The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Matthew 16:1-4Pharisees and Sadducees demanding a sign from heaven, Jesus responding with red sky weather wisdom and the sign of Jonah
1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
2 But he answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’
3 In the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you can’t discern the signs of the times!
4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” He left them, and departed.
Parallel account of Pharisees demanding a sign, disciples forgetting bread, Jesus warning about the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod
11 The Pharisees came out and began to question him, seeking from him a sign from heaven, and testing him.
12 He sighed deeply in his spirit, and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Most certainly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
13 He left them, and again entering into the boat, departed to the other side.
14 They forgot to take bread; and they didn’t have more than one loaf in the boat with them.
15 He warned them, saying, “Take heed: beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”
16 They reasoned with one another, saying, “It’s because we have no bread.”
17 Jesus, perceiving it, said to them, “Why do you reason that it’s because you have no bread? Don’t you perceive yet, neither understand? Is your heart still hardened?
18 Having eyes, don’t you see? Having ears, don’t you hear? Don’t you remember?
19 When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Twelve.”
20 “When the seven loaves fed the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Seven.”
Healing of the blind man at Bethsaida, progressive healing with spitting and laying on of hands
22 He came to Bethsaida. They brought a blind man to him, and begged him to touch him.
23 He took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village. When he had spat on his eyes, and laid his hands on him, he asked him if he saw anything.
24 He looked up, and said, “I see men; for I see them like trees walking.”
25 Then again he laid his hands on his eyes. He looked intently, and was restored, and saw everyone clearly.
Man born blind questioned by religious leaders, responding that he does not know if Jesus is a sinner but once was blind and now sees
1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him.
4 I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.
5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud,
7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.
8 The neighbors therefore, and those who saw that he was blind before, said, “Isn’t this he who sat and begged?”
9 Others were saying, “It is he.” Still others were saying, “He looks like him.” He said, “I am he.”
10 They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered, “A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received sight.”
12 Then they asked him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.”
13 They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees.
14 It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.
15 Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.”
16 Some therefore of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was division among them.
17 Therefore they asked the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
18 The Jews therefore did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight,
19 and asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
20 His parents answered them, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;
21 but how he now sees, we don’t know; or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.”
22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.
23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.”
24 So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
25 He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
26 They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?”
28 They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.”
30 The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.
31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, and does his will, he listens to him.
32 Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind.
33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” They threw him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”
36 He answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?”
37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you.”
38 He said, “Lord, I believe!” and he worshiped him.
39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”
40 Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”
41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The message moved through Matthew 16 and Mark 8, looking at the moment the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus and demand a sign, and then at the disciples' own dullness in the boat right after. Pastor Mark drew those threads together into a point about what it actually looks like to come to Jesus with nothing in your hands.
What was said
The Pharisees and Sadducees almost never agreed on anything. Their theologies were in real conflict, and they represented opposite ends of the Jewish power structure. Yet here they show up together, not in faith, but to test Jesus. Pastor Mark spent some time on who each group was, not to fill in historical background for its own sake, but because Jesus addresses both of them in the same breath, and that matters for what comes next.
Jesus responds to their demand for a sign by pointing to something they already know: red sky at night, red sky in the morning. You can read the sky well enough. You can feel the seasons turning. But you are standing in the middle of signs you refuse to read, and no further sign is coming. He says it plainly, calls them an evil and adulterous generation, and walks away from them.
Back in the boat, the disciples start worrying about bread. They forgot to bring any. Pastor Mark noted the comedy of that, given that they had just watched Jesus feed thousands twice over. Jesus sees what they are doing and names it: you are thinking about dinner when I am talking about leaven. Beware, he says, of the leaven of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and Herod. The teaching of people who are absolutely certain they have it all figured out works through you quietly, the way yeast works through dough, and it will fill everything if you let it.
The healing of the blind man at Bethsaida sits right in the middle of all of this. Jesus takes him away from the crowd, spits on his eyes, and asks what he sees. The man says he sees people, but they look like trees walking. He is not seeing clearly yet. Jesus lays hands on him again, and then he sees everything. Pastor Mark sat with the fact that Jesus could have done it all at once and chose not to. The disciples are being shown something about their own partial sight.
Pastor Mark then said what he had been building toward: neither the Pharisees nor the Sadducees had it right, and Jesus walked away from both of them. That is not just a historical note. Every person in the Gospels who came to Jesus already certain of their position went away empty. Every person who came to Jesus knowing they had nothing went away whole. The man born blind in John 9, when pressed, could only say: I once was blind, but now I see. That is the witness Jesus asks for, not a legal argument, not a theological position.
He closed with a dream he had the same morning Florin texted him about a vision. In the dream he was at a funeral with nothing to say, nothing at all to offer, and his body gave out completely. He woke up in a hospital, being fed from outside himself, and was relieved. He said he did not want to over-explain the dream, but that it connected for him to the baptism that morning, and to the line from Rock of Ages: nothing in my hand I bring. That is the posture. Not a Pharisee's confidence, not a Sadducee's confidence, not a right-wing or left-wing confidence. Just: I don't have it, Lord, and I trust you.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Mark described the Pharisees as religious people who were sincerely seeking God and yet still missed Jesus. In what ways do you think that can happen to us today?
Jesus told the Pharisees and Sadducees they could read the sky but could not discern the signs of the times, meaning they were seeing miracle after miracle and still demanding more proof. When have you found yourself doing something similar, looking for more evidence instead of responding to what God has already shown you?
Speaker 1Good morning, everybody. How are y'all? We're just getting everything together or it looks like I'm just getting everything. We had a baptism in the first service of a little gal named Brooke Combs. And I don't usually do this to kids.
She's got a great sense of humor, but I asked her. I do usually ask this. Have you trusted in Jesus to save you from your sins? Is this yours? And she said, yes.
And I said, do you remember every point of theology that I have ever taught you since I've been here? And she said, no. And I said, alright. Do you know homarcheology and soteriology? And she said, no.
And I said, do you trust that Jesus will show you the way forward? She said, yes. I said, let's do this. So we baptized her this morning. And I'm looking forward to...
Well, hey, and the pool is full. If you have trusted in Jesus and you have not been baptized and you would like to, let me know before the end of the service, alright? Would you stand with us and we're gonna worship the king together. Oh, worship the king all glorious above. I'm glad you're here this morning.
I'm glad to be here myself.
Speaker 2Oh, worship the king all glorious above. Oh, gratefully sing his wonderful love, our shield and defender, the ancient of days, a vile yund in splendor and girded with praise. Oh, tell of his might and sing of his grace, whose robe is the light, whose canopy space. His chariots of wrath, the deep thunder clouds form, and dark is his path on the wings of the storm. All hail to the king in splendor enthroned glad phrases we bring thy wonder make known returning victorious, great conqueror of sin.
King Jesus, all glorious, our victory win. Amen.
Speaker 1We've got another one coming here. Oh, how I love Jesus from a very majestic to quite childlike song. Oh, how I love Jesus.
Speaker 2There is a name I love to hear. I love to sing its word. It sounds like music in my ear, the sweetest name on earth. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus.
Oh, how how I love Jesus because he first loved me. It tells me of a savior's love who died to set me free. It tells me of his precious blood, the sinner's perfect plea. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus.
Oh, how I Because he first loved me. It tells me what my father had in store for every day. And though I tread a dark some path yield sunshine all the way. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus so.
How I love Jesus because he first loved me. And on the last, it tells of one whose loving heart can feel my deepest woah, who in each sorrow bears a part that none can bear below. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus because he first loved me.
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements this morning. I'm gonna try to do a good job this morning. Natalie Yates jumped up and just took over the announcements and it was really kinda nice.
If you're new here or you have a prayer request or you wanna connect or if you wanna write anything you wanna write on these little cards in front of you, feel free. People have actually been doing that lately. We just put them in the pew or in the seat back fronts about three or four weeks ago. If you want to communicate with us, you can do that or you can email the office at firstbjackson dot org. That's one thing.
Connect hour happens between services. That is a place where you can get together with that first service. They linger and if you all get here early, can kinda cross pollinate. Connect hour is down the hall between services. Feel free to connect down there.
Monday nights at first b is happening tomorrow night. That makes sense because it's Monday night. 06:00, there'll be meal. About 06:45, start the music and then the message comes after that. Meal, music, and a message.
Tomorrow night, it'll be on Philippians two starting in verse 12. It'll always go back to the motivation given in one through 11, but he is going to be... Carl will be leading an exposition of it and then a discussion about a conversation afterwards. It's a good time. Monday nights at first be 06:00.
Tonight, this evening, 04:00 in the afternoon, there's a horse whispering demo up at the Diamond Cross Ranch. Do you all know Grant, Gollaher, Jane? Do you all know them? So I was at a wedding last night. I sat next to him and talked to him.
He said, Hey, invite everybody to come up. It's their twenty fifth anniversary as a couple and their twenty fifth anniversary at the Diamond Cross. And so if you want to go up and watch Grant do a horse whispering demonstration at 04:00 in the evening today, And then take something with you, a little dish of some sort. Stop by and grab a pack of potato chips if you're new in town, you know. But it's a good time.
I promise this will be something that will surprise you and delight you. Horse whispering demo, 05:30 is a potluck and then they're going to do music to follow Jerome, Young, I think it's his name. Jerome Young will be playing mandolin and guitar and there'll be a few others there. It ought to be a really fun time. I'm doing a wedding in that neighborhood anyway.
I think I'm going to go. I told him I'd tell you all about it. There's a rummage sale that's happening here, October 1, and it is to benefit the Missions Fund. You can drop off on Friday. Nancy Toracciano is administrating this event.
You can drop off on Friday in the fellowship hall. Nice, clean items only, she says. And she will need a few volunteers on Friday and Saturday, but it'll be from eight to two, October 1. And then anything that's left over will be donated on down the line. But, Nancy t for details.
That's her number, 699-9789. Sisters Saved by Grace is a Bible study that happens on Thursday nights. That is a very loving and thoughtful, caring group, compassionate ladies that are studying the Bible together. And I am here on Thursday nights because elders meetings are on Thursdays, and board of trustees meetings are on the Thursdays when elders are not meeting. So I'm always around.
I'm not a lady, but I love seeing what's going on in that fellowship hall. They're having a good time studying God's word, praying, and enjoying a meal together. Nancy Baxter is leading that one. There is a study that's happening on Wednesdays from ten to 12:10 in the morning till twelve noon. Right here, first b, Deb Buckingham is teaching.
Lissa Hunter has been leading music. Tomorrow, Carl and I will be playing the music for this thing. Lissa... I don't know if Lissa's going to be here or not. Carl said show up and I'll be here.
So that's on Wednesday, ten to twelve. It's a ladies Bible study, community wide. Just using the building right here this time around. Sound booth volunteers are still needed. We have by attrition only.
Not because they got tired of it or because it just couldn't... They couldn't hack it. It's people move away. And when people move away, we need to fill in for them. So if you want to talk to Nick afterwards, he's up in the booth right now and you could talk to him about how to be trained on how to do that.
Awana is coming back September 26. And Mike... If Mike... I would let him make the announcement. He's probably not in the room.
But September 26, we're coming back and he wanted me to express his thanks for volunteers stepping up. We have the positions filled. We don't have a whole lot of backup players and so what he's asking for now is for you to pray about whether or not you would be able to be a fill in or substitute or backup that he could call and say, hey, so and so is gonna be out of town next Monday. Would you mind filling in for them for this one time? A lot of times it's harder to commit to, you know, from six to 07:30 every Monday.
But most Mondays I'm free and I could do that every once in a while. If you can do that, would you see Mike Demetrius and talk to him about it? Or talk to Nick or Diane in the office, and we'll get you signed up to help out as a backup player for Awana. This is something new. So Thursdays.
They... It's so new they they don't have a name for it yet, but it happens on Thursday, so they're calling it Thursdays. As it turns out, Natalie Yates had a group of high school gals that she has been kind of discipling, mentoring, talking to, leading and study, and praying with. And Mike was seeing another group. Mike and JJ were seeing another group of folks, and they found that they were not exactly competing, but they were almost competing.
And in some ways, they felt like they were poaching the others' possibilities. And so that we went this week. Mike and I went, and we talked to Brian Hunter down at Tribe. And so at the Tribe Ministry Center, which is 1200 Broadway across from Whole Foods, of, one of those block buildings near Flat Creek. Tribe Ministry Center is where it's going to happen.
It's the Jackson Hole Community High School Ministry. We don't even know what it's gonna be called, but it happens on Thursdays. Happens around six in the evening. If you are a high schooler or you have a high schooler that you could share the message with, we are trying to combine forces. What we've been doing as pastors in the Valley, I've talked to Ben at the Press Church.
I've talked to Jimmy at the Episcopal Church. I've talked some to the guys at Cornerstone and it seems like everybody's struggling somewhat with high school ministry. Middle school is a fairly strong wave, but it seems that there are so many diversions when you get to high school that it pulls it apart. So what we're seeking to do is gain critical mass, you know, and we're working together. Would you pray for that effort and pray for the high schoolers in this valley?
It's a tough place to grow in high school. Right? That's that. That's starting Thursday. It's not this Thursday, but a week from Thursday.
So if you're from the South, Thursday week. Anybody have anything else to add or take away from what I've said? I think that's it. I'm glad to be here today. It was delightful to have Brooke be baptized this morning.
And may I just pray? God, I thank you for the young people here. I thank you for the older people here. I thank you that you are a cross generational God. I thank you that you train us up, Lord, by putting godly people around us.
And in the homes where there is no godly presence, Lord, you tell us to go. You tell us to go and to minister, Lord. Would you show us the way? Would you show us your way? Would you show us how to love appropriately?
Would you show us how you want for your gospel to advance among the young people of this valley? We wanna be a part of what you're doing. Show us, Lord, your way. Amen. Would you stand with me?
We're gonna sing Rock of Ages and then Amazing Grace. They're on the same page in the hymnal three forty two and three forty three.
Speaker 2Rock of ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed be of sin, the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal no longer know? These four sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone. Rock and win no price I bring, simply to the cross I clean. While I draw this fleeting breath, when mine eyes shall close in death, and thy rights to worlds unknown.
And behold thee on thy throne, rock of ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee.
Speaker 1Amen. We'll sing Amazing Grace whatever comes up on the screen. But when we get to the last verse, we're going to do a key change, so be looking for that. I'll try to imagine.
Speaker 2Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see. Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear force me as long as life endures.
Through many dangerous toils and snares, I have already come. 'Tis grace hath brought me save thus far and grace will lead me home. Key change. When we've been there 10,000 bright shining as the sun we've known last days to sing God's praise than when we first begun.
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I'm gonna invite the ushers to come forward and God, I pray that you would receive, lord, these offerings. This form of worship through giving, lord. Saying that we trust you.
We recognize that every good and perfect gift is from above and all of our sustenance, lord, flows from you. God, we wanna give back a portion so that others may know you. So that others may be blessed by you. Would you show us, Lord, how to do your will and your way? Receive these offerings, Lord.
We pray that you'd bless and multiply them to do your kingdom's work. Would you direct the path and give us the strength to walk it. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, Judy.
So this morning, I didn't have an introduction slide apparently this morning. Didn't name it or anything. Just start straight with it. And that's actually my typical way that I like to just present what it says, and I realized that's kinda odd. This week, I realized that that's kinda odd for, I mean, just a new, I thought about it.
I don't really sermonize. I don't come up with three points and a poem and a prayer at the end. I don't usually do that. I try to stick really close to what it says. Part of that is because it's so easy to let opinion rule.
And it's so easy for the agenda of the senior pastor to be the thing that the church is about. Right? And so if that's the case, and that's what it's gonna be, I'd rather it be about the word than anything else. And we have a wide background in this church normally on a Sunday morning. We probably have 35 or 40 different denominational backgrounds present every Sunday, which is awesome.
But the reason is because we stick to what it says, and not the distinctives of denomination or the distinctives of certain isms. So forgive me if I don't sermonize enough for your tastes. But I usually like to stick with this. Today, I'm going to break away from the sermon, or the exposition I guess I should say, and then kind of apply it a bit towards the end of the service. I don't have nearly as many slides today as I usually do.
We're not going quite as far. But I think that there's a sharp point in this service that puts a point on the last two or three services that we've seen. Here we go. Sending away the crowds. This is where we ended last week.
Sending away the crowds after he fed 4,000 men, and ladies, and children that were there with them. After sending away those crowds, Jesus got into the boat and he came to the region of Magadan. Now, the Decapolis is on the Southeastern Shore of the Sea Of Galilee. And if you remember from last week, Jesus had been all the way up to Tyre and Sidon and Phoenicia. And then he came back down and he went around to Decapolis or maybe across on the boat.
It didn't say boat but either way, he arrived at Decapolis, went up on a mountain, and there, he did for those who were Gentiles exactly the same thing that he had done for those who were Jews who, after the fact, wanted to make him king. Are you with me? Just for context. So, this week, they're going from Decapolis across in a boat to Magadan. The Pharisees and Sadducees, now last week, when we ended, I just ended in Matthew with sending them away, got into a boat, went to Magadan.
In Mark, it says that Jesus after sending them away went and the pharisees started arguing with him and that's no big surprise because that's what pharisees do. Right? We know that the pharisees when we see them, they're gonna be in conflict with Jesus almost every time. I didn't wanna get into pharisees and sadducees, so I left off this portion of Matthew. The Pharisees and it's also it's chapter 16.
It starts afresh. The Pharisees and Sadducees came up and putting Jesus to the test. They asked him to show them a sign from heaven. It's interesting because Pharisees and Sadducees do not get along. They don't like each other.
They hate each other's theology. They don't like each other at all. So Pharisees and Sadducees are opposed to one another, but here they come to Jesus, and what are they doing? Testing him. They're testing him to see whose theology he agrees with.
Probably at this at this time, to see who they can blame the other ones on he's one of them because he was loved by the people, and he was helping people, but he was threatening the power of both the Sadducees, which is like a ruling class. I'll get into it further. But the Sadducees and the Herodians too were part of the system. Rome is the government overall, and then there is this vassal kingdom basically of Jewish control. Herod the Great had ruled all of this area, We talked about a few weeks ago that Herod Antipas has Galilee, and there's a different Herod that has per...
This area down Perea in Jerusalem. But the Herodians or Herod, the family of Herod, are the ones who are in charge as far as governmentally. They've been given sort of a puppet kingdom under Rome to keep order of their people, Jews. The Sadducees were of that portion. They had...
They were priestly, ruling, high priest, temple worship crowd. The pharisees were people of the people. Now we see pharisees a whole lot more often in the New Testament than we do sadducees. And a lot of times when I'm speaking to the church, I'm saying, we've gotta take hold of this message because the pharisees were the religious people. They really did think they had it all right, and they were consciously seeking after God, but they still missed Jesus.
Right? We can do that too if we're not careful. So the Pharisees and Sadducees, priestly ruling class. If you look at how long the history of each of these groups lasted, the Pharisees were from about a 100 BC and and still have some influence in modern Judaism. But they had about a five to seven hundred year time that was theirs.
The opening date on that I may have quite wrong. The Sadducees were in the second temple area. Their their time was only a little shorter than that because it ended abruptly with the fall of the temple. When the holy of holies is destroyed and not a single stone is laid on top of another stone at the temple, then their system broke down. And they don't have any continuing influence whatsoever because temple worship was destroyed.
Right? That was one of those things. So the sadducees have an abrupt stop. The pharisees still kinda lingered on and their teaching of things still influences the Jewish synagogue culture today. Are you with me?
I'll I'll come back to it. Usually, what I say in passing really quickly is Jesus had pharisees on his right and sadducees on his left. Because I think a lot of us are programmed in this world to think, okay, right politics, left politics, conservative theology, liberal theology. It's more complicated than that. The sadducees believed in the first five books of the Bible, the Torah, and nothing else.
They held to a strict interpretation of the first five books of the Torah, which meant eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. They're big on that. They were all for killing people that had killed other people. They were all for blasphemy being punished by killing, and therefore, Sadducees had something to do with Jesus' death. They also, Anas and Caiaphas, both of those were from the Sadducees, not the Pharisees.
Pharisees were people of the people. They argued for the fact that you can worship away from Jerusalem. Still need to go but you can worship in the synagogue in your hometown. You can carry piety in your own heart. You can read the word for yourself and memorize it and hold on to it and much like we do.
Right? They had a lot of stuff that's kinda like what we do. When the argument came up between the pharisees and Sadducees, Sadducees would say, where's that in the Torah? Strict written interpretation of Torah. Don't count the prophets.
Don't count any Mishnah or anything else you've been teaching since then. Just what did he say right here? First five books. Pharisees would say, come on. Obviously.
Obviously, these people are speaking for God, and they've been calling us out through generations. But at the time of the Pharisees and Sadducees, we've had the four hundred year intertestamental silence between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Are you with me now? Okay. This helps to understand, I think.
Pharisees and sadducees came up and putting Jesus to the test. They asked him to show him a sign from heaven. Think about this. In the last two chapters, we've seen him feed 5,000 people, just men, with their families, and getting in a boat going into a Gentile area doing the same thing for 4,000. That's just in the last two chapters.
He's healed the blind, the lame, the sick, then firmed. He has brought people miracle after miracle after miracle. Some of them like people just having faith in him and touching his garment. That's been recent. But the Pharisees and Sadducees come up and they're testing him.
Show us a sign. But Jesus replied to them and said, When it's evening, you say, this can be fair weather for the sky is red. And in the morning, there'll be a storm today for the sky is red and it's threatening. How many of y'all, your grandmother taught you, red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.
Mine did. You know what? That's good. It actually works. I've got the scientific reasoning behind it if you want to know.
But it's been known for a long, long, long, long time that that's pretty true in most places. Temperate zones. In most places it's like that. Jesus said, you recognize that. You have some measure of earthly understanding.
You know how to discern the appearance of the sky. You can tell the seasons. We all feel the nip in the air in the mornings. See the frost and know it's coming. You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you're unable to discern the signs of the times.
Signs of the times. If you hear a sermon that's titled signs of the times now, it's gonna be a rapture sermon. It's gonna be an end time sermon. We're gonna go to Daniel seven. We're gonna go to Revelation.
We're gonna know everything that that preacher thinks about the end of the world. Signs of the times. Actually, this one in my head, the reason I say it like that is because in the little church I grew up in, we'd have youth Sunday. And when given the opportunity for a youth to take part and be the pastor for that Sunday morning, youth Sunday, who wants to do it? Not us, said the pig.
I'm not about to do that. One kid said, I'll do it. And he had one memorized that his mama listened to on a record. And it was the signs of the times. And he memorized it and he did it straight up.
He was signs the times. He had every point of theology figured out. This kid was like 10, 12 maybe. Jesus says, you know how to discern. You can tell with some degree of accuracy the things of this earth, but you're unable to discern the signs of the times.
Both of you, if you just had the first five books of the Bible, there's plenty of information there pointing towards Jesus. I mean, Deuteronomy eighteen fifteen, they said, look for this prophet. God will raise someone who'll be of you and when he raises them up, you need to listen to this guy. That's in their scripture. They should have known that.
The Pharisees didn't just have that and a lot of other things in the first five but they had all of those prophecies And Jesus is fitting them. The messianic time when the blind would be made whole, and they can see, and the deaf would hear, and the lame would leap for joy. You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you're seeing all of these signs around you, and yet you're folding your arms and saying, show us more. Tell you what, this is a pretty harsh thing for Jesus to say. An evil and adulterous generation wants a sign.
And so a sign will not be given to it except the sign of Jonah. Now I went into that last time we hit that sign of Jonah. I'll find it if you ask for it, But you can go back and listen and find where it is and then find it. I'm not gonna go into that today. But the evil and adulterous generation wants a sign and so you're not gonna get it.
You know what? If you've already made up your mind which side of an issue you're on, there is no argument that's gonna break you from that. Confirmation bias is very, very, very real. And if you think you got it all figured out, you know it all, then nobody's gonna pour anything into you. And he left them.
Jesus left them and went away. They're testing him and he's walking away from them. Yeah. Okay. How does Mark tell the same story?
About 4,000 men were there. Yeah. That's the end of that story. And he dismissed those. Immediately, he got into the boat with his disciples, and he came to the region of Dalmanutha.
We think Dalmanutha is right around there. A bigger region than just a city of Magadan. The word itself actually means of the shepherd's way, like it has something to do with sheep. And so it makes sense in that plane where it is, but there's not any, it will turn up, but there's not any place where we know, okay, this is Dalmanutha. There's no city limit sign that we found yet.
And the pharisees came out. This is where we ended last week in Mark. Pharisees came out and they began to argue with him demanding from him a sign from heaven to test him. It's not in faith that they are reaching out to him. Do you get that?
They're arguing with him, and they're trying to test him, and sighing deeply in his spirit. Can't you just hear Jesus? Why does this sign demand a sign? Why does this generation demand a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign's going be given to this generation.
They're not going to accept anything that I do. And leaving them aside. He again embarked and he went away to the other side. So it sounds like the pharisees approached with pride and God opposes the proud and he just left them there. And the disciples came to the other side of the sea.
Probably right about there. I say that because Mark eight twenty two says they made their way to Bethsaida, which is just north of that landing. But they had forgotten to bring any bread. That's comical, isn't it? The last two chapters we've seen, 5,000 fed, 4,000 fed, and then they got in the boat.
He's like,
Speaker 2doggone it. I knew
Speaker 1I forgot something. They forgot to bring bread. And Jesus said to him, hey, watch out. And beware of the leaven of the pharisees and the sadducees. Both pharisees and sadducees.
Beware of the leaven. Now, all know what leaven is, and I've heard a thousand sermons myself on what leaven does. You take just a tiny little bit of yeast and you fold it into a little bit of dough and it swells up. And before long, all of that dough can be used as leaven. Right?
Sourdough, that's the way it works, isn't it? You keep the sourdough starter from last year and you do the same thing this year, and it goes... It swells up and fills the whole loaf. Watch out and beware of the leaven of the pharisees. It starts out small, but it gets to be really big.
And they began to discuss this among themselves. Said, he said that because we didn't bring any bread. The things of earth. Right? They take our attention.
What are we gonna eat? Forgot the bread. He said that. I bet he said that because we forgot the bread. But Jesus aware of this said, you you men of little faith.
Why is it that you're discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? I mean, really. Do you not yet understand nor remember the five loaves of the 5,000? That was a loaf for a thousand people. How many baskets you picked up afterwards?
More than enough for 5,000 men, not including women and children. Nor do you remember the seven loaves of the 4,000 and how many large baskets you picked up. How is it then that you do not understand that I did not speak to you about bread? I'm using a metaphor people. That's what he's saying.
It's not all literal, not everything I say. I'm trying to get the point across to you. Beware of the leaven of the pharisees and the sadducees. These two groups that oppose each other and both of them think they're right. Both of them are absolutely convinced that they're right and they disagree.
So they can't both be right. Jesus is saying beware because both of them are wrong. And then they understood that he didn't say to beware of the leaven of the bread, but of the teaching of the pharisees and the sadducees. Because we're gonna teach our human doctrines believing we're right. Right?
And it's great to have confidence, you know, if you're an engineer, by all means, fix the airplane. That's great. But when you're dealing with the things that matter, you don't have... You have not cornered the market on this. Jesus has.
He is the answer for both Pharisees and Sadducees. He's the answer for both Republicans and Democrats. All of them have their own leaven that will infiltrate Christ's church. Mark, and the disciples had forgotten to take bread and didn't have more than one loaf in the boat with them. Well, that ought to be enough for a thousand people if you're just doing the math.
Thousand men, not including women and children, plus leftovers. But the disciples had forgotten to take bread. They didn't have more than one loaf in the boat with them. And when he was giving orders to them saying, watch out now. Look out for this.
It's gonna happen. Beware of the leaven of the pharisees and the leaven of Herod. So now it's not just pharisees and sadducees. He's calling out Herod. But it's it's like saying the White House.
Okay? Herod means Herodians, which are mostly Sadducees, the ruling class, the people who are part of the earthly institution, and the wealthy that make their living off of that. That's the Sadducees. Beware of the Herodians, the Sadducees, but be also be aware of the people, of the people, pharisees, the populists, who believe the first five books, but they also believe the prophets and they believe they have correct interpretation on everything. And they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.
Because the things of earth are ever before us, and we're always thinking about creature comforts. Jesus, aware of this, said to them, why? Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet comprehend? Do you not yet understand?
Do you still have your heart hardened? Are you still hardened? So remember last week again. They go up into Phoenicia and Jesus heals the daughter of a Syrophoenician Gentile Canaanite woman. That's against everything that those Jewish boys think he ought to do.
They were saying, send her away. She's bothering us. And he says, I'm gonna do this. Your word, your faith has made your daughter whole. Now, then they leave from there and they come across the Sea Of Galilee.
They go into Decapolis and he blesses in exactly the same manner. Crazy the similarities to this group of Gentiles. Aren't we just for the lost sheep of Israel? That's what he had said to that woman. No.
He's trying to show them and he's saying, are you... Did you still not get it? What's funny is all the way up into Acts, he has to show the vision to Peter to say it again. Having eyes, do you not see? Oh, this is interesting because he's paraphrasing from Isaiah here.
Something that he's already said multiple times about the Pharisees. Seeing, they do not see. Hearing, they do not understand. And now he's asking his disciples. So having eyes and seeing what's going on.
Are you still dull to this? Are you obtuse? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember when I broke the five loaves for the 5,000? How many baskets full of broken pieces y'all picked up?
And they say to him, 12. Because they remember the things of earth. Isn't that funny? Oh, yeah. Was 12.
I counted. That's funny. When I broke the seven for the 4,000, how many large baskets full of broken pieces? Seven seven. I know this one, Jesus.
Yes. And he was saying, do you not yet understand? Do you not get the metaphor that I am the giver of life and sustenance and I am your providence? And yet you're worried about whether you've got any bread on the boat with us right now. It says,
Speaker 2and they come to
Speaker 1Bethsaida. Bethsaida is Northeast, just across a little trickle that comes into the Sea Of Galilee, and some people brought a man who was blind to Jesus and beg him to touch him. So some folks brought a man who's blind to Jesus, gathered there in the village somewhere, and taking the man who was blind by the hand, Jesus, brought him out of the village. So he was together in the... It sounds like center of town, and Jesus led the man by the hand out from the people, and he still had his disciples with him but he has this blind man with him now and with everything that's going on, Jesus uses this moment as a teachable moment and after spitting in his eyes because that's what you do.
Actually, it's an interesting thing. At the time, there's quite a bit of pharisaic literature where the pharisees actually did believe that the firstborn son of an... The heir. The firstborn son had healing property in his saliva. And so Jesus may have been using that.
I don't know. Seems odd to me. Seems odd to me to spit in somebody's eyes. But if that's the case, it could be a statement of his sonship, of his firstborn status. After spitting in his eyes and laying his hands on him, he asked him, do you see anything?
It's a blind man, freshly brought out by himself. Jesus is not doing this for fame in this place. He's not doing it for glory in this place. He's not doing it for anybody except for that guy and the disciples who are watching and he says, do you see anything? And he looked up, the man, formerly blind, looked up and said, this is a weird weird saying.
I see people for I see them like trees walking around. Trees don't walk around. What in the world could that possibly be? I've heard a thousand explanations for this. I think this guy probably bumped into a few trees.
They're like this. They stand up. I don't know. But he's not seeing clearly. That's the point.
I see people, but I'm seeing them like trees. They're walking around. I don't quite get what's going on. So Jesus, then again, he laid his hands on his eyes. Do you think Jesus couldn't have done it instantaneously?
Oh, he could have. We've seen him do it. You think he could have done it without spitting? He could have. We've seen him do that.
Again, he laid his hands on his eyes and he looked intently and was restored. And then he began to see everything clearly. It was a progressive healing. So Jesus sometimes does things instantaneous and sometimes it takes a while. And since he's talking to his disciples and saying, do you not yet see?
It's here and available and I've been teaching this the whole three years we've been together. Are you still not getting it? Now I could go on in scripture and we get to the part where where Peter makes that bold claim that you're the Christ, son of the living God. That's next. But this little thing in between those two says that Jesus recognizes that he lays his hands on somebody and they get a little bit of understanding.
He lays his hands on... They get a little more understanding. Trusting Jesus is what it's all about with your lack, with whatever it is. Looked intently and he was restored. He began to see everything clearly, and Jesus sent him to his home saying, don't even go back to the village.
That's not what it's about. This is kind of for me, I think. The last three or four sermons that I've done. We had one other one from Florine in between, but the last three or four that I've done, Jesus has been seeking rest. Do you all remember that?
And he goes there and across the water and he's looking to find rest and the people followed him and he looking on them saw them to be like sheep without a shepherd and so he blessed them and had compassion on him. And then he tried to walk across the Sea Of Galilee and pass the boat but the disciples saw him and he saw and they were afraid. And so he went to them. He keeps on answering the call. This one right here, it sounds like he sent him to his home and said, don't even go to the village.
My goodness. I need a head start. It's not about fame or glory. It was about the disciples understanding. It was about that guy seeing.
What does this all mean? When I said I was gonna sermonize just a little bit, I think that this puts a sharp point on the last few sermons. And I hope y'all don't think it's just my pet pony that politics is so damnably terrible right now and so horribly polarized and neither side's right. I hope you don't think it's just me. That is the message of the New Testament.
That is the message of Jesus. It is both sides are wrong. Anybody who claims that they've got it all figured out all the way down 100% for that everybody should live like this is wrong. Jesus says to every person who recognized their own hopeless estate, when they reached out to Jesus, they were made whole. Like the blind man in John nine, when they came and they questioned him, they were trying to trying to really get Jesus.
So they questioned that guy that Jesus healed a man who was born blind. And the guy said, listen. I don't know whether he's a sinner or not. All I know is my experience with Jesus is this. I once was blind, but now I see.
That's all... That's that's the witness that he has asked from us is to say what he has done for us. It's not to be his lawyers. It's not to be his judges. Everyone who comes to Jesus thinking they had it all figured out, including the rich young ruler, including most of the Pharisees, including most of the Sadducees, just about everybody that came to him and thought they had it all figured out, seeking to test him or trying to trick him or seeking to justify self, they went away without.
And if we don't watch it, we can be those people. I have one more thing to add. Florid texted me one time this week and he said, I had the greatest dream. It was almost a vision. It was glorious and I had such a great time.
I said, You don't want to even hear my dream. I woke up the same morning, and I had had a night terror pretty much, but it's a pastoral one. I speak at a lot of funerals. I like funerals. I don't mind doing them.
I don't mind doing them for anybody. I've had a lot of them that were very hard because the person didn't know Jesus. I've had some that were glorious because they did. I'm I'm willing. God is faithful, and I can present that at any funeral.
I was having a dream that I was at a funeral, appropriately attired, but having absolutely nothing to say. Not knowing the history of the person, not knowing even what text I was going to use, and feeling completely like I have got nothing. Lord, help me. That's the norm. Lord, help me.
Okay. In the study, Lord, help me. A week before that, as soon as we as soon as we schedule it. Let's start getting this down, figure it out. But this time, I had the thought that I'm going to get up there, and I have nothing.
I have nothing to offer at all. It's not going to help anybody. And then my body had a reaction to it, and I just turned inside out basically. And it went completely black. And I woke up in a hospital, and I was plugged into all these power sources, and I was being fed nutrients.
And I was so thankful I didn't have to deliver that message at that funeral. That was a dream. I mean, I'm not trying to say I know everything that this dream is about, but I know that this morning when I did that baptism, when we say you're buried with Christ, right, and you're raised to walk in newness of life. You've got nothing. Nothing in rock of ages.
It's not in our hymnal. It wasn't on the screen, but it says nothing in my hand I bring. Nothing in my hand I bring. I have nothing to offer to this Lord. I don't have a pharisaic stance on it, and I don't have a sadisaic stance on it.
I don't have a right wing or a left wing stance on it. I don't have anything, Lord. I am absolutely destitute. And if I concentrate on everything I've got, it will turn me completely inside out. But God help me, and he does.
The Red Sea, pharaoh's armies went in. They didn't come back up. The flood, everybody was overwhelmed, but Noah's family came back up. Does that make sense? Baptism this morning is a picture of that.
We've got nothing, Lord. I don't I don't have it all figured out. I asked the little girl. That's why I said, do you know homarcheology and soteriology? That means the doctrine of sin, the doctrine of salvation.
She goes, nope. But do you trust Jesus? I do. Amen. That's where we need to be.
Faith like a child. God help us. God help us. In this world, we get pulled to and fro. God help us.
Help us to see your way forward. In Jesus' name, Lord, may we be looking to you. May we be taking a step of faith, outward steps of faith that show the inward devotion that we have to you, Lord. May we be serious about you and your mission without being taking ourselves too seriously. May we remain in a state, Lord, of humility, recognizing our lack instead of finding ourselves in a place of pride and proclaiming our opinion.
In Jesus' name, would you save us from ourselves. Amen. Got the last song. It's turn your eyes upon Jesus. The things of earth will go strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.
Would you stand with me?
Speaker 2Oh, soul are you weary and troubled. No light in the darkness you see. There's light for a look at the savior and life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Through death into life everlasting, he passed and we follow him there over us in no more half dominion for more than conquerors we are. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. His word shall not fail you, he promised.
Believe him and all will be well. Then go to a world that is dying, his perfect salvation to to your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dead in the light of his glory and grace.
Speaker 1Amen. I think the benediction is left from last week, but it's still true. Glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for God does not show favoritism. In Jesus' name, Lord, would you show us how to walk the good old gospel way? May we be proclaiming your goodness and living it out at the same time.
