the radar for him. Jesus was far too direct and far too honest for such a subtle, dishonest ploy as this. The second question comes in that same verse, verse 17. Do you not yet see or understand? This is a rhetorical question because obviously they didn't see, they don't understand. Jesus is not in doubt as to their ability to see this situation clearly. or to understand where things really stood. Now by asking this question in this way, there is an idea that is embedded and presupposed. What is assumed in the question is that they don't see and they do not understand. It's the inclusion of that little word, yet, which is really the key. If you leave yet out, then his question becomes a rather straightforward inquiry. Including yet communicates the fact is indisputable that these men don't see and they don't understand. The third question drives this home even more powerfully and pointedly. Do you have a hardened heart? Jesus is now taking this to a new level or perhaps to a new depth. Perhaps the problem is not with their eyesight or even with their cognitive abilities. Do they rather possess a hardened heart? A heart that is hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. This question suggests a deep and serious problem with their spiritual status. Now we know that Jesus saw their hearts inherently. He knew the answer to his own question. He's not asking for information, but rather He is focusing their eyes upon the seriousness of the problem that they're having. Their kind of conduct, the kind of conduct that they were exhibiting, was really more consistent with a hardened heart rather than with a new and living heart. The next two questions in the line go together. and they are quotations from Jeremiah 5 which I read earlier. Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? The Israelites of Jeremiah's day were spiritually blind and spiritually deaf. They did not see nor did they hear the power of God or the grace of God. That whole passage in Jeremiah 5 is a devastating condemnation of the Israelite people. God calls them apostates. And now Jesus is comparing his own disciples to those apostate Jews of Jeremiah's time. Although Jesus doesn't come out and make the accusation directly and specifically, the suggested implication here is not flattering for the disciples. If there's any passage in the Old Testament that you don't want to be associated with, it would have to be Jeremiah 5. To be lumped in with Jeremiah 5 is to say You're a hard-hearted apostate. You don't love God. You're not serving and following God. If I were to look out at you and say, you're a Jeremiah 5 congregation, you could take offense at that. It's an insult. to be compared to the people of Jeremiah's day. And yet that's exactly what Jesus is doing. He's saying to his disciples, are you as bad as the people of Jeremiah's day? Are you as blind and deaf as they were at that time? Well, the last several questions are more gentle and they seek to call forth something to the mind of his disciples. First he quizzes them about how many baskets full of broken pieces they picked up at the beating of the five thousand, and they thought, how can we forget that? It was twelve baskets of leftovers. Then he asked the same question about the baskets gathered after the feeding of the four thousand, and the correct answer was seven large baskets. So what is Jesus doing here with these rather obvious questions? He is focusing their minds on the overabundant provision which he had made for the multitudes and that from very meager resources. He's kind of shaking them and saying, think about it, brothers. What did we start with? And then what did we end with? Can you connect these dots? Can you draw any possible conclusion from these well-known facts. Why is this so hard for you to understand? Jesus' final question in the series wraps it up and it's this, Do you not yet understand? And the answer to his question is negative. No, no, they do not yet understand. they are still groping about in the darkness. They don't really get it at all. Not by a long shot. From start to finish, these disciples receive a failing grade and Jesus is making that point obvious. In fact, It's undeniably true that they have failed the test. They were nowhere near passing. One of the more humorous things I have observed during this time of the Olympics are the video clips of athletes failing. Whether it's the pole vaulter who gets up and then falls backward, or the diver who does a belly flop, It's athletes of the highest caliber failing miserably on the world stage. And they're kind of funny, but they're kind of sad, because these people have devoted years, perhaps their whole lives, to perfecting that particular sport, and then they just fail miserably. That's kind of what we're seeing here with these disciples. This is a fail, not a small fail. This is a catastrophic fail. Now it might appear to the casual observer that maybe Jesus was just having a bad day, or he was kind of in a bad mood, or maybe he just got frustrated with his disciples because he was hungry and they didn't bring along enough bread. The line of questioning that we just ran through could be interpreted as a massive put-down, an attempt intended to humiliate his disciples. But I do not think that is at all what's going on here. Rather, Jesus was administering some strong medicine to his dear friends in order to shake them from their stupor and to open their eyes to hope." William Hendrickson makes this very point in his commentary. He writes, "...with Jesus in their midst, the very one who had given proof of his power in the two miraculous feedings, Should they not have been optimists? But no, they were pessimists. The back and forth worried whispering of the disciples was met by the Master's frank and open reply. It was a reply that consisted of several closely knit questions, reproachful to be sure, but also helpful. their purpose being to rouse the twelve out of their inexcusable pessimism and to revive in their hearts the spirit of trust and optimism." And I think Hendrickson has hit the bullseye. To rouse the twelve out of their inexcusable pessimism and to revive in their hearts the spirit of trust and optimism. This is precisely what Jesus is doing here. His strong words and his biting questions were a shock to their systems, no doubt about that. But these are the wounds of a friend inflicted in order to bring healing and restoration. Jesus wanted them to stop worrying and doubting and squabbling and giving way to unbelief. He wanted them instead to look upon Him and to trust in Him. If they would but recall what He had done lately in the feeding of the 4,000, And before that, in the feeding of the 5,000, their hearts would quickly be refreshed in hope. They would see that He could do anything that was needful and was necessary for them. They lacked food for their journey? Big deal. He could and He would provide their daily bread. Why were they worrying? Why were they doubting when they had Him as their Lord and Master in the boat with them? This brings a strong encouragement to the church today. Yes, there are bad things happening all over our world. Economically, culturally, politically, militarily, even theologically, there are many reasons that people will give for their anxieties. They wring their hands and they cry out, Woe is me! The avalanche of bad news breeds pessimism and hopelessness. and many folk feel that these are the only options available. But for us as Christians, we have Jesus Christ reigning from the throne of heaven. He is still the Lord of heaven and earth. All authority in heaven and on earth still belongs to him. He is as good and as gracious, as merciful and as patient and as kind as ever He was. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Just recently I've had a growing conviction that I need to turn off the voices who are talking about the political season we are in the midst of. Frankly, it is tiresome. And both sides of this discussion, debate, are saying that this is catastrophic and cataclysmic and if the other guys win, life as we know it is over. And so each side is saying, vote for us because we will save you. That's the message of the political class. They're bad, we will save you. Now we know good and well that that's not true. They cannot save us. We put no hope in princes to save us. because we have a Savior. But getting caught in the vortex of all this political chatter and all this doomsday messaging, it has a very depressing and discouraging effect, which is part of the reason I'm thinking I'm just going to tune this out for a while. Wake me up when it's December. Because I don't know if I can take another three months of this doomsday talk. But you know what? And this is true for both sides. If the other side, also known as the bad guys, win, Jesus is still on the throne. And his authority is not diminished at all by the bad guys winning. And that argument does work for both sides because they are mirror images of each other. Whatever happens, whether it's with the elections or the economy, whatever happens, Jesus is still King and Lord, and our trust and our hope and our confidence is in Him, not in some man who will never deliver everything that they promise us. So with the knowledge that King Jesus is still in charge, why do we fear What are we so worried about? That he's going to be knocked off the throne? How can you be pessimistic and hopeless if you truly believe that the Son of God rules on high and is subduing all of his enemies under his feet? And since his Holy Spirit dwells within us, Why are we so downcast? Why do we fret and stew? Why do we worry? Why are we overloaded with anxiety? Believer, you of all people should be most hopeful and so confident in Christ. Come what may, Jesus does all things well. And so just trust in Him with all your heart. Don't worry about tomorrow. He will carry you through. We don't know what His plans are for us, for our country, for our society. We don't know. But we know Him and we know of His goodness. We just simply cannot afford to be like the disciples sitting in the boat squabbling about who should have bought bread. So, horizontally focus and honestly at each other's throats. We need to connect some dots. The Jesus that fed 5,000 and the Jesus that fed 4,000 is competent and capable to carry you through until the day He calls you home. And you need to be so hopeful in that. And even if things go really sour, if things go really south, if even all the bad guys sweep to power, We are still in God's hands. We are still trusting in Christ, and He is still carrying us forward until He calls us home. And so trust Him. Trust Him. Don't worry. Don't be anxious. Trust Him. And He will not disappoint you. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You for the hope that we have in You. that you are the great sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, and that you control all things, that you do all things well. Lord, we are in your hands, and we need you more than we ever have before. But Lord, we are confident and hopeful in you. Increase our confidence and strengthen our hope day by day, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.