Message preached Sunday, October 11, 2015 from Mark 8:9-13, 15
Theme: The Lord allows us to have challenges in the present that require us to put to use the things we’ve already learned about Him in the past.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
Of all the people who ever walked the earth, no one was more gracious, and more tolerant, and more compassionate, and—I believe we could even say—more well-mannered to others than the Lord Jesus Christ.
Think of the way that He treated people who mistreated Him. When His betrayer Judas came to betray Him in the night, Jesus waited for him, and greeted him, and called him “friend”. When He knew in advance that Peter would deny Him, He nevertheless washed his feet, and promised later to restore him to a place of ministry. And when it even came to those who crucified Him, He prayed for them and said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” To the woman caught in adultery, He said that He did not condemn her. To the despised tax collector, He said to come and follow Him and become one of His disciples. Those who were the most notorious sinners of the day flocked around Him, and loved to be with Him, and felt welcomed by Him.
And I don’t have to look to the Bible only for proof of how kind and gracious the Lord Jesus is. I can look at my own life. For years, I didn’t trust Him or believe in Him. I sinned against Him grievously, and mocked Him, pretended that He didn’t exist, and even regularly used His holy name as a curse. And yet, He still loved me, and called me to Himself, and forgave me, and took me as His own. And even after I received Him as my Lord—even after all the many ways I still have failed Him, or denied Him, or disobeyed Him, or brought shame to His name—He nevertheless constantly loved me, and forgave me for my failures, and welcomed me back each time I returned to Him in repentance.
I am supposing that you could look at your own life and find the same kind of examples of Jesus’ pardoning love and forgiveness and welcome. I truly believe that there has never been anyone who has ever walked on this earth that was more truly kind and compassionate and tender and patient than our Lord Jesus Christ to even the worst of sinners—even to such sinners as you and me.
And that’s what makes this morning’s passage so remarkable. In it, we’re told the story of how our Lord Jesus—this most compassionate and tender of all who ever trod the earth—reached the end of His patience with a particular group of people. He turned them away with the harshest “No!” that I believe we can find Him giving to anyone in the whole story of the gospel.
It was given to those who were considered the religious leaders of the day; and it was all because they demanded of Him a “sign from heaven”.
We find this story in Mark 8:9-13. It occurred right after we read of how He had just feed 4,000 people with five loaves of bread and a few fish—a repeat of another miracle that He had performed earlier. Mark tells us;
Now those who had eaten were about four thousand. And He sent them away, immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha.
Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. But 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 to this generation.”
And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side (Mark 8:9-13).
Have you ever felt so angry and upset at something that you sat and stewed about it silently to yourself; and then suddenly began to bring it up again to those sitting near you? I believe that was happening to our Lord. As He and His disciples made their way across the Sea of Galilee from this event, it must have been that Jesus sat in the boat and thought a great deal about what had happened. We’re told in verse 15;
Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod” (v. 15).
And I believe that when we see something that—if I may put it this way—works our Lord up this much; when we see something that makes our wonderfully gentle and patient Lord and Master turn someone away so forcefully; when we see that it makes Him sit in the boat and think about it, and then bring it up again as a stern warning to His disciples, then I believe you and I are being shown that this is something we had better pay careful attention to!
This passage warns us against something that many people in this very skeptical age do toward our Lord—something that we ourselves are sometimes in danger of falling into if we aren’t careful. It warns us to beware of the danger of demanding that the Lord prove Himself to us through validating signs before we will believe on Him or obey Him.
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Now; I ask you to keep this passage in the back of your mind as I invite you to . . . well . . . come grocery-shopping with me. Kind of.
I have told you before that Friday Night—grocery-shopping night for me—is a very important period in my sermon preparation. It’s a time when I drive around, and shop, and use the time to commune in my heart with the Lord about the passage I’m preparing to preach from. And I’d like to share with you a little about the conversation I had with Him in prayer the other night about this passage.
I thought about the question of whether or not it is always wrong to ask a ‘sign’ of the Lord. And I concluded that—with very particular qualifications—it was not always wrong to do so. After all, we have a very famous example in the person of the great Old Testament saint Gideon. He was faced with the call to go into battle—with a very tiny band of men—against an enormous Midionite army. God had already promised the victory. But he desperately needed assurance; and we’re told,
So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said—look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.” And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.” And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground (Judges 6:36-40).
Given the remarkable challenge that Gideon face, I can’t blame him for wanting assurance; can you? And so, he asked God for a confirming sign; and God gave it to him!—not just once, but twice! So we can’t say that it is always absolutely wrong to ask God for a sign. King Hezekiah once asked God for a sign that God would fulfill His promise to heal the king of a life-threatening disease, and that the king would once again go to the temple of the Lord. And in response to the king’s request, the sign God granted was that the shadow would go backward ten degrees on the sundial. God even once invited King Ahaz to ask Him for a sign that He would deliver his people from their oppressors; and the sign that God granted was one that is much known and loved by us today:
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).
Did you know that God even invited His people to test Him in the matter of giving? In Malachi 3:10, He told them;
“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10).
So; clearly it’s not an absolute wrong to ask a sign from God or even—if we may dare to put it this way—to “test” or “try” Him. But the Bible also teaches that there are times when it is wrong to try to put the Lord to the test, or to demand that He prove Himself to us through a sign. Do you remember how the devil once tempted the Lord Jesus in the wilderness? He tried to get our Lord to leap off the highest point of the temple in Jerusalem on the basis of the promise in Scripture that God would send His angels to bear Him up. But Jesus quoted another passage and said, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God’” (Matthew 4:7).
As you can tell, I get a lot of sermon-thinking done when I go shopping for groceries. (It’s no wonder I come home and find that I forgot a few things on the list!) And I thought about the strong reaction the Pharisees got from the Lord when they demanded a sign from heaven; and I concluded that it must have been that they were very much on the wrong side of things.
And as I drove around, I found myself praying about it all. This whole matter of ‘asking for signs’ seemed to me like a dangerous thing. I told the Lord something that I felt about it all—something that, after I prayed, I felt I needed to take back and qualify a bit. I told Him that I felt that, at this stage of my life with Him, I didn’t need for Him to prove Himself to me anymore. I told Him that I felt He has already done that abundantly; and that the great need in my life from now on was to simply trust Him and obey His commands. But I then quickly told Him that I might mistaken in that. Maybe there will still be many important moments in my life—far more than I realize—when I will need for Him to prove Himself to me. Maybe there are still times even right now when I need some sort of a validating sign—just like Gideon needed a sign. In fact, I feel sure He often gives such validating signs to me; and that I only later recognize them as such.
But I did believe I was right to affirm that He knows best when I need such confirming signs; and that it’s not my place to ask for them or ever demand them. I know He’s there and that He loves me; and I hope I will always trust Him and obey Him—even if I don’t see a miraculous sign to encourage me along the way. But I also know that, when I need a little extra ‘push’ of encouragement and affirmation in my walk of faith, He will give it through some sign that He is there for me.
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So; what was wrong with what the Pharisees were demanding? What was it about their request that made our Lord reject it so decisively?
I believe that, in the end, the problem was in the attitude of heart with which they did the asking. They were not asking because they wanted to believe in Him or obey His call in their lives, and needed some proof to affirm their faith. I believe that the key to understanding their attitude is found at the end of Mark 8:11—where we’re told that they were “testing Him”. The idea in the use of that word in that particular case is that they were putting Jesus on trial in a negative sense, and seeking to make proof of Him—tempting Him, as it were. I believe that they were being completely dishonest in their request. They were either demanding to be convinced by a miraculous sign that would compel them to believe against their will; or were hoping that He would not be able to fulfill their request and thus confirm their disbelief in Him and discredit Himself in front of everyone.
I believe, then, that we’re talking about a “hypocritical” demand for a validating sign asked from a heart-condition of unbelief. And I believe that our Lord warns us in this passage to neither let ourselves get swept up in associating with such hypocritical demands, nor allow ourselves to become poisoned in our spirit by the kind of unbelieving attitude that gives birth to them.
It is a truly soul-damaging thing to get caught up in the demand that God constantly prove Himself to us through ‘signs’ before we will believe and obey. Notice first from this passage that . . .
1. SUCH SIGNS ARE NOT NEEDED.
I see this in the first few verses of our passage. It’s important that we see how it begins; because it connects this incident in our thinking to the story that preceded it. And that preceding story is one of many stories that show us that Jesus was already abundantly proving Himself to those who would sincerely seek Him.
It starts off by telling us about the miracle He had just performed: “Now those who had eaten were about four thousand” (v. 9). Four thousand men, as Matthew tells us in His Gospel—“besides women and children” (Matthew 15:38); and He fed them all with just five loaves of bread and a few small fish! And it wasn’t the only time that He had fed a multitude! What’s more, it wasn’t the only kind of miracle He performed. There were many others, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, restoring the hearing of the deaf and speech to the mute, cleansing the lepers, casting out demons, and even commanding the weather! It may be that we’re told that “He sent them away, immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha” for the same reason that He had done so in the previous great feeding: because the people were beginning to think about taking Him and making Him king by force!
And do you know that in all of the great miracles He was performing, He was fulfilling the promises of Scripture concerning the Messiah? The Pharisees were scholars of the Old Testament prophecies; and would have known what it says in Isaiah 35:4-6 about the promised Messiah:
Say to those who are fearful-hearted,
“Be strong, do not fear!
Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
With the recompense of God;
He will come and save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then the lame shall leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the dumb sing” (Isaiah 35:4-6a).
And so; in a very real sense, the thing that they were demanding of Jesus was not necessary. They had already had ample “signs” from God—if they had only been willing to believe those signs, turn in repentance from their sins, and trust in Jesus.
There was a parable that Jesus once told. It involved a man who had died and had gone to the place of torment. He wanted Father Abraham to send someone to warn his brothers so that they wouldn’t end up in that place. We’re told;
“Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead’” (Luke 16:27b-31).
God has already given ample proof—sufficient “signs” to those who are willing to receive them—that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. If people refuse to believe those signs recorded in the testimony of Scripture about Him, and reject the evidence all around them of lives that He has genuinely transformed, then they have chosen to close their hearts to Him; and no further signs will make any difference.
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But the Pharisees, nevertheless, demanded more proof. When Jesus and His disciples arrived at the other side of the lake—at Dalmanutha (or Magdana, as it’s called in Matthew’s Gospel), “the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him” (v. 11).
And that leads us next to note that . . .
2. SUCH DEMANDS ARE ILL-MOTIVATED.
Look first at who is asking. It’s the Pharisees—those who are often noted in the Scripture for being ‘religious’ on the outside but corrupt in the sight of God on the inside. Then, look at what they were doing. They came out and “began to dispute with Him”. Jesus had already had several encounters with them; and this is yet one more. Third, consider what they wanted from Him. They wanted “a sign from heaven”. Perhaps they were asking for Him to cause manna to fall to the ground as in the days of Moses. Perhaps they wanted Him to cause the sun to stand still in the sky as in the days of Joshua. Perhaps they wanted to see some lightening and thunder. Later on, the people who scoffed at Jesus as He hung on the cross—perhaps some of these very same Pharisees being among them—would mock Him for saying that He was the Son of God. These Pharisees knew who He claimed to be; and perhaps they were demanding some sign that only the Son of God would do. And finally, note that they were saying this because they were “testing Him”. We already know from earlier in Mark’s Gospel that they had begun to plot together with the Sadduccees how to kill Him; so this “test” was nothing but hostile in nature.
There’s a lesson here. Whenever we feel ourselves craving a sign from God, we should stop and ask our motivation. Or more; whenever we see someone else saying that they won’t believe God unless they see Him perform a miraculous sign, we need to consider what their motivation might be. Is it to know the truth, and humbly bow to that truth once its revealed? Is it from a sincere desire to trust and obey Him? Or is it out of a hypocritical motive that is hostile to the truth?
Jesus once very boldly put it this way:
. . . when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops” (Luke 12:1-3).
Jesus knows the true motivations of our heart when we ask for a sign.
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The motives of the Pharisees in asking for this “sign from heaven” were hypocritical and hostile. The demand was a “test” that was intended to secure themselves in their own unbelief. And the next thing we see is that . . .
3. SUCH TESTS WILL NOT BE SUBMITTED TO.
I don’t know how you could get a louder and clearer “No!” than they got from Jesus. First, we’re told that He “sighed deeply in His spirit . . .” The word that is used here means to have a sigh that rises up deeply from within. If I may put it this way, it was a deep groan that communicated that He had reached the limit of His patience with these unbelieving Pharisees. When you hear a sigh like that from Jesus, you can just take it that you’re way over on the wrong side of things!
Then, notice that He asked a rhetorical question: “Why does this generation seek a sign?” It was a question that didn’t need an answer. In the original language, He puts it in an emphatic way; “Why does the generation—this one!—seek a sign?” And that’s because there had never been a generation that had been given more of a privilege than that one. They were living in a time when many would have sought to see what they had seen, or heard what they had heard. They had the Son of God bodily in their presence! He was fulfilling Scripture before their very eyes! Prophetically speaking, they were living in the fullness of times! And yet, they—of all people and of all generations—dared to demand a sign?!!
Third, notice how strongly He refused them. He said, “Assuredly, I say to you . . .” That’s a phrase that, in the original language, begins with “Amen!” It’s a strong affirmation of the solemn truth of what He is about to say. And in the English translation, He says, “no sign shall be given to this generation.” In the original language, however, it is more like this; “If I will give this generation a sign . . .!” It’s left hanging; and the idea is—as Buddy Holly might have put it—“That’ll be the day, if I give THIS generation a sign! That’ll be the day that I die!” You can take that as a strong, decisive “NO!”—as forceful a “NO!” as I believe you can find Jesus giving anyone in any of the stories of the Gospels.
And finally, notice that He didn’t even stay around to discuss it with them further. We’re told, “And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.” They did not get what they demanded; and He left them with that fact. Our Lord does not submit Himself to such hypocritical “tests”. And in an sense, He was even giving them a sign of who He was in the very fact of His refusing to give them a sign on demand; because, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God’” (Matthew 4:7.)
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And now comes our Lord’s warning to you and me, dear brothers and sisters. We can put ourselves, as it were, in the boat with the others of His disciples; and imagine Him feeling a great deal of passion about what had just happened; and then finally turning to us and speaking His heart—just as He does in verse 15; “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod”
Look at how He does this. He says, “Take heed . . .” That’s His call to pay careful attention to what He is about to say. Whenever our Lord says anything, we need to heed it. But the circumstances of this warning demand of us that we pay very special heed! Then He says to “beware” of something. That’s because He is warning us of something that is very dangerous to our souls.
He says that we’re to beware of a kind of “leaven”. Leaven (or yeast) is a type of fungus that is kneaded into bread dough. It is put into the dough in just a tiny portion; but once put in, it permeates the whole lump of bread dough, and ferments in it, and causes the dough to bubble and rise when baked. It’s a picture of an attitude or belief that—when even a little bit is introduced—spreads and brings its contaminating influence upon the whole of a person. And Jesus is warning us against an attitude of unbelief that sneaks in, spreads, and contaminates the whole of a person with its soul-corrupting influence.
He calls this the “leaven” of the Pharisees; and we see here that its an attitude that asks for signs from out of a hypocritical motive. They demanded a sign—not in an effort to seek the truth, but out of a desire to advance their unbelief. He also calls this the “leaven” of Herod. King Herod was a complete secularist in his day; and those who were closely aligned with him were people who disbelieved in the spiritual realities that the Bible presents to us. Jesus warns us not to let their “leaven” get into our system and bring its unbelieving and spiritual hostile influence upon us.
And please notice something very significant. Jesus does not issue this warning to the Pharisees. He leaves them to the hardness of their hearts. Instead, He warns His followers not to get caught up in their attitude. Jesus is warning you and me, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, that when it comes to demanding “signs” from God as the Pharisees did . . .
4. SUCH ATTITUDES ARE TOXIC TO THE SOUL.
This kind of demand for validating signs from God comes from a spirit of unbelief. It’s a way of saying to God, “I won’t believe You, and I won’t do what You tell me to, until I am satisfied that You have met my standards.” It is almost an ‘addictive’ attitude; and if God were to give us what we wanted on those terms, He would essentially destroy His call for us to have faith in Him.
We must be on the alert against it, beware of falling under its influence, and keep ourselves free from it.
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Let me close by sharing about another similar encounter Jesus had. In Matthew 12, we’re told,
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here” (Matthew 12:38-41).
Jesus has risen from the dead. Can a greater sign be given to the world than that? May God set us free from the evil, spiritually adulterous, soul-damaging attitude that demands anything more than that from God before we will believe on Jesus and obey Him!