Commitment: All or Nothing

Following Jesus Requires

1. You must DENY yourself. (Mk 8:34)



2. You must APPRAISE your soul. (Mk 8:35-37)



3. You must consider the COST of NOT following Jesus. (Mk 8:38)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:05

  Open up your Bibles with me, please, to the Gospel according to Mark, and chapter 8.

  00:06-00:14

  If you're visiting with us, we've been just simply walking through the Gospel of Mark, following Jesus on tour.

  00:15-00:22

  At Harvest Bible Chapel, you just saw a little video about the four pillars, the four pillars that this church stands on.

  00:23-00:26

  I'd like to share with you also our mission statement.

  00:27-00:29

  Does anybody know what our mission is?

  00:30-00:38

  To glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment.

  00:39-00:40

  Alright, well done.

  00:40-00:41

  Well done. Let's give Brooke a hand.

  00:42-00:44

  Jump-starting everybody else. Thank you, Brooke.

  00:45-00:54

  We want to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment.

  00:56-01:04

  In other words, our mission as a church is just simply the mission that Jesus gave the church, and that is to make disciples.

  01:06-01:10

  In Harvest Bible Chapel, we believe a disciple of Jesus Christ does three things.

  01:10-01:13

  A disciple of Jesus Christ, first of all, worships Christ.

  01:15-01:19

  You know, unashamed adoration of Jesus Christ for who He is.

  01:19-01:22

  A disciple worships Christ, a disciple walks with Christ.

  01:22-01:26

  You should be seeking the Lord in prayer and in His Word.

  01:27-01:30

  And also, God calls us to be part of a community.

  01:31-01:34

  So our small group ministry is part of your walk with Christ.

  01:35-01:41

  We meet in homes and spend time talking about how the Word of God shows up in our lives.

  01:42-01:44

  How we can apply what the Lord has taught us.

  01:44-01:47

  We also believe a disciple works for Christ.

  01:49-01:57

  God's Word tells us the Holy Spirit gives all believers a gift to be used in ministry.

  01:58-02:03

  So a disciple worships Christ, a disciple walks with Christ, and a disciple works for Christ.

  02:03-02:07

  But the question we are going to look at today is simply this.

  02:07-02:09

  Where does the discipleship start?

  02:10-02:16

  If our mission is to make disciples, how does somebody become a disciple in the first place?

  02:17-02:19

  There has to be a starting block, right?

  02:20-02:25

  You don't just walk into a church some day, and all of the sudden you're worshipping, walking and working.

  02:25-02:27

  How does discipleship start?

  02:27-02:30

  What does the first step look like?

  02:30-02:37

  Or, in other words, what does the invitation to follow Jesus Christ look like?

  02:38-02:49

  And I have to tell you, the way churches invite people to follow Jesus is completely different than the way Jesus invited people to follow Jesus.

  02:50-02:55

  A lot of churches will invite people to follow Jesus, highlighting the benefits.

  02:57-03:03

  Almost to say, "Follow Jesus and all of your wildest dreams will come true.

  03:04-03:08

  Follow Jesus and He'll give you everything." and highlighting the prosperity.

  03:08-03:13

  And I see some of these charlatans on TV.

  03:14-03:19

  The one man talking about how the Lord gave him a brand new BMW and how He wants to do the same for you.

  03:22-03:26

  And that's the way many churches invite people to follow Jesus Christ.

  03:27-03:33

  Like, "Look how awesome everything is." But that was never the way that Jesus invited sinners.

  03:35-03:40

  Jesus was always talking about the price of following Him.

  03:41-03:42

  Did you ever notice that?

  03:42-03:44

  He was always talking about the price.

  03:44-03:46

  This is what it costs to follow.

  03:46-03:50

  And the church has so just lowered the bar on that.

  03:51-03:53

  But I want to see it straight from Jesus Himself.

  03:56-03:58

  How does He invite someone to follow Him?

  03:59-04:00

  We've lowered the bar.

  04:01-04:06

  For some churches, it's a matter of, You want to be a follower of Jesus, just raise your hand.

  04:06-04:07

  Or just sign this card.

  04:08-04:09

  Or just take this class.

  04:09-04:11

  And that's really all you need to be a follower.

  04:12-04:13

  But I want you to see what Jesus said.

  04:13-04:15

  Follow this on your outline first of all.

  04:16-04:22

  Following Jesus requires, number one, you must deny yourself.

  04:23-04:24

  Look at verse 34.

  04:26-04:45

  It says, "And calling the crowds to Him with His disciples, He said to them, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." In a previous passage, Jesus was talking to his disciples and what's the word on the street?

  04:45-04:46

  Who do people say that I am?

  04:46-04:54

  And they're like, "Well, there's like this rumor that you're like John the Baptist, put his head back on his body and like you're like this urban legend now.

  04:54-05:28

  John the Baptist resurrected." But then there's these people who think you're Elijah, you know, that's going to usher in the Messiah. Other people are like, "Well, he's just like a prophet." Remember Jesus made it very personal to the disciples. He said, "But who do you say that I am?" And Peter spoke up, "You are the Christ. You are the Messiah. You are God in the flesh, the prophet, priest, and king that we've been waiting for as a nation." And then Jesus said He said something very interesting.

  05:28-05:35

  He said that he must suffer, he must be rejected, he must be killed, and he must raise from the dead.

  05:35-05:46

  And you remember in that previous passage, the Bible says that Peter - a student with the Christ answer the Bible says he pulled Jesus aside and rebuked Him.

  05:47-05:47

  He chewed Him out.

  05:48-05:51

  Jesus pulled Peter - pulled Jesus aside, rather.

  05:52-05:54

  And he's like, "Jesus, you can't talk like that.

  05:54-05:55

  You're not going to die.

  05:56-05:57

  Why are you talking like that?

  05:58-05:58

  You're going to die?

  05:59-06:02

  You can't be talking like that.

  06:03-06:05

  If you're the Messiah, you're not going to suffer.

  06:06-06:13

  Well, then we saw that Jesus rebuked Peter saying, "You're not setting your mind on the things of God.

  06:13-06:26

  You're setting your mind on the things of man." And in light of Peter's protest, in light of Peter saying, "Jesus, You can't suffer and die." That's why v. 34 says, and calling the crowds to Him with His disciples.

  06:27-06:38

  Jesus is like, "We've got to get this straight right now." Ok, there's this idea that's starting to surface now that I'm not going to suffer.

  06:40-06:42

  And we're just going straight to glory.

  06:43-06:44

  And Jesus called the crowd.

  06:44-06:53

  He said, "We've got to get some things clear right off the bat." Not just for me, but for people who will follow me.

  06:56-07:06

  Then notice again verse 34, it says, "If anyone would come after me." So who's the gospel for again?

  07:07-07:09

  What does your Bible say?

  07:10-07:11

  Who's the gospel for?

  07:13-07:17

  But like, you don't understand, I've done some bad things in my past.

  07:17-07:19

  I've done some horrible things.

  07:19-07:20

  And who's the gospel for?

  07:22-07:26

  But you don't understand, you know, I really mess things up in my life.

  07:27-07:28

  Who's the gospel for?

  07:30-07:39

  If you're sitting here today and you're wondering if the gospel is for you, here's a real easy test.

  07:40-07:41

  Are you anyone?

  07:43-07:44

  Are you anyone?

  07:45-07:46

  than the Gospel was for you.

  07:47-07:47

  Alright?

  07:49-07:50

  Glad we could clear that up.

  07:51-08:04

  If anyone would come after me, first of all, Jesus says, "Let him deny himself." I believe these are the two hardest words in the entire Bible.

  08:07-08:10

  Following Jesus means you have to deny yourself literally.

  08:11-08:16

  What Jesus is saying is, You have to disown yourself.

  08:17-08:20

  The word comes from refusing to associate with someone.

  08:20-08:22

  Do you know how else this word is used?

  08:23-08:32

  Remember Peter, when Jesus was arrested, and Peter was trying to get real close to find out what was happening, and they're like, "Hey, you were with Jesus!" And do you remember what Peter did?

  08:34-08:35

  What did Peter do?

  08:36-08:37

  He denied Him, right?

  08:37-08:42

  He goes, "I don't know Him!" That's what that means, to deny.

  08:43-08:46

  Peter is sort of a negative example here of what Jesus is talking about.

  08:47-08:50

  Peter was, "I don't know Him." He said three times, "I don't know who He is.

  08:52-08:58

  I don't associate with Him." You see, Jesus said that that's what you have to do to yourself.

  08:59-09:02

  When you come to Christ, it's, "You know what?

  09:04-09:08

  The old Jeff Miller, I don't associate with him.

  09:08-09:10

  I don't hang out with him.

  09:11-09:12

  That's not me.

  09:12-09:19

  That's not who I am. I don't want any association of me in Christ with who I was without Christ.

  09:19-09:23

  I don't want any association. I don't want our names mentioned in the same sentence.

  09:24-09:27

  I don't even want us to be seen in the same picture, okay?

  09:28-09:30

  I'm denying everything that I was.

  09:32-09:37

  I reject all that I am. Everything that I've allowed to define me, it's over.

  09:38-09:40

  My desires, done.

  09:40-09:41

  My will, done.

  09:42-09:43

  My plans, done.

  09:43-09:45

  My purposes, done.

  09:46-09:48

  That's what it means to deny yourself.

  09:50-10:01

  And church, if there's something that you are unwilling to give up, if there is some area of your life that is off limits to Jesus, then you're unable to follow Jesus.

  10:04-10:11

  Is there some secret category of your life That you're like, "God, I'm giving you everything, except I want to hold on to this one thing.

  10:12-10:16

  God, I am all yours, except for this... I just have this one thing, God.

  10:16-10:23

  Just let me hold on to this one thing." You're unable to follow Jesus.

  10:26-10:32

  Because you're not even ready to take the first step, which is denying yourself.

  10:34-10:35

  Is there something you are unwilling to give up?

  10:38-10:40

  Is there a sin that you will not repent of?

  10:41-10:43

  Is there a sin that you refuse to give up?

  10:44-10:47

  And listen, I don't know what that is for you, okay?

  10:48-10:54

  That's when you can start entering into the territory of legalism, for me to say, "Well, here are the list of things.

  10:56-11:00

  I can't determine what that is for you, but here's the thing, I don't have to." You know.

  11:02-11:11

  You know right now, if there is something in your life that is keeping you from being a wholehearted follower of Jesus Christ. You know what that is.

  11:14-11:19

  The Holy Spirit will convict you of that. I don't need to give you a list.

  11:20-11:24

  Whether it's some private, wrong relationship.

  11:27-11:30

  Whether it's looking at things on the internet that you shouldn't.

  11:31-11:33

  That you're not sure you want to give that up?

  11:34-11:37

  Whether it's some kind of a substance abuse, legal or illegal?

  11:40-11:41

  That you're unwilling to give up?

  11:41-11:46

  You know whatever it is in your life that's keeping you from fully following Jesus Christ.

  11:46-11:47

  You know what it is.

  11:49-11:54

  And if you're unwilling to give it up, what you're saying is you're unwilling to deny yourself.

  11:56-12:00

  You're unwilling to say no to something that your flesh wants.

  12:00-12:13

  And Jesus said, "The first step in following Him is denying yourself." The second thing, notice He says, "Take up His cross." Okay?

  12:14-12:16

  That's not just like a metaphor.

  12:17-12:32

  When we think of taking up your cross, we think of some poetic concept, like, "You know what, my husband is such a jerk, and that's my cross to bear." That's just my cross to bear.

  12:32-12:34

  You know what, I have the allergies.

  12:36-12:38

  The allergies, that's my cross to bear.

  12:42-12:44

  Or my generic cell phone.

  12:46-12:48

  All my friends have the smart phone.

  12:49-12:55

  And I still have the free one I got when I signed up for the Sears credit card.

  12:58-13:01

  The screen on it is the size of a postage stamp.

  13:01-13:31

  "Look, that's my cross to bear." But look, the disciples that Jesus was talking to, and the crowds that Jesus was talking to, they knew exactly what Jesus meant when He said, "Take up your cross." Because these people would have seen it dozens, hundreds, even thousands of times.

  13:32-13:38

  They estimated that during Jesus' lifetime, just during Jesus' lifetime, tens of thousands of people were crucified.

  13:40-13:47

  And I've read this week of accounts where there were times that Rome would execute up to 2,000 people at a time.

  13:48-14:01

  These people knew exactly, when Jesus said, "Take up your cross," the first thing they thought of in their mind was the guy walking down the road with the cross on his back, surrounded by the guards.

  14:03-14:07

  And when you saw that guy walking with the cross, you knew where he was going.

  14:07-14:09

  He wasn't going to the church picnic.

  14:10-14:10

  Okay?

  14:11-14:13

  He wasn't going to get go.

  14:15-14:17

  He was going to die.

  14:19-14:26

  He was on His way to His death, and He fully was aware of that.

  14:26-14:28

  There wasn't a surprise, ok?

  14:28-14:35

  Like, you get to the end of the journey, and He's like, "We're doing what with this cross?" That guy knew.

  14:36-15:05

  "This walk is going to end with Me being nailed to this to die." That's what Jesus was talking about when He said, "Take up your cross." In our culture, just to kind of illustrate the impact it would have had, in our culture we might say something like this, "If you want to follow Jesus, you need to deny yourself, and you need to sit in the electric chair." Now that sounds kind of weird, doesn't it?

  15:05-15:06

  Sit in the electric chair.

  15:06-15:08

  But you understand the concept.

  15:08-15:11

  What that means is you're willing to die.

  15:12-15:14

  You're willing to lay your life down.

  15:18-15:26

  You're willing to estimate that salvation is so valuable, that you're willing to endure all suffering, even up to death.

  15:29-15:33

  I want to say that again. You're willing to endure all suffering, even up to death.

  15:33-15:39

  There are some people that are ready to stop pursuing the Lord, because somebody took their parking place at church.

  15:39-15:42

  Like, really? That's the extent of your suffering?

  15:44-15:59

  Jesus was teaching here that when you understand what it means to follow Him, when you understand who He is, He is literally, literally worth dying for.

  16:01-16:03

  You have to deny yourself. You have to say no to yourself.

  16:03-16:13

  You have to say, "I am done with the old self, And I am willing to lay my life down if need be.

  16:14-16:22

  I am willing to endure suffering." And Jesus says, "And follow Me." This is actually in a continual verb tense.

  16:22-16:28

  Literally, Jesus was saying, "Let him be following Me." Meaning, this isn't a trial run.

  16:28-16:40

  Jesus wasn't saying, "Take your cross and go around the block and see if it suits you." He was saying, "Take the cross, and that's going to be your journey.

  16:41-17:07

  You are going to walk through the rest of your life still denying yourself, still taking up your cross, all the way to the finish line, walking like Jesus, following in His steps as the Scripture teaches." When you consider how Jesus walked, you know, Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him.

  17:07-17:14

  Jesus saw the glory that was beyond the cross, and Jesus had a life that was typified by one thing.

  17:14-17:17

  He was obedient to the Father out of love.

  17:19-17:22

  Jesus' desire was to glorify the Father above all things.

  17:22-17:31

  So His obedience to the Father, even to the cross, was out of love, and out of the joy and the glory that was waiting on the other side.

  17:33-17:43

  And it's no accident that the way that Jesus told us to make our public profession of faith in Him, you know that?

  17:45-17:54

  When somebody makes a commitment to Jesus Christ, a public profession is to be made.

  17:54-18:00

  I'm following Jesus." Do you know the picture that Jesus gave of what it looks like to follow Him?

  18:01-18:23

  He didn't say, "Stand up in front of people and sign a contract to show that you're really serious." He didn't say, "If you're going to follow Me, stand up and take a pledge." or pierce your ear, or paint your hand, or anything like that.

  18:25-18:34

  Jesus said, when you stand up to make the public profession of faith, when you stand up and say, "I'm going to follow Jesus Christ," it needs to look like this.

  18:35-18:39

  "I always believed in God and Jesus Christ, and believe in the Holy Trinity.

  18:40-18:44

  I just never made the connection between me and what the purpose of the cross was.

  18:44-18:50

  I was one of those who kind of thought like you, You are judged for your works on earth.

  18:50-18:51

  I get it now.

  18:52-18:56

  I realize that Jesus paid the ultimate price for my sins on the cross.

  18:56-18:58

  He is the ultimate sacrifice for me.

  18:59-19:00

  There is no other way.

  19:00-19:03

  He is the way, the truth, and the life.

  19:03-19:04

  He paid a debt He didn't know.

  19:05-19:07

  I owe a debt I cannot pay.

  19:07-19:09

  He paid the debt for me.

  19:11-19:20

  Jeff, it's because of your belief in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, public profession and faith, that he died for you.

  19:20-19:24

  I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

  19:29-19:30

  [APPLAUSE]

  19:38-19:39

  >> Okay, isn't that weird?

  19:41-19:47

  Isn't that weird? Jesus said when you're making a public profession, you're going to follow Him, you should get dunked in water?

  19:50-19:50

  It's not weird.

  19:52-19:53

  Because of what baptism means.

  19:55-20:10

  Understand last night when Jeff was baptized, when he went under the water, what he was saying was, "Jeff Palachy is dead." And that water represents a liquid tomb.

  20:10-20:29

  And when He's brought up out of the water, what He's saying is, "The life that I now live is Jesus Christ living in me and through me." I'm identifying with the death of Jesus, and I'm identifying with the resurrection of Jesus, and the eternal life that He gives.

  20:33-20:40

  But you have to see that Jesus, when He told us to go and baptize people in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

  20:42-20:43

  You're making a public profession.

  20:45-20:46

  I'm dead.

  20:47-20:48

  This is my funeral.

  20:52-20:54

  I'm not living for myself anymore.

  20:55-20:57

  Jesus Christ is living through me.

  20:59-21:03

  Following Jesus means you have to deny yourself, you have to take up your cross, you have to follow Him.

  21:04-21:06

  Jesus Christ cannot be an add-on, okay?

  21:07-21:08

  My life is pretty sweet as it is.

  21:09-21:11

  I think I'll tack Jesus onto my resume.

  21:13-21:14

  To the death.

  21:15-21:18

  Fully denying it's all or nothing.

  21:20-21:23

  So first of all, you must deny yourself.

  21:25-21:29

  Secondly, what does it require to follow Jesus Christ?

  21:30-21:34

  You must appraise your soul.

  21:35-21:37

  You must appraise your soul.

  21:39-21:40

  Look at v. 35.

  21:41-22:00

  Jesus said, "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospels will save it." You can have it your way now for however long that is.

  22:03-22:04

  You can lose eternity.

  22:06-22:07

  What did Jesus mean?

  22:07-22:10

  He said, "Whoever would save his life." What does that mean?

  22:13-22:15

  He means saving it from God.

  22:17-22:19

  He means preserving my will.

  22:22-22:24

  The self-lordship over my own life.

  22:24-22:26

  My reputation.

  22:26-22:29

  These are the things that I'm trying to save.

  22:30-22:32

  I'm trying to save myself from God.

  22:37-22:41

  From the suffering that comes when you take up your cross.

  22:43-22:45

  From anything that would hinder my safety.

  22:47-22:49

  The way people talk about me.

  22:51-22:52

  I'm trying to save my life.

  22:53-23:00

  And whether you want to call this irony or whether you want to call this a paradox, Maybe it's a little of both.

  23:02-23:06

  But what Jesus was saying was the only way you're going to find your life is if you give it up.

  23:07-23:13

  The only way that you're going to live is if you're willing to stop living.

  23:15-23:22

  You can lose everything later, or you can lose everything now.

  23:22-23:25

  The difference is you have more to lose later.

  23:26-23:35

  In Matthew 36-37, Jesus said, "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

  23:37-23:43

  For what can a man give in return for his soul?" I'm going to stop right there.

  23:44-23:45

  I don't want to get ahead of myself.

  23:47-23:51

  But the question here is, what is your soul worth?

  23:55-23:56

  What is your soul worth?

  23:57-24:00

  What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

  24:02-24:04

  What is your soul worth?

  24:06-24:08

  Can you put a dollar value on it?

  24:09-24:09

  What do you think?

  24:10-24:11

  What do you think, Dean?

  24:11-24:13

  Is your soul worth $35?

  24:14-24:14

  More?

  24:16-24:17

  A little more? A lot more?

  24:18-24:19

  $100?

  24:22-24:23

  What do you think? What's your soul worth?

  24:25-24:26

  Is your soul worth a thousand dollars?

  24:28-24:29

  What about half a million?

  24:30-24:36

  If somebody offered you a half a million dollars for your soul, is that what your soul is worth?

  24:38-24:39

  What's it worth?

  24:40-24:42

  What dollar value can you put on your soul?

  24:43-24:50

  I was thinking about that this week, and it got me back to a conversation with my brother a few months ago.

  24:52-24:54

  Have you ever seen that show, Storage Wars?

  24:54-24:55

  How many people have seen Storage Wars?

  24:55-24:56

  Raise your hands.

  24:56-24:59

  When I say Storage Wars, let me-- hang on.

  25:00-25:03

  Any of the 28 variations of Storage Wars?

  25:04-25:04

  OK.

  25:05-25:07

  The most of you-- is there anybody here that hasn't?

  25:07-25:08

  OK, some of you haven't.

  25:08-25:17

  All right, well, there's like Storage Wars, and like Storage Wars Texas, and Storage Wars Louisiana, and like Storage Wars Blonox.

  25:18-25:23

  And there's like-- I'm not sure about the last one, but it's coming probably if it's not out now.

  25:24-25:27

  But let me tell you what this show's about for the few of you that haven't seen it.

  25:27-25:31

  In Storage Wars, people rent these storage lockers, right?

  25:31-25:33

  You know, I'm talking about these storage lockers.

  25:33-25:34

  You see them on the side of the road.

  25:34-25:40

  It's like, I want a garage, but I don't want to really commit to having a garage on my property.

  25:41-25:45

  So I have all this junk in my house that I don't really want to throw away.

  25:45-25:49

  So I'm going to put it in somebody else's garage.

  25:49-25:51

  So you pay a monthly fee.

  25:51-25:59

  And well, sometimes people put all their stuff in these storage lockers, and then they just forget about them.

  25:59-26:03

  I don't know if they went off to war and died, or they just have really bad memories.

  26:04-26:06

  But they just leave their stuff.

  26:07-26:10

  So these people that don't need storage lockers are like, what are we going to do with their stuff?

  26:10-26:20

  Well, what they do is they have these people come and actually on what's in the storage locker.

  26:20-26:23

  Okay, so they open up the door and everybody kind of stands outside.

  26:23-26:41

  And you know the main one storage doors, there's like, well this is probably like true for all of them, but there's like the older rich guy, and then there's like this, you know, the feisty lady, and then there's like the young hipster couple, and then there's like the big redneck guy and his son.

  26:41-26:43

  They all like stand outside this storage locker.

  26:44-26:45

  This is going somewhere.

  26:46-26:51

  They all stand outside this storage locker and they look at it and then an auctioneer starts the bidding.

  26:53-27:00

  My favorite part of that show, by far, is the redneck guy.

  27:01-27:03

  His name is Daryl Sheets.

  27:05-27:06

  And he usually has his son with him.

  27:07-27:07

  What's the son's name?

  27:09-27:10

  All right, that's your homework assignment.

  27:11-27:13

  But he's usually there with us, and we haven't watched this show in a while.

  27:14-27:22

  Okay, so when he wins a locker, they show them when they go back in later, and they're going through the stuff in the locker.

  27:22-27:23

  They're opening the boxes.

  27:24-27:33

  As Darryl Sheets is going through the boxes, he's putting a value on everything that he finds, and it is so ridiculous.

  27:34-27:37

  He's going through, he's like, he'll drag out this mattress.

  27:38-27:47

  He's like, yeah, this mattress it's well used and well worn, I can probably get $80 for that.

  27:47-27:53

  And this old lamp here is broken, and it's missing a cord and a shade.

  27:54-27:57

  That's about $150 bill right there.

  27:57-28:05

  And oh, here's a box of old ladies' shoes, and they're missing the heels, and they're really scuffed really bad, and they stink.

  28:05-28:06

  But you know what?

  28:07-28:10

  I can probably get $20 a shoe for that.

  28:10-28:12

  So you're looking at $500 here.

  28:13-28:28

  And seriously, as he's appraising everything, there's a ticker on the bottom of the screen, like, "Krr -ching, krr-ching, krr-ching." And it's like adding up all of these appraisals.

  28:30-29:06

  And then at the end of the show, they're like, "Daryl Sheets made $2,300 today." I'm like, "No, he didn't!" Just because he randomly assigned value to somebody's garbage that they didn't want, it wasn't as if somebody was standing outside the locker, and as Darrell was appraising it, they pull out their wallet, and they're like counting cash here, like, "Oh, how much do I owe you for that?" They make it sound like he left the day with $2,300 cash in his pocket, and in fact, he did not.

  29:08-29:11

  Because here's the thing with that stuff.

  29:11-29:14

  Something is only worth what?

  29:15-29:19

  Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for.

  29:20-29:25

  For Darryl to think that that used mattress is worth $80, what's he going to have to find?

  29:26-29:31

  He's going to have to find somebody that thinks that that used mattress is worth $80.

  29:33-29:35

  What's that mattress worth until he finds that person?

  29:37-29:37

  Zero.

  29:38-29:40

  But listen church, here's the truth.

  29:42-29:48

  Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

  29:50-29:52

  And what were we talking about again?

  29:53-29:54

  Oh yeah, what's your soul worth?

  29:55-29:56

  What's your soul worth?

  29:57-29:59

  Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

  30:00-30:05

  So your soul is only worth but someone was willing to pay for it.

  30:08-30:10

  What was Jesus willing to pay for your soul?

  30:11-30:13

  What is your value to Jesus Christ?

  30:14-30:14

  What is your value?

  30:17-30:19

  You can't put a price tag on it.

  30:20-30:22

  Jesus said you are worth dying for.

  30:23-30:39

  Jesus said you are worth leaving My throne in heaven and taking on flesh and blood and walking on this dirt ball earth to be ridiculed and rejected and spit on and beaten and nailed to a cross.

  30:39-30:41

  Jesus said you're worth that.

  30:42-30:44

  Something is only worth when somebody is willing to pay for it.

  30:45-30:47

  And Jesus thought you were worth paying for.

  30:50-30:51

  So what's your soul worth again?

  30:53-30:57

  The Almighty, Infinite, Holy God of the universe you thought your soul was worth something.

  31:00-31:05

  The question is, does your appraisal of your soul match God's appraisal of your soul?

  31:08-31:12

  I don't want to hear any of this negative, down-on-me talk, like I'm worthless.

  31:13-31:14

  No, you are not.

  31:16-31:17

  God didn't think so.

  31:19-31:21

  So get that thought out of your head.

  31:22-31:26

  But have you appraised your soul in the way God has appraised your soul.

  31:28-31:31

  Because church, there are only two things in this room right now that are eternal.

  31:31-31:32

  Do you know that?

  31:32-31:35

  There are two things in this room right now that are eternal.

  31:37-31:38

  One of them is sitting on your lap.

  31:39-31:41

  The Word of God is eternal.

  31:43-31:46

  The only other thing in this room that is eternal is your soul.

  31:48-31:50

  So what is your soul worth again?

  31:53-32:02

  Jesus said you could gain the whole world, and I would add parenthetically, for your short life, how many years do you have on this earth anyways?

  32:04-32:05

  You don't know.

  32:06-32:09

  30, 40, 50, 60?

  32:10-32:13

  You have a few short years on this earth.

  32:14-32:17

  And Jesus said you could gain the whole world.

  32:18-32:21

  You could literally become the emperor of earth.

  32:22-32:28

  You can own every nation, every city, every coin on the earth.

  32:28-32:31

  You can own it all and spend eternity in hell.

  32:31-32:34

  And let me ask you, do you think you got a good deal out of it?

  32:36-32:38

  Would you say that that was a good deal?

  32:38-32:43

  "Well, I spent my life amassing stuff here and I forfeited eternity." Is that a good deal?

  32:45-32:46

  You have to appraise your soul.

  32:48-32:51

  And finally, you must consider the cost of not following Jesus.

  32:52-32:55

  You must consider the cost of not following Jesus.

  32:57-33:09

  You know, Jesus over and over is saying, "Count the cost, count the cost, count the cost." But look at verse 38, Jesus also reminds us that we need to count the cost of not following Him.

  33:10-33:28

  "For whoever is ashamed of Me, and of My words, and this adulterous and sinful generation, Of Him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." That's the first mention in the Gospel of Mark of the Second Coming.

  33:30-33:32

  Interesting context to put it in, Jesus.

  33:34-33:39

  There is a cost to follow Jesus, but there is a bigger cost in not following Him.

  33:41-33:42

  And you know, you look at our culture.

  33:46-33:47

  We should be ashamed of ourselves.

  33:49-33:51

  I mean as a culture, we should be ashamed of our sin.

  33:54-33:58

  Look at what's happening in the areas of morality and sexuality.

  34:04-34:12

  Our culture should be ashamed of our sin, not of Jesus, but we have completely turned that around.

  34:15-34:19

  You live in a culture that's done away with shame, and you're seeing it more and more.

  34:21-34:26

  What sexual misconduct really is there to be ashamed of anymore, really?

  34:29-34:30

  Irresponsibility.

  34:32-34:33

  People who can work but won't work.

  34:36-34:40

  That's something that, what was that, like one generation ago?

  34:41-34:43

  That's something people would have been ashamed of.

  34:46-34:47

  Drunkenness.

  34:48-34:50

  That's something people used to be ashamed of.

  34:51-34:52

  Our culture is not ashamed anymore.

  34:54-34:56

  Culture is not saying, "I'm ashamed of my sin.

  34:56-34:58

  I'm ashamed of the destruction it's caused.

  34:58-35:01

  I'm ashamed of my desperate need.

  35:01-35:14

  I'm ashamed of how lost I am on my own." What we have instead The invitation to follow Jesus Christ, and what we hear is, "Oh, I'm ashamed of what people will think.

  35:14-35:16

  I'm ashamed of what people will say.

  35:16-35:19

  I'm ashamed to come forward and admit how lost I am.

  35:20-35:28

  Ashamed of Jesus, not ashamed of my sin." Exactly what Jesus was talking about here.

  35:29-35:34

  "For whoever is ashamed of me and my words." Are you ashamed?

  35:38-36:07

  Jesus said if you're ashamed of being a follower of Him now, or thought of to be a follower of Him, not a genuine of course, if you're ashamed of the thought of being a follower of Jesus now, He says He's going to be ashamed of you, then, He says, "Will the Son of Man also be ashamed when He comes in glory of His Father with the holy angels?" Jesus, you get this scene?

  36:08-36:09

  You get this scene?

  36:09-36:12

  Whole life, I don't want anything to do with Jesus.

  36:12-36:15

  I don't want my neighbors to think I'm a religious nut.

  36:17-36:19

  I don't want to buy into all that stuff.

  36:20-36:34

  Jesus said there's going to be a day before God and before all of the angels, Jesus will say something like, "I'm ashamed of him." He knew He needed forgiveness.

  36:35-36:37

  He knew that I came to die for Him.

  36:37-36:42

  He chose to live a life centered around Himself than around His Creator and His Savior.

  36:43-36:46

  I'm ashamed that He never bothered to look at the big picture.

  36:47-36:49

  I'm ashamed that He never stopped to think about eternity.

  36:50-36:54

  I'm ashamed that He never embraced the love and forgiveness that I freely offered Him.

  36:58-37:39

  So you see, when Jesus presented the Gospel The invitation to follow Him, it wasn't presented as, "Follow Me and you get everything." It was presented as this, "Are you willing to give up everything because you see the worthiness of the Son of God?" The biggest hindrance in coming to Christ, the greatest opposition that you will face coming to Christ, the person that is most in the way of you becoming a follower of Jesus Christ is you.

  37:40-37:55

  So are you ready to deny yourself? Are you ready to take up your cross? Are you ready to follow Him?

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Mark 8:34-38

1. What would you say to someone who says, "I would like to come to church, but I don't want to give up my party lifestyle." What would Jesus say in light of Mark 8:34-38?
    

2. Why would someone be ashamed of Jesus and His words (Mark 8:38)? What does that mean? Do you ever feel ashamed to speak up for Jesus?

Breakout Questions:
Is there any area in which I am not "dead to self"? Any area I have resisted giving up that I know I need to? Pray for one another!

Confession: The Heart of the Matter

Three Questions About Jesus You Have to Get Right

1. Do I understand the MAN ? (Mk 8:27-30)



2. Do I understand the PLAN ? (Mk 8:31-33)



3. Have I made him PERSONAL ? (Mk 8:29)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:05

  Open up your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark, and chapter 8.

  00:06-00:08

  The Gospel of Mark, chapter 8.

  00:10-00:16

  As a pastor every week, preparing to come and share the Word with you, I go through this every week.

  00:16-00:17

  Every week I go through this.

  00:18-00:20

  Like this passage is so important.

  00:21-00:21

  Right?

  00:22-00:24

  And we've seen that so many times throughout the Gospel of Mark.

  00:25-00:27

  You know, the baptism of Jesus, this is so important.

  00:28-00:31

  And we talked about the feeding of the 5,000.

  00:31-00:33

  This miracle is so important.

  00:34-00:42

  And the message this week, this passage that we're going to be looking at this week, is the pinnacle of the Gospel of Mark.

  00:45-00:50

  The passage that we're looking at this week is really the turning point in the whole Gospel.

  00:52-01:02

  Because everything that we have studied so far in Mark is leading up to this point in the life and the ministry of Jesus Christ.

  01:04-01:08

  And everything that we say after this is going to stem from this.

  01:10-01:18

  This is really the high point in the teaching ministry of Jesus Christ.

  01:21-01:24

  Everything leads to this and everything flows from this.

  01:25-01:28

  And we're going to be talking today about the identity of Jesus Christ.

  01:29-01:30

  His identity.

  01:32-01:41

  And I'm sure, like me, you have been in some situations in your life where you've been the victim of mistaken identity.

  01:42-01:43

  Has that ever happened to you?

  01:44-01:45

  I was thinking about that this week.

  01:46-01:54

  And interestingly, that's happened to me a lot more than I thought at first.

  01:56-01:57

  Mistaken identity.

  01:58-02:00

  There were times that it just got irritating.

  02:01-02:04

  There were times mistaken identity just got irritating.

  02:04-02:12

  Like for the longest time I was getting calls from the student loan people that I was default on my student loans.

  02:13-02:15

  The problem was my student loans were paid off.

  02:16-02:18

  But they kept calling and calling.

  02:19-02:21

  And finally I said, "You know what?

  02:21-02:24

  You folks keep calling me, but my student loans are paid off.

  02:24-02:40

  They've been paid off for a long time." And they said, "Well, our records show, Jeffrey S. Miller, that you are in default on your student loans." And I said, "Well, I'm not." And then they said something really weird.

  02:40-03:03

  They said, "Well, do you know there are 168 Jeffrey S. Millers in the state of Pennsylvania?" And I said, "Well, then do you think there's a chance that you're talking to the wrong one?" And they were like, "Oh, that is a possibility." And they stopped calling me.

  03:05-03:06

  So that got irritating.

  03:08-03:19

  And I can tell you at times it just got humorous, mistaken identity, years back doing a kids outreach camp at my previous church.

  03:19-03:23

  We did this week of free camp for kids in the community, totally free.

  03:24-03:32

  The church, generous people, it was the Lord that provided obviously, but the Lord provided through generous people in the church so that these kids could go to camp for free.

  03:32-03:33

  So it was free to all the city kids.

  03:34-03:39

  And what was funny is we'd promote this, I'd leave flyers on doors and I'd call people.

  03:40-03:43

  And I'd talk to a lot of parents on the phone who never met me.

  03:44-03:46

  So then they would bring their kid for the first day of camp.

  03:47-03:51

  And I'd be wearing my cargo shorts and my t-shirt, you know, camp clothes, right?

  03:52-03:52

  Tennis shoes.

  03:52-03:59

  And these parents would come up and they'd say, "Excuse me, can you tell me where the pastor is?" Actually I am the pastor.

  04:00-04:01

  They'd look me dead in the eye.

  04:01-04:09

  He said, "No, no, no, I talked to this pastor on the phone." I'm like, "Yeah, that was me that spoke with you on the phone." They're looking over my shoulder as they're talking to me.

  04:10-04:13

  Like, "Yeah, if you can just show me where the pastor is, that would be great.

  04:13-04:17

  I need to ask him some questions." It just got kind of humorous.

  04:18-04:22

  And then there were times mistaken identity got scary.

  04:23-04:26

  I'll tell you the scariest I've ever been over mistaken identity.

  04:26-04:28

  It was one time at the Butler County Prison.

  04:28-04:30

  This was the old prison, Mark. Remember the old prison?

  04:31-04:32

  It's like the dungeon.

  04:33-04:42

  But I went in for Bible study, and I'm sitting in that-- remember the little lobby there where they get you through the two big doors, and you sit in this lobby before you go in to have the Bible study?

  04:43-04:48

  So I'm just sitting in the lobby waiting for them to get the inmates ready for me to go in and do Bible study with them.

  04:48-04:49

  And I'm just kind of sitting there.

  04:49-04:52

  Well, this police officer comes into the jail.

  04:53-04:55

  And he's talking to the person that's working the front desk.

  04:56-04:58

  And the police officer turns around and looks at me.

  04:59-05:11

  He says, "Those laces are going to have to come out of your shoes." And I'm like, "Why?" And he's like, "Look man, you know how it is.

  05:11-05:14

  I can't transport you with the laces in your shoes.

  05:14-05:22

  Get them out." And I'm like, "What just happened?" Well, then the police officer turns to the person working at the desk.

  05:22-05:35

  He says, "Is this the inmate I'm transporting or what?" The person at the front desk was like, "No, no, no, that's not him." Meanwhile, some of the people that were with us were trying to talk to the police officer that that was me.

  05:35-05:36

  Like, "Yeah, officer, that's him.

  05:36-05:45

  This is the guy you're transporting." They almost took me to another prison over a case of mistaken identity.

  05:46-05:48

  I could tell you a whole bunch of stories like that.

  05:50-05:52

  And those ones are kind of funny, but the issue is this.

  05:52-05:58

  When it comes to Jesus Christ, the issue over His identity - who is He?

  05:58-06:01

  That issue isn't humorous.

  06:03-06:05

  And getting it wrong isn't even a little scary.

  06:06-06:11

  This is an issue that your eternity is based upon.

  06:12-06:12

  Understand that.

  06:13-06:29

  Your eternity - whether you come from death into life; where you spend life when you leave this earth ; Whether you go to heaven, or whether you go to hell, that all hinges on what you do with Jesus Christ.

  06:30-06:35

  So let's look at this passage very simply on your outline.

  06:36-06:39

  Three questions about Jesus you have to get right.

  06:39-06:40

  Okay?

  06:40-06:43

  These are three questions about Jesus you have to get right.

  06:44-06:46

  You can't miss any of these.

  06:47-06:49

  The first question is this.

  06:50-06:51

  Do I understand the man?

  06:53-06:54

  Meaning, do I understand the person?

  06:55-06:58

  Do I understand who Jesus Christ is as a person?

  06:59-07:01

  Do I understand the man?

  07:01-07:04

  Look at Matthew 8.

  07:05-07:17

  It says, "And Jesus went on with His disciples." Remember, we've been studying Jesus took His disciples on a private tour through Gentile territory to give them some personal instruction.

  07:18-07:23

  And you see, remember we saw as soon as He came back, the Pharisees were ready to fight.

  07:24-07:25

  And there was this whole issue.

  07:25-07:27

  They refused to believe in Him.

  07:29-07:31

  They were committed to unbelief.

  07:31-07:34

  We saw even the disciples were a little thick-headed.

  07:35-07:39

  So this issue about who is Jesus more and more was coming to the forefront.

  07:41-07:46

  So Jesus went on with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.

  07:47-07:52

  Where is that? That is about 25 miles north of Bethsaida.

  07:53-07:58

  This is mostly Gentile territory, and it's a place that was known for idolatry.

  08:00-08:14

  So this was a pagan, idolatrous place, and Jesus is taking His disciples through this, and on the way, He asked His disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" Do you have that scene in your head?

  08:15-08:40

  Traveling through all this idolatry, pagan land, and Jesus just turns to His disciples and He says, "Who do people say that I am?" You know, here's all these statues of all these gods, and who is God, and how many deities are there, and spirituality and religion, and who do people say that I am?

  08:41-08:42

  Well, look at their response.

  08:43-08:58

  "And they told him, 'John the Baptist.' And others say, 'Elijah.' And others, 'One of the prophets.'" There's the question, who do people say that I am?

  08:58-09:04

  Jesus was saying, "What's word on the street about me?" And look at their answers.

  09:04-09:09

  First of all, they said, "Well, some people think you're John the Baptist." Like, where did that come from?

  09:09-09:12

  Keep in mind at this point, where was John the Baptist?

  09:14-09:15

  He was dead.

  09:15-09:16

  He was beheaded.

  09:18-09:38

  And because Jesus was this miracle worker, and He was driving out demons, and He was healing people of blindness and deafness and speech impediments and leprosy, there is sort of this almost spooky urban legend thing about Jesus.

  09:39-09:39

  Do you know who that guy is?

  09:40-09:50

  "Oh, do you remember when Herod cut John the Baptist's head off?" "Well, like John the Baptist put it back on, and now he's walking around and healing people." That's who Jesus is.

  09:51-09:52

  Like John the Baptist back.

  09:54-09:55

  That's what some people thought.

  09:55-10:00

  And they said, "Well, some people think you're Elijah." Like, where did that come from?

  10:00-10:03

  That comes straight out of Malachi chapters 3 and 4.

  10:03-10:09

  In the Old Testament, the Lord said that Elijah would be a forerunner of the Messiah.

  10:10-10:22

  That before the Messiah comes, Elijah was going to come, and Jesus said that John the Baptist during his earthly ministry when he was alive, was the forerunner in the spirit of Elijah, Jesus said.

  10:23-10:26

  But the disciples said, "Well, some people think that you're Elijah.

  10:26-10:35

  Like the prophet has come back, and you are preparing the way for the Messiah to come." And then they said, Some people say you're one of the prophets.

  10:37-10:39

  Okay, that's like nothing to sneeze at.

  10:40-10:45

  You know, in Israel, to say you are a prophet, that was a very highly regarded office.

  10:46-10:57

  Some people were like, "Well, I'm not sure exactly who he is, but obviously he's somebody to contend with. He's a prophet." But notice something that didn't come up.

  10:59-11:00

  Nobody said Messiah.

  11:01-11:03

  Nobody said the promised one of Israel.

  11:05-11:08

  Why wasn't that the general understanding of the public?

  11:10-11:14

  Because the understanding would be that the Messiah would come as a conqueror.

  11:14-11:15

  I'm going to talk more about that in just a minute.

  11:16-11:21

  But I want you to notice, the word on the street did not include the concept of Messiah.

  11:22-11:30

  Verse 29, "And He asked them, 'But who do you say that I am?'" That certainly turns it, doesn't it?

  11:31-11:32

  Who do people say that I am?

  11:33-11:35

  Well, John the Baptist, Elijah, the prophet.

  11:36-11:38

  I've heard all kinds of things, Jesus.

  11:40-11:41

  Who do you say that I am?

  11:43-11:52

  Peter answered Him, "You are the Christ." That word "Christ," that's actually the second time the word shows up in the Gospel of Mark.

  11:52-11:54

  The first time is in chapter 1 and verse 1.

  11:55-11:58

  Understand that Christ was not Jesus' last name.

  11:59-11:59

  Okay?

  12:00-12:07

  There are some people that think like, you know, Jeff Miller, Ken Frederick, and like Jesus Christ.

  12:07-12:09

  Like Christ was His last name.

  12:09-12:10

  Christ is not a name.

  12:12-12:13

  That word Christ is actually a title.

  12:15-12:23

  And it literally means "the anointed one." All through the Old Testament, God promised that He was going to send this anointed one.

  12:24-12:28

  that He was going to be a prophet, and a priest, and a king.

  12:30-12:34

  This is the one that all of history has been waiting for.

  12:34-12:39

  And all of Israel has been longing for, especially being under the occupation of the Romans.

  12:41-12:44

  So as a people, the Israelites were waiting and waiting.

  12:44-12:47

  Someday God's going to send the Messiah.

  12:47-12:49

  Someday, I promised all through the Old Testament.

  12:49-13:00

  And Peter at this point in Jesus' ministry, in response to this question by looking at Jesus and saying, "I'll tell you who I think you are.

  13:01-13:02

  I think you're Him.

  13:03-13:07

  I think you are the one that God promised throughout the law and the prophets.

  13:07-13:24

  I think that's who you are." And then verse 30, "He strictly charged them to tell no one about Him." We've seen this several times through the Gospel of Mark, I've come up again, so I feel I need to remind you.

  13:25-13:27

  Why did Jesus say, "Don't tell anyone"?

  13:28-13:30

  I kind of laughed, I was telling my wife this morning.

  13:31-13:40

  You know, through the week I was reading different things about this passage, and I came across this one article that this preacher wrote on this passage.

  13:41-14:11

  He says, "So Jesus says to Peter, 'Who do you say that I am?'" And Peter's like, "You are the Christ." And Jesus is like, "Don't say anything about that." The preacher had this whole thing about Jesus was saying, "Peter, you're wrong, and keep your mouth shut." I'm like, "Wow, that preacher is wrong, and I think he kind of needs to keep his mouth shut." Because when you cross-reference this passage with the Gospel of Matthew, you see that Jesus actually commended Peter for what he said.

  14:12-14:23

  He said, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of John, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you." So why did Jesus say don't tell anyone?

  14:23-14:33

  Well once again, I'd like to remind you, Jesus wanted to wait until His ministry was done before people went out and started preaching about Him.

  14:34-14:34

  Right?

  14:35-14:36

  Why is that?

  14:36-14:42

  Well at this point in Jesus' ministry, what was yet ahead was the cross, the empty tomb, the ascension.

  14:44-14:49

  At this point, if people went out talking about Jesus, this was the sum total of the gospel message.

  14:49-14:53

  And here's this guy that's this great miracle worker, and he feeds people and drives demons out.

  14:54-14:56

  And that's the message of Jesus.

  14:57-15:02

  Jesus didn't want that to be the message of Jesus, because it would have turned into some sensationalism.

  15:03-15:04

  Jesus is a magic act.

  15:04-15:07

  Jesus is like David Copperfield.

  15:08-15:11

  He was like a first century Criss Angel mind freak kind of thing.

  15:13-15:16

  He's this showman, and he does all these amazing things.

  15:16-15:18

  And Jesus is like, "That's not who I am.

  15:19-15:30

  I came for the cross and for the tomb." And Jesus wanted to wait until after those events transpired before the message got out because what do we see in the Great Commission?

  15:32-15:35

  After Jesus' earthly ministry was complete, Jesus said, "Now tell everyone.

  15:35-15:37

  Tell everyone." Because the story was complete.

  15:38-15:44

  So Jesus was very careful about people becoming preachers before the story was over.

  15:46-15:48

  The question for you is, do I understand the man?

  15:48-15:49

  Who is Jesus?

  15:51-15:54

  Because the identity of Jesus is a non-negotiable issue.

  15:55-16:03

  You can't settle for, "I think Jesus was just a good moral teacher." There's no room for that.

  16:06-16:12

  This issue of who is Jesus Christ is the issue that divides really all of the religions in the world.

  16:14-16:23

  You look at every cult, the thing that you need to get to the bottom of is what does this cult teach about Jesus Christ?

  16:25-16:34

  There are people that say, "Well, you look at the Mormons and you look at the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Christian scientists, I mean, those people use the Bible.

  16:36-16:39

  So aren't they just like brothers that we'll see in heaven?" And the answer is no.

  16:41-16:46

  They're like, "Well, how can you say that?" Because they have the issue wrong about who is Jesus Christ.

  16:47-16:48

  That's why.

  16:49-16:52

  Like the Christian scientists believe that Jesus was just a man.

  16:54-17:01

  But this concept of Christ was this healing principle that we all have - Christian science teaches.

  17:02-17:04

  They teach we all have this Christ principle in us.

  17:05-17:07

  That we can be healed.

  17:08-17:12

  It just so happens that Jesus of Nazareth had a lot of it.

  17:12-17:14

  that name was kind of attached to him.

  17:16-17:16

  That's wrong.

  17:18-17:20

  Christ isn't a healing principle.

  17:20-17:24

  Christ is the title of God in the flesh.

  17:26-17:32

  You know, the Mormons teach that Jesus is actually the brother of Satan.

  17:34-17:35

  Not God.

  17:37-17:38

  And that is wrong.

  17:39-17:46

  The Bible teaches that Jesus was an angel that became a man for a while, and then became an angel again.

  17:46-17:47

  That is wrong!

  17:49-17:56

  The identity of Jesus Christ is vitally important to get right because your eternity hinges on that.

  17:56-17:58

  Like, where did you come up with that?

  17:58-17:59

  Well, jot this down.

  17:59-18:00

  John 8:24.

  18:02-18:04

  You need to write this down and you need to highlight this in your Bible.

  18:05-18:17

  Jesus said, "I told you that you would die in your sins, For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins." Jesus made it very plain.

  18:18-18:28

  Unless you embrace a right understanding of who I am, you're going to die in your sins.

  18:30-18:40

  The only way that you can have eternal life is by a proper understanding of the person of Jesus Christ.

  18:40-18:41

  Do I understand the man?

  18:43-18:47

  Secondly, three questions about Jesus you have to get right.

  18:47-18:48

  Do I understand the plan?

  18:50-18:51

  Well, do I understand the man?

  18:51-18:53

  Well, do I understand the plan?

  18:55-19:01

  Well, the disciples obviously finally are getting it, But their problem, we're going to see, isn't with the person of Jesus Christ.

  19:02-19:04

  They had a big objection to His plan.

  19:05-19:30

  It says, "And He began to teach them," verse 31, "He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days, rise again." It says, "He began to teach." Meaning, this became the theme of His teaching.

  19:30-20:03

  From this point, much of Jesus' emphasis was on one thing, "I'm going to die, and I'm going to raise from the dead." When you think about things from the disciples' perspective, on one hand, you can understand the excitement, "The Messiah is here, the Messiah is here." Peter says you're the Christ, and you acknowledge that, and this is something we've been waiting for as a people for the entire duration of our history, and you're here, and...

  20:03-20:05

  What? You're getting killed?

  20:07-20:08

  You're going to be killed?

  20:09-20:10

  That doesn't make sense.

  20:13-20:23

  Obviously, at this point, the disciples weren't thinking of the 16th Psalm, which talks about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

  20:23-20:28

  They weren't thinking about Isaiah 53, which talks about how the Messiah would suffer.

  20:32-20:34

  Look at verse 32.

  20:36-20:44

  It says, "And He said this plainly." That's important. "He said this plainly." Jesus a lot of times spoke in parables.

  20:45-20:54

  And the kingdom of heaven is like this, and he makes a comparison, and there are so many times that people are like, "Yeah, what was he talking about there?" This wasn't one of those moments.

  20:56-21:01

  What this means is Jesus was like, "I'm going to be killed," as in literally killed.

  21:02-21:08

  And then literally, after three days, "I'm literally going to rise from the dead." This isn't a metaphor, this isn't a poem.

  21:12-21:12

  This is clear.

  21:15-21:19

  And even though they couldn't accept it, they understood what he was saying.

  21:20-21:22

  Look at what happens next.

  21:23-21:32

  Your Bible says, "And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him." You know, Peter who just made the confession.

  21:33-21:35

  This is Peter. Peter just got a gold star.

  21:36-21:40

  He just earned an A+ for the day just like five seconds ago.

  21:41-21:57

  Like, "Who do you think I am?" Peter's like, "You are the Christ!" And Peter's like, "He's feeling good now, right?" Don't you think Peter's just like, "I am so spiritual." And Peter often times was the spokesman for the group.

  22:00-22:03

  And you know he was feeling it at this moment.

  22:04-22:26

  "I am so spiritual." Peter's like, "You know what, it's hard to be humble, but I'm not surprised I'm so good at it." And I got this. I so got this. Like everybody else got it wrong, like Elijah, thinking he's Elijah. Please, dearly Christ.

  22:28-22:47

  Then Jesus says I'm going to be killed. And Peter's like, oh, hold on a second. And your Bible says, Peter actually pulls Jesus aside, not to ask Not to be like, "Hey, what did you mean by that?

  22:47-22:48

  Were you serious?

  22:49-22:51

  Why would you be killed?" He didn't ask him.

  22:52-22:54

  Your Bible says that he rebuked him.

  22:55-22:56

  He rebuked him.

  22:58-23:02

  Peter pulled Jesus aside and said, "What are you talking about, man?

  23:02-23:03

  What are you talking about?

  23:03-23:05

  Getting killed?" You're wrong.

  23:09-23:11

  Please understand how I mean this.

  23:12-23:18

  I think there is a sense in which Peter thought his heart was pointed in the right direction.

  23:19-23:19

  Okay?

  23:19-23:21

  And here's the sense in which I mean that.

  23:22-23:27

  I think from Peter's perspective, he was probably thinking, we're not going to let that happen.

  23:28-23:29

  You're too popular.

  23:30-23:33

  And yeah, there's some people that hate you, but look at all these people that flock to you.

  23:34-23:43

  I can't imagine that anybody let you get killed. I think Peter probably thought he was being the hero in this story.

  23:44-23:58

  Like Jesus, it says he rebuked him. He was harsh with Jesus. Could you imagine? Like Jesus, don't talk like that. You've got to stop this death nonsense. Okay? I don't want I don't want to hear that anymore.

  23:58-24:00

  Stop talking like that." Wow.

  24:02-24:03

  Well, then look at verse 33.

  24:06-24:16

  It says, "But turning and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, 'Get behind Me, Satan!

  24:18-24:28

  For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.'" Peter sure went down a couple of notches in a hurry, didn't he?

  24:30-24:32

  And you can just imagine this scene, can't you?

  24:34-24:39

  Peter pulls Jesus aside and he rebukes Him, and the Bible says Jesus turned and looked at the disciples.

  24:39-24:41

  I don't know how far away they were, I imagine they were close.

  24:42-24:52

  It says He turned and looked at them, and I imagine they were all looking at Him like, I wonder how this is going to turn out.

  24:52-24:54

  Peter just chewed out the Lord.

  24:55-24:59

  Well, Jesus turned and looked and saw the disciples looking.

  25:02-25:03

  The Bible says He rebuked Peter.

  25:08-25:09

  This was an important moment.

  25:12-25:19

  They're acknowledging that He is the Christ, but then Peter is denying what the Christ was going to do.

  25:20-25:21

  This is so important.

  25:24-25:26

  How fired up was Jesus right here on a scale of 1 to 10?

  25:28-25:29

  It was like a 12 here, right?

  25:32-25:39

  I think, you know, when you call your number one follower Satan, Jesus was pretty fired up.

  25:40-25:46

  "Get behind me Satan." Literally, that is "get out of my sight." That's what that means.

  25:48-25:49

  "I don't want to look at you.

  25:49-25:56

  Get out of my sight." He says, "You're not thinking about the things of God.

  25:56-26:06

  You're not setting your mind on the things of God." He says, "But on the things of man." You're just thinking from a totally earthly perspective here, Peter.

  26:10-26:13

  Because glory without suffering is not part of the plan.

  26:15-26:23

  And church, we live under the illusion that suffering is never a part of God's plan.

  26:25-26:26

  That is a lie from hell.

  26:27-26:35

  We live under this illusion that as long as I do the right thing, and as long as I go to church, and as long as I...

  26:35-26:39

  then there's never going to be any suffering in my life.

  26:42-26:45

  The Bible says sometimes it is God's will that you suffer.

  26:47-26:55

  Not because He's punishing you, but God allows these things to come into our lives to refine to make us more like His Son.

  26:55-27:06

  That's why the Apostle Paul said in Philippians, he goes, "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection." We're all like, "Sign me up for that, power of resurrection, yeah, yeah, yeah." But what's the next line?

  27:07-27:12

  "And the fellowship of His sufferings." And we're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second.

  27:13-27:14

  Suffering?

  27:15-27:17

  Suffering can't be part of God's plan.

  27:19-27:24

  Like, you know, God has big plans for me, None of them include enduring any type of hardship.

  27:26-27:29

  When you think like that, you're setting your mind on the things of man.

  27:31-27:32

  Here's what it boils down to.

  27:32-27:34

  Here's what Peter was saying in church.

  27:34-27:36

  We still do the same thing today.

  27:36-27:39

  We say this, "Jesus should fit into my agenda.

  27:41-27:46

  Jesus should fit into my agenda." Not, "What's Jesus' agenda?

  27:46-27:48

  Let me jump on Jesus' agenda.

  27:48-27:59

  Let me get on board with Jesus." We think the universe revolves around us and we think, "Jesus, you should jump on my agenda." Like he's a vending machine.

  28:00-28:02

  "Give me this, and give me this, and give me this, and give me this.

  28:04-28:12

  Get on board with me, this is what I need." And when you think that way, you are setting your mind on the things of man, not on the things of God.

  28:17-28:29

  "Jesus should fit into my agenda." It was inconceivable - I mentioned this earlier, I want to talk about this for just a second - but it was inconceivable for Israel that the Messiah would suffer.

  28:31-28:59

  Do you know, even today, Orthodox Jews, when they're reading their Scriptures, you know what we call the Old Testament, when Orthodox Jews read the Scriptures and they're reading through the book of Isaiah, they read Isaiah 50, Isaiah 51, Isaiah 52, Isaiah 54, what did I miss there? 53. Do you know they skipped that? They completely skipped that chapter.

  29:02-29:24

  Unapologetically. They pretend that that chapter does not exist in their scriptures. Why? Because And even today, there are Jews, there are Orthodox Jews that say, "I'm not going to have anything to do with the thought that the Messiah would suffer.

  29:27-29:29

  He has to fit my agenda.

  29:30-29:42

  I'm not going to jump on His." The mindset then and the mindset now is this, someday yes, the Messiah is going to come, but He's going to conquer and He's going to reign.

  29:43-29:45

  Now listen, the Old Testament teaches that.

  29:45-29:49

  The Old Testament teaches that ultimately the Messiah is going to reign over all the earth.

  29:49-29:57

  The Revelation teaches that for a thousand years, Christ is going to come back and He's going to reign on this earth for a thousand years.

  30:01-30:09

  But so many of the Israelites wanted to skip this whole cross thing.

  30:10-30:13

  Let Him come, let Him reign.

  30:16-30:17

  That's suffering in the middle of it?

  30:18-30:20

  That's just, that's inconceivable.

  30:23-30:30

  But look what Jesus said about that in verse 31, He said, "The Son of Man must." Must!

  30:31-30:33

  Isn't that an interesting word choice?

  30:33-30:41

  Jesus didn't say, "The Son of Man is probably going to suffer." or the Son of Man, more than likely is going to go through some hard things.

  30:41-30:48

  Jesus said His suffering, His rejection, and His death, He said they must happen.

  30:50-30:55

  Jesus said it wasn't an option for anything else to happen except this.

  30:55-30:56

  These things have to happen.

  31:00-31:03

  Because His agenda was more than defeating Rome.

  31:05-31:07

  His agenda was for defeating sin.

  31:11-31:12

  And church, that is good news.

  31:13-31:16

  That word "must" I have it circled in my Bible, you should circle it in yours.

  31:16-31:17

  That is good news.

  31:20-31:24

  Because it is the very death of Jesus Christ that paid the penalty for my sin.

  31:26-31:28

  And it is His resurrection as He speaks up here.

  31:28-31:30

  It's His resurrection that gives us eternal life.

  31:31-31:33

  Because He rose from the dead, we can have life.

  31:37-31:40

  I spoke a couple of times about Isaiah 53, one of the key verses.

  31:41-31:46

  I encourage you to go home and read that, but one of the key verses in that passage is Isaiah 53.6.

  31:47-31:55

  And it says, "We all like sheep have gone astray, each to his own way." You know what that means?

  31:57-31:58

  First of all, we're like sheep.

  31:59-32:00

  What are sheep like? Anyone?

  32:02-32:03

  Go ahead and say it. What are sheep like?

  32:04-32:04

  Dumb.

  32:06-32:07

  Sheep are stupid.

  32:08-32:10

  They are. Sheep are stupid animals.

  32:11-32:12

  You don't believe me?

  32:12-32:17

  Name me one other animal that requires hiring somebody full-time to babysit them.

  32:20-32:22

  Like sheep have a shepherd, right?

  32:23-32:25

  What do you call the guy that takes care of the pigs?

  32:25-32:33

  "Oh yeah, there isn't a guy that just does that." "What do you call the guy that just takes care of the cows?" "Oh yeah, there isn't really a guy." Do you know how dumb sheep are?

  32:34-32:38

  Sheep are so dumb that people use dogs to help them take care of sheep.

  32:40-32:49

  People take another dumb animal to take care of these dumb animals, because by comparison, dogs are like geniuses compared to sheep.

  32:51-32:52

  Sheep are stupid animals.

  32:53-32:54

  Do you know what the Bible says about Jeff Miller?

  32:55-32:59

  "I'm a sheep. I'm just a dumb animal." And so are you.

  33:01-33:02

  We all, like sheep, have gone astray.

  33:03-33:05

  That's why sheep need a shepherd. Do you know why?

  33:05-33:08

  They're so stupid, they don't even pay attention to what they're doing.

  33:08-33:12

  It's just like, "Oh, look, a butterfly. Oh, look, a tuft of grass here.

  33:12-33:26

  Oh, look, there's a little puddle here." And before you know it, they just kind of wander off, and they're like, "How in the world did I get here?" They just do their own thing, self-absorbed, and walk right into danger.

  33:27-33:28

  And the Bible says that's you.

  33:30-33:43

  We are sheep that get so consumed with ourselves, so wrapped up in our sinful nature, we're not paying attention, we just kind of do our own thing, and we, like sheep, go astray.

  33:43-33:47

  And then the Bible says, "Each to his own way." That's very important, church.

  33:49-33:53

  What that means is, your sin tendency is going to be different than mine.

  33:54-33:55

  And I've been so guilty of this.

  33:55-34:05

  I've heard of people committing a certain type of sin, and I'm just like, "How in the world can somebody do that?" That's the way that they go astray.

  34:05-34:07

  They can look at my sin and say the same thing.

  34:10-34:12

  You know, like for example, stealing.

  34:12-34:14

  That's something I've never understood.

  34:15-34:20

  Back in my days, I'm working at Walmart, I used to help bust the people that would shoplift.

  34:20-34:23

  And I remember sitting there, the police would come, and we'd have to write all these reports.

  34:24-34:26

  And I just remember sitting there going, "I don't understand this.

  34:27-34:34

  This guy has $80 in his pocket, and he stole a $15 pocket knife." Like, why would somebody do that?

  34:38-34:46

  But the truth is, he could look at my sin and say, I can't believe anybody would be tempted to do that.

  34:47-35:08

  And that's the point in Isaiah 53.6, "We all like sheep have gone astray, each to his own way." The second half of that verse says, "But the Lord has laid on Him," on the Messiah, "The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." That is such a beautiful verse.

  35:08-35:09

  Do you know what that means?

  35:14-35:24

  That when God sees me by nature, what He sees, "Well, let this represent my sin." Let's just imagine you could write...

  35:24-35:25

  Well, actually, that's not going to work.

  35:27-35:32

  Let's let this book represent all of the sins I've ever committed.

  35:32-35:36

  And you're going to have to use your imagination, because it would be a much thicker book for me.

  35:36-35:40

  every time that I've sinned in thought or word or action.

  35:40-35:45

  Imagine that those were all written down and put on a book, and let this hand represent me.

  35:45-35:49

  When God sees me, what He sees is my sin.

  35:50-35:53

  Like, Jeff, here's all the things that you've done wrong.

  35:53-35:54

  You are a sinner.

  35:55-35:57

  Here's the beauty of Isaiah 53:6.

  35:57-36:03

  It says, "The Lord has laid the iniquity of us all upon Him." Let this hand represent Jesus Christ.

  36:05-36:06

  Here's what Jesus has done.

  36:06-36:16

  When Jesus said, "I must suffer, I must be killed." When Jesus was on the cross, He took my sin upon Himself.

  36:17-36:20

  The Lord has laid my iniquity on Him.

  36:20-36:22

  The Lord has laid our iniquity on Him.

  36:22-36:28

  So now, when Jesus was on the cross, Jesus was getting punished for my sin.

  36:31-36:34

  But when God sees me now, What does he see?

  36:37-36:37

  He sees no sin.

  36:39-36:39

  You see?

  36:39-36:42

  He took our sin on Himself.

  36:44-36:56

  That's why someday for the believer in Jesus Christ, when you stand before God, so many people think, "Well, I've got a lot I've got to answer for." When the truth is, Jesus took our sin on Himself and took it away.

  36:56-36:59

  And when God sees me, He sees me as being perfectly righteous.

  37:00-37:01

  It says you're perfect.

  37:03-37:08

  I know I'm not perfect, in and of myself.

  37:09-37:15

  The perfection that I have has been given to me because Jesus took my sin on Himself.

  37:18-37:20

  So do you understand the man?

  37:20-37:21

  Jesus is God, okay?

  37:21-37:26

  He is the Messiah, God in the flesh, the Anointed One, the Promised One of Israel.

  37:26-37:28

  Do you understand the man?

  37:28-37:29

  Do I understand the plan?

  37:32-37:37

  Lastly, this is where it all has to be tied together folks.

  37:37-37:39

  Lastly, have I made Him personal?

  37:40-37:42

  I want to go back to verse 29.

  37:46-37:50

  Jesus wasn't paranoid, trying to find out what people think.

  37:53-38:07

  Jesus wasn't a game show host just asking trivia questions to see if the disciples would right. This issue of wrestling with the identity and work of Jesus Christ, listen, this has to be personal.

  38:09-38:26

  Because at this point in the message, everybody in this room I imagine is 100% on board. Yes, Jesus is the Messiah, obviously He fulfilled all the Old Testament Scriptures. You know, He was obviously more than just a man. I'm on board with that. Yes, I see He died and yes, He rose from the dead.

  38:26-38:34

  You're probably all on board with that, but it has to move from an objective truth to a subjective truth.

  38:35-38:40

  That's why Jesus said, "But who do you say that I am?" That's what's going to matter.

  38:40-38:46

  "Who do you say that I am?" Meaning you have to do something with this.

  38:49-38:52

  Agreeing is not the same as receiving.

  38:54-38:58

  Not opposed to Jesus is not the same as receiving.

  39:00-39:04

  Agreeing is not the same as receiving.

  39:05-39:13

  Over and over and over, the Scripture teaches that there is a personal transaction that has to take place between you and Jesus.

  39:17-39:25

  coming out of here thinking, "You know, I agree with the facts that Jesus was probably God and Jesus died and rose from the dead.

  39:25-39:28

  Those things are probably true." That's not going to save you.

  39:29-39:31

  Like, what do you mean by that?

  39:32-39:38

  Over and over and over and over in his ministry, Jesus talked about the fact that you have to receive Him.

  39:42-39:44

  Let me give you some examples.

  39:44-39:47

  In Matthew 13, we went through this a couple of years ago.

  39:48-39:50

  Matthew 13, Jesus tells all these parables.

  39:50-40:07

  Two of the stories, Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like this guy who was like digging in a field and he found a treasure and it was so valuable, he covered it back over and he went and sold everything that he had so he had the money to buy the field." That story teaches a lot, but one of the main things that story teaches is that guy had to do something.

  40:09-40:11

  He had to make a personal transaction.

  40:13-40:16

  That treasure wasn't his until he was willing to receive it.

  40:18-40:20

  Then Jesus told another story right behind it.

  40:20-40:21

  He says the kingdom of heaven is like this.

  40:22-40:23

  There's this pearl merchant.

  40:23-40:24

  He goes around, he buys and sells pearls.

  40:25-40:29

  And one day he sees the greatest pearl he's ever seen.

  40:29-40:35

  He's like, "This pearl is so valuable, I'm selling everything that I have just to get that one pearl." It was a transaction.

  40:36-40:41

  See the guy seeing that the pearl was valuable didn't mean anything to him.

  40:42-40:48

  The question was, "How do I obtain that?" So there's a personal transaction that has to take place.

  40:48-40:49

  It has to be personal.

  40:50-40:53

  Jesus said it again, John 6, verse 53.

  40:53-41:01

  Remember we went through this story actually in Mark, when Jesus fed the 5,000 men plus the women and the children.

  41:02-41:06

  Do you remember at the end of John 6, all these people started walking away from Jesus.

  41:06-41:06

  Why?

  41:06-41:08

  Because of this statement.

  41:09-41:13

  This statement made people go from following Jesus to walking away from Jesus.

  41:14-41:25

  John 6.53, Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you." What did He mean by that?

  41:26-41:32

  Obviously, Jesus didn't mean that we literally partake of His flesh.

  41:33-41:35

  And this also isn't about communion.

  41:36-41:36

  Okay?

  41:37-41:38

  Communion wasn't even instituted yet.

  41:41-41:45

  What he was saying was you personally have to receive Him.

  41:46-41:49

  That Jesus isn't something you observe and admire.

  41:50-41:52

  Jesus is someone that you have to consume.

  41:54-41:59

  Like He has to become not just a part of my life, but my very life.

  42:01-42:12

  And Jesus said, "Unless you are willing to take this step to fully receive Me, you have no life in you." So again, a transaction has to take place.

  42:14-42:15

  How about one more?

  42:15-42:24

  John 1.12 says, "Yet to those who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God." Who is a child of God?

  42:26-42:29

  The people who receive Jesus and believe in His name.

  42:31-42:34

  It has to become personal for you at some point.

  42:34-42:37

  It has to be personal for you at some point.

  42:37-42:41

  Kids, this faith has to be personal for you.

  42:43-42:46

  You're not granted heaven just because your parents are fantastic Christians.

  42:47-42:48

  That doesn't promise you heaven.

  42:49-42:51

  It has to be personal for you.

  42:54-43:03

  Parents, you might have adult kids that are phenomenal Christians, and you think that somehow you're going to get into heaven based on your children's merits.

  43:03-43:05

  It doesn't work that way.

  43:07-43:10

  You have to make Jesus personal.

  43:11-43:21

  Have you, by faith, received Jesus Christ as your Lord and as your Savior?

  43:25-43:36

  Have you by faith cried out to Him and said, "Jesus, I understand who You are and I understand what You've done and I understand that on my own I'm just a dead person.

  43:37-43:38

  I am dead in my sin.

  43:38-43:42

  "Jesus, I cry out to You for forgiveness for the eternal life that You give.

  43:43-43:44

  Jesus, I am Yours.

  43:46-43:48

  I want You to be mine.

  43:50-44:09

  But it has to be personal." Recently, going through some health issues, my wife talked to Amanda Frederick, who is a dietician, who graciously went to work with some dietary intervention for my health issues.

  44:11-44:12

  She explained some things.

  44:13-44:14

  She actually gave us a handout.

  44:15-44:16

  Eat these things.

  44:17-44:18

  Don't eat these things.

  44:20-44:28

  She spent the time and effort drawing on her experience, on her education, on her expertise, and said this is the plan.

  44:28-44:29

  Do this.

  44:30-44:32

  Now look, church, I know that I should eat healthy.

  44:34-44:44

  I can study and research all of the facts about nutrition and fiber and riboflavin, whatever that is, and all these things.

  44:46-44:50

  But unless I act upon what I know, knowing does me no good.

  44:53-45:02

  Unless I act upon what I know, Amanda could drop off a stack of books about diet and nutrition at our house.

  45:02-45:07

  But unless I do something with it, it does me no good knowing.

  45:07-45:09

  At some point, it has to become personal.

  45:11-45:17

  At some point, I have to go from I think people should eat healthy to I think Jeff Miller should eat healthy.

  45:18-45:20

  There's a parallel there with your faith.

  45:20-45:29

  It has to go from I think Jesus is God to Jesus is my God.

  45:32-45:34

  Church, it doesn't matter what others say.

  45:37-45:39

  It matters what you say.

  45:41-45:43

  It doesn't matter what you want Jesus to be.

  45:43-45:45

  What matters is who He is.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Mark 8:22-33

1. In Mk 8:29, Jesus made the issue about Him personal ("Who do you say that I am?"). How would you explain to someone what it means to make Jesus "personal"?
    

2. Why did Jesus not want His disciples telling people He is the Christ?

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.

Unbelief: Missing the Point

1. Those committed to UNBELIEF can't commit to JESUS . (Mk 8:11-15)




2. Those committed to JESUS sometimes ACT like those committed to UNBELIEF . (Mk 8:16-21)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:03

  Well, here's the short version of the sermon today.

  00:04-00:18

  There are some people who because of their sinful refusing to believe in Jesus Christ, when they encounter the Word of God, this is what happens.

  00:19-00:27

  But even some people who are committed to Jesus Christ - for those of us in the church who have been walking with the Lord, do you know what happens to us sometimes?

  00:29-00:30

  same thing.

  00:32-00:36

  That was the short version. You can go now if that's all you want.

  00:38-00:54

  If you want the longer version, you're like, "That was the sermon. What do you do all week?" Here's the longer version. Look at Mark chapter 8. It says, "In those days," what days?

  00:55-00:58

  Well, We're talking about this tour that he was on, right?

  00:58-01:02

  Remember, Jesus took His disciples and He went into Gentile territory.

  01:02-01:06

  He went to Tyre and Sidon and back down around to the Decapolis.

  01:07-01:08

  It was a private tour.

  01:08-01:10

  He was ministering just to the twelve.

  01:11-01:13

  So Mark was saying it happened during that time.

  01:14-01:36

  In those days, when again, a great crowd had gathered and they had nothing to eat, He called His disciples to Him And it said to them, "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.

  01:39-01:43

  And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way.

  01:44-01:53

  And some of them have come from far away." An interesting note in verse 2, it says that Jesus said, I have compassion.

  01:53-01:58

  That's the only place in the New Testament where we actually see Jesus saying that.

  01:58-02:00

  You're like, well, that sounds very familiar.

  02:01-02:03

  Usually when that's stated, it's in the third person.

  02:04-02:05

  It says Jesus had compassion.

  02:05-02:07

  So it's sort of like outside observer.

  02:08-02:09

  It's like, oh, look at Jesus.

  02:09-02:11

  He has compassion obviously.

  02:11-02:12

  Look at what He's doing.

  02:12-02:13

  He's showing compassion.

  02:13-02:17

  But here, this wasn't observational.

  02:18-02:19

  This wasn't speculation.

  02:19-02:22

  This was from Jesus' own mouth.

  02:22-02:32

  He says, "I have compassion." That word for compassion actually comes from the gut, or literally, the bowels.

  02:34-02:37

  Meaning, he felt compassion.

  02:39-02:44

  Jesus didn't just look at the people and think, well, I'm probably obligated to be on the hook to do something for them.

  02:45-02:47

  What this means is I feel compassion.

  02:47-02:48

  I can't help it.

  02:49-02:50

  I feel it in my gut.

  02:50-02:51

  "We have to help these people.

  02:53-02:59

  You have a God who feels." And Jesus said we can't just send them away.

  02:59-03:04

  Some of them came from a far journey, and some of them might just collapse on the way home.

  03:06-03:18

  And His disciples answered Him, "How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?" Any ideas?

  03:20-03:22

  Any ideas at all?

  03:24-03:25

  Anyone got anything?

  03:27-03:31

  How about what happened in chapter 6 again?

  03:32-03:34

  Do you think the disciples forgot about that?

  03:34-03:36

  I don't think that the disciples forgot.

  03:37-03:39

  You know what I think was happening here honestly?

  03:40-03:55

  I think they were kind of like, "Jesus, what are we going to do about this?" Jesus, what are you going to do about this? I think that's what was going on here. They could not have forgotten, right? They couldn't have forgotten, right? They couldn't have.

  03:58-04:16

  So what are you going to do about this? Like, well, why were they asking? Well, there's a couple of things going on here. One, it says "desolate place." Some people think, well, maybe because it was more of a deserted area, more of an isolated area, maybe for for some reason the disciples thought that that might hinder Jesus.

  04:16-04:18

  I don't really subscribe to that theory.

  04:18-04:30

  Some people think that because this was a Gentile territory, the disciples were sort of like, "Are you going to do for the Gentiles what you did for the Jews?" Like is that still like the feeding the thousands thing?

  04:33-04:34

  Is that for the Gentiles too?

  04:34-04:36

  Or is that just a Jewish thing?

  04:37-04:46

  Whatever the case, you just see the disciples kind of walk up to Jesus like, "What are we going to do?" And by "we," I mean you going to do about this.

  04:48-05:06

  "And He asked them, 'How many loaves do you have?' They said, 'Seven.' And He directed the crowd to sit down on the ground, and He took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, He broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before the people.

  05:06-05:10

  And they set them before the crowd, and they had a few small fish.

  05:13-05:19

  And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them.

  05:21-05:28

  Verse 8, "And they ate and were satisfied." Exactly what 642 says.

  05:29-05:36

  And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.

  05:36-05:40

  Now you remember in the previous How many baskets were taken up?

  05:43-06:57

  Well, right you said 12 Okay, bonus points for Deb today 12 baskets now, there's something you don't see in English. It's actually happening here in the Greek The 12 baskets from chapter 6 were like lunchboxes You know the word for basket in the Greek was like a little basket But this is actually a different word in the Greek This is a word that is more like clothes basket Okay, so these weren't seven lunchboxes these were if you can kind of picture like seven clothes baskets full of broken pieces First nine says and there were about 4,000 people Matthew tells us that there were also women and children Okay, so four thousand men besides women and children It says, "And he sent them away, and immediately he got into the boat with his disciples, and went to the district of Damanutha." And that miracle is going to set the stage for these next two scenes.

  07:00-07:02

  I want you to write this down, first of all, in your outline.

  07:05-07:08

  Those committed to unbelief can't commit to Jesus.

  07:12-07:13

  What are we talking about today?

  07:13-07:14

  We're talking about this.

  07:16-07:18

  Jack, Jesse, you guys can bring this back.

  07:19-07:20

  I'm counting on your generation.

  07:22-07:23

  Bring it back.

  07:24-07:26

  Alright, no more of this.

  07:27-07:29

  We're going back to this.

  07:29-07:30

  Can I count on you guys?

  07:30-07:32

  Alright, thank you.

  07:34-07:37

  Those committed to unbelief can't commit to Jesus.

  07:38-07:42

  So if you have the scene - so Jesus does another multitude feeding.

  07:43-07:58

  Verse 11 says, "The Pharisees came and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven to test Him." So Jesus, as soon as He's off the boat, there they are waiting for Him.

  08:01-08:03

  "Jesus, we missed You." Not hardly.

  08:04-08:06

  It says right in your Bible - what's it say?

  08:06-08:07

  They wanted to argue.

  08:10-08:11

  Do you kind of see it?

  08:11-08:12

  Do you have that picture in your mind?

  08:12-08:14

  Jesus steps off the boat and there are the Pharisees right there.

  08:15-08:16

  Like what?

  08:16-08:17

  What, Jesus?

  08:17-08:21

  Oh, you're still walking around still sticking with the Messiah thing, huh?

  08:21-08:22

  Still thinking that you're the Messiah.

  08:24-08:26

  Still saying that you're speaking for God, huh?

  08:26-08:29

  And they're ready to argue.

  08:31-08:35

  It says that they were seeking from Him a sign from heaven.

  08:37-08:46

  Interestingly, the Jews believed that only God could do a sign from heaven, and demons could only do signs that were on the earth.

  08:47-08:51

  They were like, "show us something from heaven, Jesus." What were they asking for?

  08:52-08:59

  I'm sure it was something along the lines of shooting stars, fireworks.

  09:01-09:02

  Show us the sign from heaven.

  09:02-09:04

  But it says it was to test Him.

  09:08-09:10

  But those committed to unbelief can't commit to Jesus.

  09:10-09:12

  These people did not want to believe.

  09:13-09:14

  They didn't want to believe.

  09:15-09:22

  Now, it says here that they're asking for a sign, so let me ask you, have these people seen signs already?

  09:23-09:25

  I went back through the Gospel of Mark.

  09:25-09:32

  Just looking at Mark, these are just some of the signs that they would have seen so far.

  09:33-09:44

  Or, I also wrote down some of the signs that were seen by so many people that surely they would have heard of it.

  09:44-09:45

  Are you with me?

  09:45-09:47

  I wrote down every miracle in Mark so far.

  09:48-10:20

  And some of them, I'm like, well, that one's kind of private, so I'm going to give them the benefit on that one. Maybe they didn't hear that one. So these are the ones that were very public in front of huge crowds, or some of the religious elite like the Pharisees would have actually been there to see it. Chapter 1 verse 11, "God spoke audibly from heaven concerning His Son." Chapter 1 verse 26, remember Jesus drove the demon out of the man in the synagogue.

  10:20-10:23

  So some of these people would have been there for that one.

  10:24-10:28

  Chapter 1 verse 34, Jesus was casting out demons and healing everyone.

  10:28-10:29

  Huge crowds.

  10:29-10:35

  Chapter 1 verse 42, Jesus healed a leper who went and told everyone.

  10:35-10:38

  Chapter 2 verse 12, Jesus healed the paralytic.

  10:38-10:40

  Some of the Pharisees were there.

  10:41-10:44

  Chapter 3 verse 5, Jesus healed the man with the withered hand.

  10:44-10:46

  Some of the Pharisees were there.

  10:47-10:52

  Chapter 3, verses 10-11, more huge crowds casting out demons, healing everyone.

  10:53-10:57

  Chapter 5, verse 42, Jesus raised Jairus' daughter from the dead.

  10:59-11:01

  He was one of the rulers of the synagogue.

  11:03-11:05

  So do you think the Pharisees would have heard about that?

  11:08-11:09

  I don't think that's a stretch.

  11:11-11:22

  Chapter 6, verse 42, Jesus fed the 5,000 men plus women children, did these Pharisees see and /or hear of signs from Jesus?

  11:24-11:25

  Those are just some.

  11:26-11:27

  And what was their response?

  11:27-11:28

  What was their response?

  11:31-11:33

  So, Jesus.

  11:34-11:34

  How about a sign?

  11:38-11:39

  What do you got?

  11:40-11:41

  Well, look at v. 12.

  11:45-11:55

  He says, "And he sighed deeply in his spirit." We saw that when Jesus touched the deaf man, he sighed.

  11:55-11:56

  That was a sigh of compassion.

  11:57-11:58

  This is a sigh of grief.

  11:59-12:05

  Jesus wasn't rolling His eyes like, "Oh, they don't get it." This was grief.

  12:05-12:06

  Jesus was mourning.

  12:08-12:18

  All these things that He has done, all this compassion and love from God Himself that He has shown, and these people just get in His face wanting to argue and show something else.

  12:18-12:19

  Do a trick for us.

  12:20-12:21

  Jesus was grieved.

  12:22-12:23

  And you understand this.

  12:23-12:28

  Have you ever tried to minister to someone who is going the wrong way in life?

  12:29-12:32

  And they're insisting that they're going to do the wrong thing no matter what you tell them.

  12:32-12:40

  Maybe you have an adult child or a good friend, or maybe another family member that's an adult that's just like, look, I know it's wrong, but I'm doing it anyways.

  12:40-12:41

  Anybody been in that situation?

  12:42-12:44

  You know what this kind of sigh is about.

  12:45-12:45

  You've done it.

  12:49-12:51

  You are so missing it.

  12:52-12:56

  You can't even see the destruction that you're putting on yourself.

  12:57-12:59

  That's the kind of sigh that Jesus was doing here.

  13:02-13:07

  And He says, "Why does this generation seek a sign?

  13:10-13:27

  I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation." And I know as a very young Christian, I remember reading this passage and I was just thinking, "Jesus, why didn't you just do something?

  13:27-13:29

  Did he have the power?" Yeah.

  13:30-13:33

  I remember as a young Christian, like, "Jesus, why didn't you just...

  13:33-13:35

  You could have showed them all that day.

  13:35-13:38

  You could have shut them up." They're like, "You want to see a sign?" Boom!

  13:42-13:43

  But why didn't He?

  13:47-13:52

  Then I realize, because it wouldn't have mattered.

  13:53-13:56

  Understand, it wouldn't have mattered what Jesus did.

  13:58-14:03

  They would not have believed because they were committed to unbelief.

  14:03-14:06

  And those who commit to unbelief commit to Jesus.

  14:07-14:13

  You're like, "How do you know that it wouldn't have mattered?" Well, there was one of the miracles specifically from Mark that I left out.

  14:13-14:15

  It's Mark 3, verse 22.

  14:18-14:22

  It says that the scribes acknowledged that Jesus was driving out demons.

  14:22-14:23

  Do you remember that?

  14:24-14:24

  Do you remember that sermon?

  14:25-14:28

  When they were like, "You're driving out demons," they acknowledged that.

  14:28-14:29

  Do you remember that sermon?

  14:34-14:38

  So they acknowledged that things were happening, but if you remember that sermon, what else did they say about it?

  14:41-14:42

  You do it by the power of Satan.

  14:44-14:52

  They knew that Jesus was driving out demons, and instead of saying, "This is the Lord, this is God defeating evil," what did they do?

  14:56-14:58

  You know He's doing that by the power of Satan, right?

  15:01-15:03

  You know He's just a demon.

  15:05-15:06

  Driving out other demons.

  15:06-15:07

  You know that, right?

  15:08-15:11

  Even when they saw the sign, they refused to believe.

  15:11-15:16

  And if that wasn't bad enough, what happened after Jesus rose from the dead?

  15:18-15:21

  When Jesus rose from the dead, did you have these people say, "He is Lord!

  15:22-15:24

  He conquered the grave!" What did they do?

  15:27-15:29

  Matthew 28, verse 13.

  15:29-15:30

  Do you know what they did?

  15:31-15:35

  They said, "We can't let word get out about this. Let's make up a story." Remember that?

  15:36-15:40

  They knew he rose from the dead, but they said, "Let's make up a story." What story?

  15:41-15:45

  How about the disciples stole his body while the guards were sleeping?

  15:47-15:48

  You realize what an idiotic story that is?

  15:51-15:53

  Do you know what's happening while you're sleeping?

  15:53-15:54

  Do you know?

  15:55-15:56

  You know what's happening while you sleep?

  15:57-15:58

  Nobody knows what's happening while you're sleeping.

  16:00-16:07

  Do you mean to tell me these guards, who by the way would have been executed for letting something like this happen, these guards just fell asleep?

  16:09-16:13

  And the next morning when they were woken up, what happened to the body?

  16:14-16:16

  Oh yeah, let me give you a detailed account.

  16:17-16:19

  I was sleeping. I witnessed the whole thing.

  16:22-16:28

  What you have to see there is The refusal to believe even in the face of the resurrection.

  16:30-16:32

  Those committed to unbelief can't commit to Jesus.

  16:37-16:38

  So how did Jesus respond?

  16:38-16:40

  We'll look at verse 13.

  16:41-16:47

  It says, "He left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side." Sad.

  16:47-16:49

  Jesus gets out of the boat.

  16:49-16:50

  They're right there in His face.

  16:50-16:53

  "Show us the sign." Why is this greed?

  16:54-16:56

  Why does this generation want a sign?

  16:56-16:57

  No sign is going to be given.

  16:58-17:04

  And immediately, immediately gets back onto the boat and takes off again.

  17:09-17:11

  Leaving just as abruptly as he arrived.

  17:12-17:19

  But listen church, Jesus wants you to believe.

  17:22-17:28

  There is a difference between honest seeking and sinful testing.

  17:30-17:37

  Don't leave here thinking, oh, does this mean that we can't ever ask God to reveal Himself or to show Himself mightily to me?

  17:38-17:43

  Listen, there is a huge difference between the heart that says, God, I want to know You.

  17:43-17:44

  God, I want to believe.

  17:45-17:48

  God, please make Yourself real to me.

  17:49-17:54

  verses, God, You need to prove Yourself to me.

  17:54-17:57

  If You're so powerful - if You're so powerful, God, why don't You do this?

  17:58-18:02

  God, if You're so powerful - there is a huge difference between those attitudes.

  18:03-18:07

  Because honest seekers, according to the Bible, are promised to find answers.

  18:08-18:15

  The Lord says, "You will seek Me and you will find Me if you search with your whole hearts." Honest seekers are promised to find answers.

  18:16-18:47

  Sinful testers are abandoned in their unbelief. Jesus is not going to tolerate irreverent mocking. That's what was happening here. Several years ago, there were all these letters to the editor in the paper about creation science and evolution and all those things, and then one person wrote this letter saying, "No scientists are creationists." I'm like, "Okay, I can't on this island anymore.

  18:48-18:50

  I actually got a list.

  18:50-18:57

  Do you know how many major branches of science were founded by creationist Christians?

  18:59-19:00

  It's a list, people.

  19:00-19:01

  It's not like one or two.

  19:02-19:02

  It's a list.

  19:03-19:06

  The major branches of science that were founded by Christians.

  19:08-19:14

  So I got that list out and I typed it out with a few comments of my own, and I sent that letter in, and it was in the paper.

  19:15-20:07

  this call from this lady she goes I need to talk to you and I said why and she said I think you're dangerous well my dog doesn't think so but she goes I have some questions for you I'm like okay absolutely was she I said love to answer your question she came this lady was like devout atheist devout we're talking like seven days a week the gospel with her. And she's like, "How did Noah get those dinosaurs on the ark?" And I said, "Well, a couple things going on there. Actually, the ark's a lot bigger than people realize. You know, you see the little cartoons where the ark's like a canoe and the giraffe's sticking his head out the porthole and the elephants are like crowded on the deck. Have you seen that cartoon?

  20:07-20:11

  I hate that cartoon. That is so biblically inaccurate.

  20:12-20:13

  Noah, build a canoe.

  20:16-20:23

  And people see that cartoon, and they're like, "well, you can't put a T-Rex on that." The ark was enormous.

  20:24-20:26

  Well, dinosaurs are like the size of my house.

  20:27-20:28

  Not when they're born.

  20:29-20:30

  Were you born full size?

  20:32-20:33

  What about you, Nate?

  20:33-20:34

  Were you born full size?

  20:35-20:36

  I hope not.

  20:40-20:45

  Nobody's born full size, not even the dinosaurs. I believe that Noah took babies on the ark with him.

  20:46-21:30

  I shared that with her and you know what her response was? She goes, "Oh come on!" She goes, "That is just ridiculous!" And I'm like, "What's ridiculous about that?" She's shaking her head and I said, "You know what? I think we're done here." Why? I could have gotten every book that Answers in Genesis published and sat there and read them to her. Would it have made a difference? Would it have made a difference? Absolutely not. Why? Because she was committed to unbelief.

  21:33-21:53

  I've had people the other way too to say, "You know Pastor Jeff, I'm really trying to learn the Bible, but there are some things that don't make sense. Like, how did Noah get the dinosaurs on the ark? And I share that stuff with them, and they're just like, "Oh, that makes sense." They're not committed to unbelief. But sadly, many people are.

  21:56-21:57

  Look Matthew verse 14.

  22:02-22:25

  It says, "Now they had forgotten to bring bread." Okay, so they're on the boat, on the way. It says, "Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they only had one loaf with them on the boats." I'm going to get to this verse here in a second. You'll see why that's here. It says, "And he, Jesus, cautioned them, saying, 'Watch out!

  22:28-22:41

  Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.'" So Jesus, where was his mind?

  22:42-23:16

  His mind was still on the shore, right? Jesus was thinking about that exchange that took place. He's like, "Teachable moment, disciples. Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees. Watch out for the leaven of Herod." Like, what does that mean? What do you mean leaven? Well, when the Bible talks about leaven, it's talking about permeation. You know, when you put a little bit of leaven in the lump. That leaven spreads and permeates the whole lump of dough.

  23:19-23:49

  And Jesus here is saying you need to watch that unbelief doesn't enter your heart because it will permeate everything in your life. Can you get more specific? Absolutely. Jesus said watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees. What was their leaven? Their leaven, I just wrote down these two things, kind of summing up what their leaven is. It was legalism and hypocrisy.

  23:50-24:03

  Legalism and hypocrisy. Jesus said, "Watch out for that leaven." You know, when you get into the mindset of, "You've got to keep the rules. Keeping the rules makes God happy.

  24:03-24:07

  I've got to put on a show. I can't let anybody think that I'm struggling.

  24:07-24:13

  Or that I need help. I've got to put on church face 24/7.

  24:13-24:14

  I've got to pretend.

  24:19-24:22

  That's leaven that permeates everything that the Pharisees did.

  24:22-24:26

  Everything in our life was characterized by legalism and hypocrisy.

  24:27-24:33

  What about Herod? What does that mean? The leaven of Herod is I'm going to write down these two words.

  24:33-24:35

  Secular and sensual.

  24:37-24:38

  Secular and sensual.

  24:41-24:46

  That's just 11 of me first all the time.

  24:46-24:47

  Me first. My wants.

  24:47-24:48

  My desires. Me. Me.

  24:48-24:50

  What's best for me?

  24:50-24:53

  Using a couple of other old phrases since I opened that vault.

  24:55-24:59

  It wasn't too many generations ago where the phrase was sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

  25:01-25:03

  Lift it up is something to be applauded.

  25:04-25:07

  But when you look at that, that's just appealing to the sensual nature.

  25:07-25:09

  Sex and drugs and rock and roll.

  25:09-25:12

  It was the idea that what makes me feel good?

  25:13-25:14

  That is chief.

  25:14-25:15

  What makes me feel good?

  25:19-25:24

  Speaking of, Pastor Jeff, you have so many antiquated phrases.

  25:24-25:25

  Do you remember this one?

  25:26-25:29

  If it feels good - oh, you remember that one.

  25:30-25:30

  good, do it.

  25:32-26:14

  You're like, "Well, what's that?" That's the leaven of Herod. This mindset of unbelief can start in one area and it ends up spreading. For example, take the leaven of the Pharisees. Now, what I was originally going to do was get this big lump of unleavened dough and get a little piece of leaven. And I was going to do this whole big like Paula Deen baking demonstration up here. Well, maybe not Paula Deen. Too controversial. Rachel Ray. She's not in trouble, is she? Okay, so I didn't do that.

  26:15-26:19

  But I thought, is there something else that pictures this idea of permeation?

  26:19-26:24

  And then I didn't have to think too hard because I thought of one of my most "favorite things in the world," and that's Mio.

  26:26-26:27

  Any Mio fans here?

  26:29-26:30

  A couple of you, three of you?

  26:32-26:33

  I'm grieving in my spirit, Bob.

  26:35-26:38

  Instead of leaven, this is gonna be a much more visual.

  26:39-26:40

  See, here's how it is.

  26:40-26:42

  Let this represent hypocrisy.

  26:43-26:53

  You see, the thing is, if you let just a little bit of hypocrisy in, let's say in your home life, you're just going to let a little bit of hypocrisy in, what happens?

  26:54-26:59

  It spreads and it ends up permeating every area of your life.

  26:59-27:02

  You're a hypocrite at home, so it's easy to be a hypocrite at work.

  27:03-27:05

  It's easy to be a hypocrite at church.

  27:05-27:13

  It's easy to go to small group and be a hypocrite because you let just a little bit in and it has a way of permeating everything.

  27:14-27:22

  Jesus said to his disciples, that's why you have to guard your hearts against the leaven of the Pharisees.

  27:23-27:26

  Meaning, don't act like them at all.

  27:27-27:29

  Because you'll start acting totally like them.

  27:32-27:33

  And then you have the leaven of Herod.

  27:34-27:35

  Same thing, right?

  27:36-27:52

  You give into a little sensuality here, a little sensuality there, and you're like, you know what, maybe it's ok for me to look at these things on the computer, and maybe watch these movies I'm just going to let a little bit in.

  27:53-27:58

  Next thing you know, that little bit that you let in ends up permeating everything.

  28:02-28:12

  You start thinking sensually, and you start talking sensually, and in appropriate relationships, it starts permeating everything.

  28:12-28:16

  And you think, well, it's just this little one little category of my life.

  28:16-28:19

  You can't compartmentalize your life, that's the point.

  28:19-28:27

  Well, I'm like holy most of the time, but I just have this one little secret side sin that nobody knows about and it doesn't really affect anything.

  28:28-28:34

  Jesus said it affects everything because that will spread to every area of your life.

  28:36-28:37

  Should that be a concern?

  28:38-28:39

  Absolutely.

  28:40-28:41

  Jesus said watch out.

  28:42-28:43

  Watch out for the leaven.

  28:45-28:46

  The Pharisees and of Herod.

  28:47-29:05

  Jesus said, "Don't be like them, so consumed in their unbelief and their hypocrisy and their sensuality that obviously they miss seeing God at work." So those committed to unbelief cannot commit to Jesus.

  29:08-29:13

  Secondly, write this down, those committed to Jesus sometimes act like those committed to unbelief.

  29:15-29:44

  you're not off the hook here. Because you know we can say, "You know you're right Pastor Jeff, you know those unbelievers, those hypocrites, those legalists, those sensual people, you know what Pastor Jeff, this is them, this is them 24/7, they miss it, they miss it, they miss it." Well, hold that thought because look at how the people responded to Jesus. Jesus says, "Watch out." Okay, very serious warning here, Watch out. Beware.

  29:46-29:49

  On a scale of 1 to 10, how serious do you think that is?

  29:50-29:52

  If Jesus said it, I'd go straight to 10 with that.

  29:54-29:56

  Look at v. 16.

  29:56-30:04

  "And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread." How did they respond to Jesus' warning?

  30:05-30:07

  Oh, Jesus, how do we recognize it?

  30:07-30:08

  How can we avoid it?

  30:09-30:11

  How can we address it if we see it in one another?

  30:12-30:14

  How do we how do we do this?

  30:17-30:38

  And they start talking about bread All you see Jesus was talking and all they heard was leaven and they were just like Bread Bread All Jesus is talking about bread.

  30:39-30:47

  Oh man "I don't have any bread." Oh, that happens in church.

  30:47-30:48

  Don't think for a second it doesn't.

  30:50-30:53

  For example, I'm preaching on 2 Kings 9.

  30:54-30:56

  Jezebel was eaten by dogs.

  30:57-31:04

  And there are people that are kind of tuned in, kind of not, that are just like, "Man, am I hungry.

  31:05-31:25

  Did he say Jezebel was eating hot dogs?" and your wife is like, "No, Randy." He said, "Jezebel was eaten by dogs." And Randy's like, "I wonder what that tasted like.

  31:27-31:28

  "I'm hungry.

  31:29-31:36

  "Dogs, yeah, oh yeah." Or maybe we're reviewing the 10 commandments, and I'm like, "You know what?

  31:36-31:48

  "The seventh commandment is do not commit adultery." and you're like, "Did he just say donut?" "Did he just say donut?" I like those cafeteria services, 'cause we have donuts.

  31:49-31:51

  Why is Pastor Jeff preaching about donuts?

  31:51-31:52

  I didn't think donuts were in the Bible.

  31:54-31:59

  Except maybe like on the list of unclean foods in Leviticus, but like, I really didn't think.

  31:59-32:06

  I know like they were dunking people like in the river when they were baptizing, but I can't remember like them dunking anything else.

  32:06-32:11

  like, "Why is he talking about donuts?" Oh, that happens.

  32:13-32:17

  You know, we're preaching on Noah, and we're like, you know, Noah had sons, right?

  32:18-32:19

  Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

  32:19-32:25

  And you're like, "Ham..." You know what?

  32:25-32:27

  Let's get a ham sandwich for lunch.

  32:28-32:30

  Ham. Mmm. Mmm.

  32:31-32:32

  I like that - what's that?

  32:33-32:33

  Black Forest ham.

  32:34-32:35

  That's the kind of ham that I want.

  32:36-32:38

  That's what was happening with the disciples here.

  32:38-32:41

  It was like, what?

  32:42-32:43

  Who's talking about bread?

  32:46-32:48

  Look at v. 17 and 18.

  32:48-32:53

  "Jesus, aware of this, said to them, 'Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread?

  32:55-32:57

  Do you not yet perceive or understand?

  32:57-32:58

  Are your hearts hardened?

  32:59-33:00

  Having eyes?

  33:01-33:02

  Do you not see?

  33:03-33:35

  ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? Jesus is saying, "Are you just like the Pharisees? Are you completely oblivious? Are you guys not getting it? I mean we just dealt with this on the shore, right? And now we're in the boat and you guys are all doing this. Like don't you get it?" The irony is, Jesus is teaching the disciples, "Don't be like the Pharisees," and they weren't listening because they were acting just like them.

  33:37-33:39

  The Pharisees saw signs and chose not to believe.

  33:40-33:41

  Disciples, you saw signs.

  33:43-33:44

  Why do you not believe?

  33:47-33:50

  The Pharisees failed to connect the actions and the teachings of Jesus to who He is.

  33:51-33:52

  Completely missing it.

  33:53-34:00

  Now, disciples, you're figuratively in the same boat Pharisees.

  34:02-34:03

  Jesus goes on.

  34:04-34:30

  Jesus said, "When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And he said to him, "Twelve." "And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to him, "Seven." And he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?" Don't you remember?

  34:30-34:32

  Jesus was like, "Okay, let's review.

  34:32-34:33

  Quick review.

  34:36-34:37

  You're worried about bread.

  34:40-34:59

  I fed thousands of people on two different occasions with just a little bit, so much so that we had enough leftovers for us, and you don't think one loaf is enough for the twelve of you." I don't have that story in my Bible, you know, Jesus feeds the twelve with one loaf.

  35:01-35:03

  My Bible has like the five thousand and the four thousand.

  35:08-35:18

  I'm willing to venture a guess that if Jesus was able to feed thousands and thousands of people with one lunch, He'd be able to feed exactly one dozen people with one loaf.

  35:19-35:20

  But here's the point.

  35:21-35:27

  The stress of now forgets God's care in the past.

  35:29-35:40

  And church, I mean, obviously there's some funny things happening in this passage, but getting real serious, every single person in this room is guilty of this.

  35:41-35:42

  Myself included.

  35:42-35:44

  We are guilty of this.

  35:44-35:53

  We get stressed out about something now, We've completely forgotten how God has loved us in the past.

  35:54-35:55

  That's what the disciples did.

  35:56-36:07

  They're all sweating about bread, and Jesus was like, "You guys were there!" Churches just have to look at God's track record.

  36:10-36:12

  What is God batting these days?

  36:17-36:18

  You'd think He's always bad at it.

  36:19-36:19

  A thousand, right?

  36:22-36:23

  You're like, yeah, but you know what?

  36:24-36:26

  These guys were like there with Jesus.

  36:33-36:39

  We have more reason to believe than the disciples did.

  36:39-36:39

  Did you know that?

  36:40-36:43

  You take the account of the disciples right here.

  36:45-36:48

  You actually have more reason to believe than they did.

  36:49-36:51

  Because what happened after this event?

  36:52-36:59

  The resurrection of Jesus Christ, Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus showing His faithfulness and building His church.

  36:59-37:05

  We've got 2,000 years of Jesus' faithfulness that these guys didn't have.

  37:07-37:10

  You have more reason to believe, not less.

  37:14-37:23

  Why is it that as soon as the smallest little trial comes into our lives - and let's face it, this was a pretty small one for the disciples, right?

  37:23-37:24

  Pretty small.

  37:27-37:31

  But as soon as the smallest little trial comes into our life, we're like, where's the panic button?

  37:32-37:34

  God, You're forsaking me!

  37:34-37:35

  God, You've forgotten about me!

  37:36-37:36

  Whoa!

  37:37-37:38

  Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

  37:39-37:40

  That's what was happening here.

  37:42-37:43

  I don't have any bread.

  37:47-37:48

  But we're like that.

  37:50-37:53

  We get so focused on the here and now.

  37:58-37:58

  It's all over.

  37:59-38:00

  It's all over.

  38:00-38:01

  I've had one bad day.

  38:02-38:03

  I had one bad incident.

  38:04-38:06

  I got one person at work that said something mean to me.

  38:06-38:13

  And I'm not making light of those things, but understand when you look at the grand scheme faithfulness in your life.

  38:14-38:20

  Isn't it true that these are relatively small things that we let completely dump our apple cart?

  38:21-38:21

  True or false?

  38:23-38:24

  I'm guilty of that.

  38:26-38:27

  But look at God's track record.

  38:30-38:33

  I think back to when our church wanted to get a computer.

  38:33-38:36

  We were trying to figure out budgeting and those kinds of things.

  38:36-38:38

  The Lord provided two.

  38:42-38:44

  And I think back to, do you remember way back in February?

  38:45-38:47

  Are any of you guys old enough to remember February?

  38:48-39:08

  Do you remember way back in February, this pastor in Moldova's house was crumbling, and we're like, "We want to raise $4,000 to help get this pastor's house repaired." And I remember during February thinking, "That's ambitious for a church our size." On top of the rest of the giving.

  39:09-39:10

  And do you remember what happened?

  39:11-39:12

  The watch came in.

  39:17-39:18

  North of 5,900.

  39:20-39:22

  Do you know what's going to happen?

  39:23-39:43

  Sometime down the road, next week, next month, I don't know when, but we're going to be faced with another financial issue, and we're going to have the temptation to say, "I don't know how we're going to do it." God has so proven Himself faithful every step of the way.

  39:44-39:46

  We're going to fall right back into unbelief.

  39:46-39:46

  We're going to be tempted.

  39:47-39:50

  Like, no, no, no, not because of this sermon I'm not.

  39:50-39:51

  But we're going to be tempted.

  39:52-39:54

  Like is God going to provide for us or not?

  39:57-40:08

  Every single person in this room, look, by virtue of our relationship, I know that every one of you have a story.

  40:10-40:15

  And I know the struggles that a lot of you are going through.

  40:20-40:24

  And I know that every one of you could stand up here and give testimony of God's faithfulness to you.

  40:27-40:29

  And I know many of you are going through trials right now.

  40:33-40:36

  I'd just like to encourage you, You know what?

  40:40-40:42

  God brought you this far, didn't He?

  40:43-40:44

  Did God bring you this far?

  40:45-40:46

  Look at you. You're here.

  40:47-40:48

  You're good looking.

  40:52-40:54

  You have food. You have shelter.

  40:57-40:58

  God has brought you this far.

  41:00-41:03

  Why do you think He's not going to take you the rest of the way?

  41:07-41:09

  Or are you still looking for a sign?

  41:11-41:14

  Are you still not trusting God for everything?

  41:16-41:19

  Are you still not taking God at His Word?

  41:21-41:25

  Are you still thinking He was great, but He isn't today?

  41:27-41:41

  And while we wouldn't ever say such a thing, Maybe deep down, a lot of people feel like, you know, God was so loving and God was so awesome when I first believed, but now I'm not so sure.

  41:46-41:48

  And when you get in that mindset, you know what you're doing?

  41:50-41:55

  You're in the boat with the disciples, worried about the bread.

  41:58-42:00

  And the Lord's right there with you.

  42:02-42:03

  Church, it's time.

  42:04-42:06

  It's time to stop getting sidetracked.

  42:09-42:14

  And please, I say this as compassionately as I can, because it comes straight from this text.

  42:16-42:21

  But for some of us, it's time to stop pushing the panic button over every trial.

  42:21-42:26

  I'm not diminishing the pain, the anxiety that comes with trials.

  42:27-42:29

  I don't want to diminish that at all.

  42:29-42:32

  What I want to do is lift high Jesus Christ.

  42:32-42:37

  Because when He's seen in His proper perspective, you're not going to push the panic button.

  42:38-42:44

  You're not going to have the little bit of leaven of unbelief saturate your heart.

  42:46-42:48

  I don't want to minimize your trials.

  42:48-42:50

  I want to maximize the Lord.

  42:51-42:56

  Because whatever you're going through, He is greater.

  42:58-43:02

  Whatever needs you have, He has the power to meet it.

  43:05-43:08

  We need to rest in this glorious truth.

  43:09-43:10

  God loves you.

  43:11-43:13

  God has been faithful to you.

  43:14-43:19

  And God still has the power to get you through whatever comes before you today.

  43:21-43:22

  So are you willing?

  43:24-43:25

  Are we willing to believe?

  43:28-43:34

  Like the disciples, are we willing to take our eyes off of God's faithfulness?

  43:35-43:38

  Take our eyes off of God sitting in the boat with us?

  43:42-43:52

  And put all of our energy and effort and thought and attention on this relatively small problem He has before us.

  43:55-44:06

  That's why Jesus said, "Do you not understand?" It's my prayer that today is going to be for many of us the last day that this happens.

  44:07-44:08

  I get it now.

  44:09-44:10

  I get it now.

  44:11-44:12

  Let's pray.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Mark 8:1-21

1. Jesus gave a warning in Mark 8:15: "Watch out; beware the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod". Restate this warning in your own words. What, exactly and specifically, are we to "watch out" for?
    

2. Why didn't Jesus just show the Pharisees a sign? Why was Jesus grieved that they wanted one? Compare this account to Matthew's version in Matthew 16:1-4.

Breakout Questions:
Are there any areas of hypocrisy or sensuality in your life? Pray against that leaven!

Compassion: Making the Difference

The Compassion of Jesus:

1. INVITES Me. (Mk 7:24-26)



2. HUMBLES Me. (Mk 7:27-30)



3. KNOWS Me. (Mk 7:31-35)



4. MOVES Me. (Mk 7:36-37)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:00-00:03

  Open up your Bibles to Mark 7.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:04-00:10

  We are going to be going back on tour with Jesus over the next several weeks.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:11-00:28

  And as you're turning, Mark 7:24, in the passage that we're going to be looking at, we're going to see that Jesus is taking His disciples on an extended private tour.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:29-00:32

  Actually, they go through Gentile territory.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:33-00:37

  In this passage we're going to look at, we're going to see that they travel to Phoenicia.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:38-00:39

  Again, it's Gentile region.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:40-00:44

  And the main cities were Tyre and Sidon.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:44-00:46

  These two cities were about 20 miles apart.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:46-00:51

  And Bible students will recognize those cities mentioned from the Old Testament.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:55-00:57

  How long was this trip?

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:58-00:59

  We really don't know.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:00-01:03

  It probably lasted for several months.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:03-01:10

  And the purpose of this trip was to focus on training the twelve.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:12-01:19

  And you see very little written about of this chunk of the ministry of Jesus Christ.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:21-01:28

  However, Mark notes two great acts of compassion by Jesus that we're going to look at today.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:29-01:33

  We're going to talk about the compassion of Jesus Christ.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:33-01:34

  Why?

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:38-01:49

  Because when we encourage people to make a decision to Jesus Christ, there are a lot of things that we can do to motivate people, right?

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:51-01:52

  Here's some motivators.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:52-01:53

  We can guilt people.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:55-01:56

  Like you know what?

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:58-02:04

  You're a sinner, and Jesus died for you, and don't you feel bad that you haven't done something about that?

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:07-02:08

  That can be a motivator.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:09-02:13

  For some people, the motivation can be just reason.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:13-02:14

  Like apologetics.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:14-02:15

  Look, it just makes sense.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:16-02:28

  You know, we have the archaeological, the historical, we have these facts, and science lines up with the Bible, and we have all these reasons that it makes sense to believe the Bible.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:28-02:32

  So doesn't it just make sense that you should believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:35-02:37

  That can be a motivator to come to Christ.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:38-02:40

  We can warn people about hell.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:41-02:44

  Hell is a real place, real people are really going there.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:46-02:47

  And that's a motivator.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:47-02:48

  Say look, you know what?

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:48-02:54

  Apart from Jesus Christ, you are heading to a godless eternity.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:58-03:00

  All of those things can be motivators.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:02-03:11

  But do you know what the Bible says specifically as the motivator that brings people to Jesus Christ?

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:11-03:12

  Do you know what it is?

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:13-03:14

  This is the motivator.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:14-03:16

  It's in Romans 2:4.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:16-03:20

  It says God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:21-03:21

  Did you know that?

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:24-03:27

  We saw it in chapter 6 in the Gospel of Mark.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:27-03:37

  When Jesus walked on water, it is the love of God - specifically, the compassion of God - that makes the difference.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:38-03:40

  That's what we saw in Mark 6.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:41-03:43

  The disciples knew that Jesus was powerful.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:43-03:45

  They knew Jesus had authority.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:45-03:57

  But they didn't really internalize and embrace who Jesus is until they saw that He cared for them.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:59-04:02

  And that is true for everybody sitting here.

  Pastor Jeff:

  04:05-04:14

  You're not going to fully understand You embrace who Jesus is until you understand that He loves you.

  Pastor Jeff:

  04:15-04:16

  And He died for you.

  Pastor Jeff:

  04:19-04:23

  His ministry, His purpose for coming to the earth was to die for you.

  Pastor Jeff:

  04:27-04:31

  And I've shared with you before the line that changed my life.

  Pastor Jeff:

  04:31-04:32

  I grew up in the church.

  Pastor Jeff:

  04:32-04:34

  I knew some things about the Bible.

  Pastor Jeff:

  04:34-04:39

  But the line that changed my life was when somebody said to me, any idea how much God loves you.

  Pastor Jeff:

  04:41-04:43

  "Pastor Jeff, you didn't know that." No.

  Pastor Jeff:

  04:45-04:46

  I knew it in here.

  Pastor Jeff:

  04:47-04:48

  But I did not know it in here.

  Pastor Jeff:

  04:50-04:56

  And it was at a very low point in my life where I embraced the truth that God cares for me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  04:57-04:58

  He loves me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  05:00-05:04

  That changed my life back in 1995.

  Pastor Jeff:

  05:07-05:12

  We're going to talk about the compassion of Jesus, because that's what this passage is about.

  Pastor Jeff:

  05:12-05:20

  Even on this story, even though Jesus was focusing on the twelve, we see that He couldn't help but help.

  Pastor Jeff:

  05:22-05:24

  Look at Mark chapter 7.

  Pastor Jeff:

  05:25-05:26

  Write this down first of all in your outline.

  Pastor Jeff:

  05:27-05:29

  The compassion of Jesus, first of all, invites me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  05:30-05:31

  Invites me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  05:33-05:48

  Verse 24 says, "And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon." And he entered a house and he did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden.

  Pastor Jeff:

  05:50-05:52

  Jesus wanted to be under the radar.

  Pastor Jeff:

  05:54-05:57

  And these people knew Jesus from before.

  Pastor Jeff:

  05:57-06:03

  Actually, if you go back to Mark chapter 3 and verse 8, Jesus had a reputation with some people from Tyre and Sidon.

  Pastor Jeff:

  06:03-06:04

  They knew who He was.

  Pastor Jeff:

  06:06-06:08

  It says that Jesus kind of wanted to slip in.

  Pastor Jeff:

  06:08-06:10

  This was a private thing with the disciples.

  Pastor Jeff:

  06:11-06:13

  He didn't really want to make this a public thing.

  Pastor Jeff:

  06:14-06:17

  What are the chances that God can pass through your town unnoticed?

  Pastor Jeff:

  06:18-06:18

  What are the chances?

  Pastor Jeff:

  06:19-06:21

  God's walking through town and nobody notices.

  Pastor Jeff:

  06:21-06:23

  Right, Carrie. Zero. Zero.

  Pastor Jeff:

  06:24-06:26

  People are going to notice when God's walking through town.

  Pastor Jeff:

  06:28-06:29

  Look at v. 25.

  Pastor Jeff:

  06:29-06:53

  It says, "But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell down at his feet." Now, the woman was a Gentile - a Syrophoenician by birth - and she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

  Pastor Jeff:

  06:55-06:58

  You can't miss the layers that Mark is giving here.

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:00-07:01

  This is very intentional.

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:02-07:04

  Mark didn't say somebody came to Jesus.

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:04-07:07

  He's being very intentional in pointing out who came to Jesus.

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:08-07:09

  First of all, he says it was a woman.

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:10-07:11

  A woman came to Jesus.

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:12-07:13

  Not just any woman.

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:13-07:16

  A Gentile woman.

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:19-07:22

  And if that wasn't bad enough, she was a Syrophoenician.

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:23-07:24

  Like, well, what does that mean?

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:27-07:29

  Well basically, it identified her with the Romans.

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:31-07:34

  Now this, in Jewish circles, is kind of an outcast.

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:35-07:37

  They came to Jesus.

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:37-07:41

  And the Bible says that she has a little daughter.

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:42-07:44

  How old, we don't know.

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:45-07:49

  The lady's got married very young, especially in this day.

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:49-07:55

  So, best guess, somewhere between seven and ten years old.

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:55-07:57

  And did you see that in the text?

  Pastor Jeff:

  07:58-08:02

  The woman says that she had a demon.

  Pastor Jeff:

  08:04-08:08

  The little girl had a demon.

  Pastor Jeff:

  08:10-08:22

  And if any of you have been with a child that has any type of illness, you know how heartbreaking that is as a parent.

  Pastor Jeff:

  08:23-08:26

  How about something long -term?

  Pastor Jeff:

  08:26-08:28

  How heartbreaking is that as a parent?

  Pastor Jeff:

  08:30-08:31

  Something chronic.

  Pastor Jeff:

  08:32-08:34

  How bad is that when you're a parent?

  Pastor Jeff:

  08:34-08:38

  Ok, how about your little girl has a demon?

  Pastor Jeff:

  08:39-08:42

  How heartbreaking do you think that is for a parent?

  Pastor Jeff:

  08:43-08:45

  My child is possessed by an evil spirit.

  Pastor Jeff:

  08:48-08:57

  That's why this Gentile woman that says she begged Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

  Pastor Jeff:

  08:59-09:04

  Before we go on in the text, first of all, what you need to see is the compassion of Jesus invites me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  09:05-09:14

  Even though this was a woman - a Gentile woman, a Syrophoenician Gentile woman, it seems that Jesus' compassion attracts very unlikely people.

  Pastor Jeff:

  09:17-09:19

  Church persecutors like Paul.

  Pastor Jeff:

  09:21-09:23

  correctionless sinners like me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  09:25-09:29

  The compassion of Jesus Christ is what invites us to Him.

  Pastor Jeff:

  09:31-09:33

  We need to note that it's available to all.

  Pastor Jeff:

  09:35-09:42

  1 Timothy 2:4 says that God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

  Pastor Jeff:

  09:43-09:51

  John 3:16, "Whosoever believes in Him..." John 6:37, Jesus said, "Whoever comes to Me, I will never cast out.

  Pastor Jeff:

  09:55-09:59

  But you have to understand that the compassion of Jesus Christ invites you.

  Pastor Jeff:

  09:59-10:10

  I've talked to so many people over the last 17 years or so of ministry that come up to me, "Pastor Jeff, you don't understand.

  Pastor Jeff:

  10:11-10:12

  I've done some horrible things.

  Pastor Jeff:

  10:14-10:19

  I've done some things that my wife doesn't even know about.

  Pastor Jeff:

  10:20-10:21

  I am so ashamed of myself.

  Pastor Jeff:

  10:25-10:31

  And I just want to share with you two amazing things about the compassion or the grace of God.

  Pastor Jeff:

  10:31-10:32

  First of all, jot this down.

  Pastor Jeff:

  10:32-10:34

  God wants you to receive it.

  Pastor Jeff:

  10:36-10:37

  Do you know that?

  Pastor Jeff:

  10:38-10:40

  God wants you to receive His grace.

  Pastor Jeff:

  10:42-10:47

  God is not some cold, distant deity somewhere out there.

  Pastor Jeff:

  10:48-10:55

  I've shared with you before, but sitting up in heaven with his arms folded, saying turn or burn, I don't care.

  Pastor Jeff:

  10:56-10:59

  Get right or get left.

  Pastor Jeff:

  11:00-11:03

  It doesn't really make a difference to me what you do.

  Pastor Jeff:

  11:04-11:04

  That's not God.

  Pastor Jeff:

  11:05-11:06

  That's not God.

  Pastor Jeff:

  11:10-11:22

  The second thing is the amazing thing about God's compassion, the compassion of Jesus Christ, You're only received by people who know they need it.

  Pastor Jeff:

  11:27-11:29

  That's the amazing thing.

  Pastor Jeff:

  11:29-11:33

  The people that come to me and say I've done some terrible things, I'm like that's fantastic.

  Pastor Jeff:

  11:33-11:35

  Because you're acknowledging that.

  Pastor Jeff:

  11:36-11:39

  And you can't come to Jesus until you know that you need Him.

  Pastor Jeff:

  11:40-11:43

  And I deal with people all the time who don't really think they need Him.

  Pastor Jeff:

  11:44-11:45

  I've had a pretty good life.

  Pastor Jeff:

  11:45-11:47

  I haven't done too much to really hurt people.

  Pastor Jeff:

  11:51-12:01

  Well, the only difference between you and this Syrophoenician Gentile woman - really, the only difference - is that her problem looked more obvious.

  Pastor Jeff:

  12:04-12:09

  Maybe you don't have a daughter that has a demon, but you are helpless on your own.

  Pastor Jeff:

  12:09-12:18

  And just as Jesus' compassion drew her, when you see your need and you see Jesus' compassion, you're going to pursue Him.

  Pastor Jeff:

  12:20-12:21

  You need to see that first of all.

  Pastor Jeff:

  12:21-12:23

  The compassion of Jesus invites me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  12:25-12:26

  His reputation was there.

  Pastor Jeff:

  12:26-12:27

  She knew.

  Pastor Jeff:

  12:28-12:29

  She knew who He was.

  Pastor Jeff:

  12:32-12:36

  Secondly, jot this down, the compassion of Jesus humbles me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  12:39-12:41

  The compassion of Jesus humbles me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  12:42-12:43

  Ok, so do you have this scene?

  Pastor Jeff:

  12:44-12:46

  This woman comes in and she begs.

  Pastor Jeff:

  12:48-12:49

  Have you ever begged for anything?

  Pastor Jeff:

  12:50-12:54

  Have you ever wanted something so bad that you...

  Pastor Jeff:

  12:56-12:58

  No pride here. I'm going to beg.

  Pastor Jeff:

  12:59-13:01

  I will get down on my knees if I have to.

  Pastor Jeff:

  13:03-13:04

  That's where she was.

  Pastor Jeff:

  13:07-13:08

  Look at Jesus' response.

  Pastor Jeff:

  13:09-13:14

  "And He said to her, Let the children be fed first.

  Pastor Jeff:

  13:16-13:26

  For it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." What?

  Pastor Jeff:

  13:28-13:30

  Anybody else with me on that?

  Pastor Jeff:

  13:30-13:31

  What?

  Pastor Jeff:

  13:33-13:35

  My little girl has a demon.

  Pastor Jeff:

  13:38-13:42

  Jesus said what?

  Pastor Jeff:

  13:46-13:48

  Pardon the pun, but this is not an easy to swallow passage.

  Pastor Jeff:

  13:49-14:00

  In fact, if you look up Matthew 15, Matthew gives you some details about the account that makes it even harder to swallow at first read.

  Pastor Jeff:

  14:02-14:11

  Matthew tells us that this woman was repeatedly begging to the point that the disciples with her and we're like send her away.

  Pastor Jeff:

  14:14-14:18

  She won't shut up. Please get rid of this woman.

  Pastor Jeff:

  14:22-14:37

  Matthew 15 also tells us that at first Jesus answered her not a word. And then finally when he does give an answer it's let the children be fed first for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs?

  Pastor Jeff:

  14:41-14:53

  We have to understand something. When we think about dogs, I know what I think about when I think about dogs. And I know what most of you think about when you think about dogs.

  Pastor Jeff:

  14:54-15:01

  Okay, but understand, in Jesus' day, there were two words that were used for dogs.

  Pastor Jeff:

  15:04-15:09

  The one word referred to like a large wild dog.

  Pastor Jeff:

  15:10-15:11

  A wild dog.

  Pastor Jeff:

  15:12-15:19

  When I was on a mission trip in Thailand back in 1996, I got attacked by a wild dog, okay?

  Pastor Jeff:

  15:20-15:21

  This one didn't have a little caller.

  Pastor Jeff:

  15:22-15:26

  You know, if lost, call Caitlin.

  Pastor Jeff:

  15:26-15:27

  Here's the phone number.

  Pastor Jeff:

  15:27-15:29

  You know, answers to the name Princess.

  Pastor Jeff:

  15:29-15:30

  It didn't have one of those.

  Pastor Jeff:

  15:30-15:33

  Okay, this thing like came out of the jungle and came after me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  15:35-15:36

  That's one of the words for dog.

  Pastor Jeff:

  15:37-15:46

  Well Jesus used another word here that's the diminutive form of the word that refers to a little dog or a domesticated dog.

  Pastor Jeff:

  15:46-15:47

  Do we have dog people here?

  Pastor Jeff:

  15:48-15:49

  Or is it just me?

  Pastor Jeff:

  15:49-15:52

  I thought there was a good spirit in the room.

  Pastor Jeff:

  15:55-15:56

  I'm among my people here.

  Pastor Jeff:

  15:57-16:01

  So when I think of dog, I think of, many of you know our dog, we have a dog named Gordy.

  Pastor Jeff:

  16:04-16:07

  And domesticated, a house dog, that's what Jesus was talking about here.

  Pastor Jeff:

  16:07-16:08

  I've had people ask me that.

  Pastor Jeff:

  16:09-16:14

  I thought dogs were like kind of wild and out of control, but there were some domesticated smaller house dogs.

  Pastor Jeff:

  16:14-16:16

  Who has a little dog?

  Pastor Jeff:

  16:17-16:19

  Okay, so you guys know what I'm talking about.

  Pastor Jeff:

  16:19-16:20

  Anybody have more than one little dog?

  Pastor Jeff:

  16:21-16:22

  Yeah.

  Pastor Jeff:

  16:22-16:24

  All right, I'm praying for you right now.

  Pastor Jeff:

  16:27-16:28

  I love dogs.

  Pastor Jeff:

  16:29-16:33

  But understand Jesus was talking about a little domesticated dog here.

  Pastor Jeff:

  16:35-16:41

  And you understand, obviously you understand the story, the little story that Jesus gave, right?

  Pastor Jeff:

  16:43-16:45

  Your kids are hungry, like time to eat.

  Pastor Jeff:

  16:47-16:52

  You know, let's get how we first let's feed how we and then we'll see if there's any food left over, you know, for the human.

  Pastor Jeff:

  16:55-17:02

  Jesus is like, no, you don't do that, you don't take you don't take the kids food and give it to the dog and like not feed the kids.

  Pastor Jeff:

  17:07-17:08

  So what's up with this answer, Jesus?

  Pastor Jeff:

  17:11-17:13

  I mean, Jesus healed other Gentiles, right?

  Pastor Jeff:

  17:13-17:15

  We read that. We studied that.

  Pastor Jeff:

  17:16-17:21

  Jesus healed even Gentile demoniacs previously.

  Pastor Jeff:

  17:21-17:22

  We saw that.

  Pastor Jeff:

  17:22-17:23

  So what's this all about?

  Pastor Jeff:

  17:26-17:29

  He's saying it's not time for the bread to go to the Gentiles.

  Pastor Jeff:

  17:31-17:37

  This is an analogy about priority.

  Pastor Jeff:

  17:40-17:50

  At this point in the ministry of Jesus Christ, at this point in history, the ministry specifically to the Gentiles was yet future.

  Pastor Jeff:

  17:51-18:01

  In God's timetable, remember when Jesus sent the disciples out, He said to them, "Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

  Pastor Jeff:

  18:01-18:04

  The priority is to Israel." The priority is to Israel.

  Pastor Jeff:

  18:04-18:05

  That's what He's talking about here.

  Pastor Jeff:

  18:06-18:08

  The ministry of the Gentiles, that's coming later.

  Pastor Jeff:

  18:09-18:17

  Let's give the bread to the Jewish children first, and then later, we'll take care of the Gentile dogs so to speak.

  Pastor Jeff:

  18:20-18:21

  Well, look at the woman's answer.

  Pastor Jeff:

  18:23-18:23

  Love this.

  Pastor Jeff:

  18:25-18:40

  "But she answered him, 'Yes, Lord, yet, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.'" She wasn't being smart-mouthed, okay?

  Pastor Jeff:

  18:41-18:43

  She wasn't copying an attitude.

  Pastor Jeff:

  18:44-18:48

  She was witty, obviously, but what she was doing was going with Jesus' analogy.

  Pastor Jeff:

  18:49-18:50

  She was so desperate.

  Pastor Jeff:

  18:50-18:52

  I mean, so desperate.

  Pastor Jeff:

  18:55-18:56

  I understand what you're saying.

  Pastor Jeff:

  18:58-19:06

  But you know, even the dog laying under the table, you know, if the kid drops a bite, even the dog picks that up.

  Pastor Jeff:

  19:07-19:08

  Maybe the dog gets a little bit of it.

  Pastor Jeff:

  19:12-19:13

  Look at Jesus' response.

  Pastor Jeff:

  19:15-19:19

  "And He said to her, 'For this statement you may go your way.

  Pastor Jeff:

  19:19-19:38

  The demon has left your daughter, and she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.'" Jesus said because of this statement, because of the faith, would speak such a statement, Jesus said it's done.

  Pastor Jeff:

  19:39-19:43

  I really believe what was happening in this passage was Jesus was sort of testing her humility.

  Pastor Jeff:

  19:46-19:51

  Because coming to Christ for compassion really should only generate one type of response.

  Pastor Jeff:

  19:54-19:54

  And that's humility.

  Pastor Jeff:

  19:56-20:01

  Coming to Jesus doesn't carry this attitude of I deserve this.

  Pastor Jeff:

  20:02-20:06

  "Jesus, you know what? I'm going to receive you, Jesus, because I deserve heaven.

  Pastor Jeff:

  20:07-20:14

  I deserve everything that you can give me, Jesus." It's shocking how much we say that in our culture.

  Pastor Jeff:

  20:14-20:15

  I've caught myself saying it.

  Pastor Jeff:

  20:15-20:31

  "You deserve this. You should do this. You deserve this. You deserve this." And I understand the sense in which sometimes that's communicated, but if we're really honest, You don't really deserve anything.

  Pastor Jeff:

  20:34-20:43

  It's the compassion of Jesus, the mercy of Jesus that we seek just automatically comes assuming that we are unworthy.

  Pastor Jeff:

  20:44-20:54

  And when you realize that you don't deserve compassion, when you don't let pride think that you're entitled, it's only then that you're ready to receive it.

  Pastor Jeff:

  20:56-21:01

  It's only then that you come with of humility like this woman.

  Pastor Jeff:

  21:03-21:05

  So the compassion of Jesus, first of all, invites me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  21:06-21:07

  Second of all, it humbles me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  21:08-21:14

  Thirdly, write this down, the compassion of Jesus knows me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  21:16-21:17

  Knows me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  21:19-21:22

  Look at verse 31, still traveling through here.

  Pastor Jeff:

  21:22-21:35

  It says, "Then He returned from the region attire, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis." This is east of Galilee.

  Pastor Jeff:

  21:36-21:37

  What's the Decapolis?

  Pastor Jeff:

  21:37-21:38

  Those are actually ten cities.

  Pastor Jeff:

  21:38-21:43

  They were Hellenized, which meant they were influenced by the Greeks.

  Pastor Jeff:

  21:43-21:45

  These were non-Jewish cities.

  Pastor Jeff:

  21:45-21:50

  And we read in Matthew 15 that Jesus had a reputation there too.

  Pastor Jeff:

  21:51-21:57

  Verse 32 says, And they brought to Him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment.

  Pastor Jeff:

  21:59-22:02

  And they begged Him to lay His hand on him.

  Pastor Jeff:

  22:04-22:20

  Then verse 33 says, "And taking Him aside from the crowd privately, He put His fingers into His ears and after spitting, touched His tongue." The compassion of Jesus knows me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  22:21-22:26

  to the man that literally they threw this guy at Jesus.

  Pastor Jeff:

  22:28-22:30

  The Bible says he was deaf and he had a speech impediment.

  Pastor Jeff:

  22:30-22:32

  You can connect the dots there, right?

  Pastor Jeff:

  22:32-22:43

  If you're born deaf, or if you become deaf at a very young age and you're not used to hearing how other people talk, it affects the way that you try to communicate.

  Pastor Jeff:

  22:43-22:45

  And that's what was happening with this man.

  Pastor Jeff:

  22:48-22:52

  It says that Jesus put His fingers into His ears.

  Pastor Jeff:

  22:55-22:56

  Why did He do that?

  Pastor Jeff:

  22:57-22:58

  Why did Jesus touch people?

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:01-23:05

  I mean, we know that Jesus didn't need to touch people to heal them, right?

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:06-23:07

  Didn't we just read that?

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:07-23:09

  The little girl with the demon - did Jesus touch her?

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:10-23:10

  No.

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:12-23:16

  So why did Jesus touch this man?

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:18-23:20

  Well, certainly Jesus didn't need to.

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:20-23:25

  But the reason He did it was to show compassion.

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:26-23:27

  Do you understand that?

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:28-23:34

  Like if my friend Bob here is brought up - I like to act things out.

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:35-23:37

  Bob will be the deaf person and I'll be Jesus.

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:38-23:38

  Okay?

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:40-23:41

  It worked for you, Dina.

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:43-23:43

  Alright, I'll be Jesus.

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:44-23:46

  But do you see the difference?

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:47-23:49

  Well, Dina represented the people that brought the deaf guy.

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:50-23:52

  He's deaf and he has a speech impediment.

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:52-23:54

  I don't even think they had to tell Jesus that.

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:55-23:56

  I'm willing to bet Jesus knew that.

  Pastor Jeff:

  23:57-24:04

  Jesus could have said, "Alright, he's healed." And he could have walked away totally healed.

  Pastor Jeff:

  24:07-24:08

  Do you see the compassion?

  Pastor Jeff:

  24:08-24:12

  Do you see the difference coming up and putting His hands on him.

  Pastor Jeff:

  24:13-24:14

  That's compassion.

  Pastor Jeff:

  24:15-24:18

  That's compassion that reaches out and touches.

  Pastor Jeff:

  24:20-24:29

  If you've ever picked up a child that fell off of a swing and held them, you know why Jesus touched people when He healed them.

  Pastor Jeff:

  24:30-24:30

  It's compassion.

  Pastor Jeff:

  24:32-24:37

  You understand, parents, when your kid falls off the swing, You picking them up doesn't heal them, right?

  Pastor Jeff:

  24:39-24:47

  But if your child fell off the swing, you can assess it and be like, not much blood and doesn't look like anything's broken.

  Pastor Jeff:

  24:47-24:48

  You're good.

  Pastor Jeff:

  24:50-24:50

  Get up. You're good.

  Pastor Jeff:

  24:52-24:53

  But what do you do?

  Pastor Jeff:

  24:54-24:57

  You instinctively run and you pick the child up. Why?

  Pastor Jeff:

  24:59-25:00

  Because you love them.

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:01-25:03

  You just want to hold them and embrace them.

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:05-25:06

  That's compassion.

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:08-25:11

  You're moved so deeply that your child is hurt.

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:12-25:14

  You can't help it.

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:15-25:16

  And that's what's happening in this passage.

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:17-25:26

  Jesus was moved so deeply that this man had this speech impediment and this deafness that he reached out and touched him.

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:26-25:26

  That's compassion.

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:30-25:34

  If you've ever kissed a boo-boo, you understand, right?

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:34-25:36

  There's magic in that.

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:36-25:37

  I don't mean like black magic.

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:38-25:39

  Don't misquote me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:40-25:50

  "Pastor Jeff is preaching to black arts in church." That's not what I mean, but you understand when your kid's hurt, your kid bonks his head on something, what do you instinctively do, parents?

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:51-25:52

  You kiss their head.

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:53-25:54

  It works.

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:55-25:55

  Why?

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:56-25:57

  Compassion.

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:58-25:58

  Passion.

  Pastor Jeff:

  26:00-26:12

  Then verse 34 says - in case you have this picture, Jesus put His finger in his ears and it says, "And after spitting, touched his tongue." I kind of wrestled with that this week trying to imagine what that looked like.

  Pastor Jeff:

  26:12-26:16

  Did Jesus spit on his hand and then touch the man's tongue?

  Pastor Jeff:

  26:17-26:18

  I don't know.

  Pastor Jeff:

  26:19-26:20

  He touched the man though.

  Pastor Jeff:

  26:20-26:32

  Verse 34 says, "And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to Him, "Faftha," that is, "he opened." What does it mean that he sighed?

  Pastor Jeff:

  26:36-26:38

  It doesn't mean like he rolled his eyes.

  Pastor Jeff:

  26:39-26:42

  Like they brought him this deaf guy and Jesus was like, "Ugh!

  Pastor Jeff:

  26:43-26:46

  Alright." It wasn't that kind of a sigh.

  Pastor Jeff:

  26:49-26:51

  What kind of sigh do you think it was?

  Pastor Jeff:

  26:52-26:53

  A sigh of compassion.

  Pastor Jeff:

  26:53-26:54

  Can you see it?

  Pastor Jeff:

  26:54-26:55

  Can you see that in your mind's eye?

  Pastor Jeff:

  26:56-27:02

  He touches this man and He knows the difficulties and the hurt that this man's experienced.

  Pastor Jeff:

  27:03-27:07

  Jesus looks up to heaven and He's just...

  Pastor Jeff:

  27:09-27:09

  It's compassion.

  Pastor Jeff:

  27:11-27:11

  It's compassion.

  Pastor Jeff:

  27:13-27:24

  He looks up and He says, "Be opened." Verse 35 says, "And His ears were opened, His tongue was released, He spoke plainly.

  Pastor Jeff:

  27:26-27:28

  There's a miracle that He spoke plainly.

  Pastor Jeff:

  27:28-27:30

  He didn't have to have a speech therapist.

  Pastor Jeff:

  27:30-27:32

  He just started talking.

  Pastor Jeff:

  27:35-27:39

  But something else I want you to notice, that Jesus' touch was very specific.

  Pastor Jeff:

  27:41-27:44

  Why did Jesus touch the man's ears?

  Pastor Jeff:

  27:45-27:47

  Why did Jesus touch the man's tongue?

  Pastor Jeff:

  27:47-27:48

  Because Jesus knew.

  Pastor Jeff:

  27:50-27:53

  And there's somebody here today He needs to know this.

  Pastor Jeff:

  27:53-27:55

  Jesus knows what is hurting you.

  Pastor Jeff:

  27:55-27:57

  You have to know that.

  Pastor Jeff:

  27:57-27:59

  No matter how alone you feel.

  Pastor Jeff:

  28:02-28:04

  No matter how much it's hurt.

  Pastor Jeff:

  28:04-28:05

  No matter how long it's hurt.

  Pastor Jeff:

  28:05-28:07

  Jesus knows what's hurting you.

  Pastor Jeff:

  28:08-28:10

  Jesus knows what's worrying you.

  Pastor Jeff:

  28:10-28:13

  Jesus knows what's frustrating you and discouraging you.

  Pastor Jeff:

  28:14-28:15

  He knows.

  Pastor Jeff:

  28:16-28:18

  And that's why He meets you where you are.

  Pastor Jeff:

  28:20-28:24

  Not a cold and distant God, but a friend who loves you.

  Pastor Jeff:

  28:25-28:27

  The compassion of Jesus knows me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  28:27-28:32

  And finally, the compassion of Jesus moves me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  28:33-28:35

  The compassion of Jesus moves me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  28:37-28:40

  And Jesus charged them to tell no one.

  Pastor Jeff:

  28:42-28:45

  But the more He charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.

  Pastor Jeff:

  28:46-28:48

  They were astonished beyond measure.

  Pastor Jeff:

  28:51-28:54

  Saying, "He has done all things well.

  Pastor Jeff:

  28:54-29:01

  He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak." The last thing, the compassion of Jesus moves me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  29:02-29:05

  Let's be honest, this is kind of a bummer for this man, right?

  Pastor Jeff:

  29:06-29:09

  Apparently, the guy went his whole life without really being able to speak.

  Pastor Jeff:

  29:09-29:12

  And now Jesus touches him and he's able to speak.

  Pastor Jeff:

  29:12-29:15

  And Jesus is like, Don't speak.

  Pastor Jeff:

  29:18-29:18

  What?

  Pastor Jeff:

  29:19-29:20

  Don't speak?

  Pastor Jeff:

  29:21-29:23

  Actually, Jesus said that a lot.

  Pastor Jeff:

  29:23-29:24

  We saw that in our study already, right?

  Pastor Jeff:

  29:24-29:29

  Mark 1:31, 34, 3:12, 5:43.

  Pastor Jeff:

  29:30-29:33

  Why was Jesus constantly telling people don't tell anyone?

  Pastor Jeff:

  29:35-29:36

  Well, there's really two reasons.

  Pastor Jeff:

  29:37-29:40

  The first reason is Jesus wanted to slow down the crowds.

  Pastor Jeff:

  29:41-29:45

  Everywhere He went, He was constantly getting mobbed and crushed.

  Pastor Jeff:

  29:47-29:49

  By who? By people that wanted the miracle.

  Pastor Jeff:

  29:49-29:55

  By people that had the physical ailments and the demons, and it just never ended and there was no rest.

  Pastor Jeff:

  29:55-30:04

  And to slow down the crowds, Jesus didn't want to make much public when it came to this.

  Pastor Jeff:

  30:05-30:13

  The second reason is this, Jesus didn't want people telling the story about Him until the story was done being written.

  Pastor Jeff:

  30:15-30:16

  What do you mean by that?

  Pastor Jeff:

  30:18-30:24

  Jesus' purpose for coming to the earth was not to just be a miracle worker.

  Pastor Jeff:

  30:24-30:25

  Do you know that?

  Pastor Jeff:

  30:25-30:31

  Jesus' mission wasn't like, I've come to this earth to dazzle you with some displays of healing.

  Pastor Jeff:

  30:31-30:32

  That wasn't His mission.

  Pastor Jeff:

  30:32-30:33

  What was His mission?

  Pastor Jeff:

  30:34-30:43

  His mission was to lay down His life on the cross for our sins and to raise from the dead we might have eternal life.

  Pastor Jeff:

  30:43-30:44

  That was His mission.

  Pastor Jeff:

  30:46-30:51

  That's why throughout His ministry, Jesus was like don't say anything, don't tell anyone, don't tell anyone, don't tell anyone.

  Pastor Jeff:

  30:53-30:55

  But then what did Jesus say after He rose from the dead?

  Pastor Jeff:

  30:55-30:56

  What did He say?

  Pastor Jeff:

  30:57-30:58

  He said tell everyone!

  Pastor Jeff:

  30:59-31:00

  Tell everyone!

  Pastor Jeff:

  31:00-31:03

  Preach this message to all nations!

  Pastor Jeff:

  31:03-31:04

  All peoples!

  Pastor Jeff:

  31:04-31:05

  Get it out!

  Pastor Jeff:

  31:05-31:06

  Get it out!

  Pastor Jeff:

  31:06-31:08

  Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth - get it out!

  Pastor Jeff:

  31:09-31:10

  Don't tell everyone.

  Pastor Jeff:

  31:13-31:17

  Because the story was complete about his earthly ministry.

  Pastor Jeff:

  31:18-31:25

  Obviously, these people were disobedient kind of understandably, right?

  Pastor Jeff:

  31:29-31:34

  I'm not excusing disobedience, but I'm saying I can understand why they were.

  Pastor Jeff:

  31:35-31:42

  Here's a guy that can't talk his whole life, and it's probably hard to shut them up.

  Pastor Jeff:

  31:45-31:49

  However, there is a truth that's on display here.

  Pastor Jeff:

  31:50-31:59

  That is this, when you have been met by the compassion of Jesus, you can't help but tell people about Jesus.

  Pastor Jeff:

  32:02-32:18

  When we talk about your personal evangelism, when we talk about you telling people about Jesus, you inviting people to come and worship, nothing is going to motivate you like you being gripped by the compassion of Jesus.

  Pastor Jeff:

  32:21-32:34

  Honestly, the only really effective evangelist is the one who knows Jesus ; the one who can never let go of the fact that Jesus met them with His compassion.

  Pastor Jeff:

  32:37-32:51

  And those are the people who not only love sharing the truth about Jesus with people, but they feel personally blessed in having the privilege of doing so.

  Pastor Jeff:

  32:53-32:54

  I want you to watch this video.

  Pastor Jeff:

  32:55-32:56

  I'm Alicia Thompson.

  Pastor Jeff:

  32:56-33:00

  I go to Harvest with my husband Dan and our daughter Ellie.

  Pastor Jeff:

  33:01-33:02

  I'm Darren Miller.

  Pastor Jeff:

  33:02-33:04

  I'm the worship leader here at Harvest Bible Chapel.

  Pastor Jeff:

  33:05-33:06

  Hi, I'm Ben Murphy.

  Pastor Jeff:

  33:06-33:08

  I lead a small group here at Harvest Bible

  Pastor Jeff:

  33:10-33:10

  (soft music)

  Pastor Jeff:

  33:15-33:19

  I just wanted to share a really cool experience that I've had at work.

  Pastor Jeff:

  33:19-33:25

  I'm a physician assistant and I work in an oncology department, so a lot of cancer patients.

  Pastor Jeff:

  33:26-33:29

  I've also been playing in bands for the last 28 years.

  Pastor Jeff:

  33:29-33:33

  I can't say I haven't had this opportunity, but I haven't had this experience.

  Pastor Jeff:

  33:33-33:39

  I've been blessed to be part of the prison ministry that Mark Ort started for our church.

  Pastor Jeff:

  33:47-33:50

  I came back to my office, end of the day, getting ready to go home.

  Alicia:

  33:52-33:59

  I have a devotional book, the Jesus Calling book, and I leave it sitting on the corner of my desk.

  Alicia:

  33:59-34:13

  And so I was getting my stuff together and the janitor comes in and I had put a couple papers over it and he pulls the book out from underneath and he asked me whose office this was.

  Alicia:

  34:13-34:33

  I was like, "Well, it's mine and I share it with our surgeon." And he just said, "I just want to thank the person whose book this is because I read it I like the way that it talks from Jesus' perspective.

  Alicia:

  34:33-34:48

  And my jaw just kind of dropped because it was just something that I set on my desk, and God was using this book without me even realizing it to this point to minister to our janitor.

  Darren:

  34:48-34:53

  The group's just getting ready to set up one night, and I struck up a conversation with a guy.

  Darren:

  34:53-34:55

  I could tell he was his late 40s.

  Darren:

  34:55-35:03

  And I mentioned that he asked me if I played anywhere else outside of the church, or I'm sorry, outside of the van. And I said, yeah, we play at church.

  Darren:

  35:03-35:06

  And we have a prison ministry. And he said, Oh, I'm a deputy warden.

  Darren:

  35:07-35:13

  So as soon as, but I could tell as soon as I said, prison ministry, he said, thank you for coming in. That means so much to us.

  Darren:

  35:13-35:23

  And then I could tell the look in his face, something struck him. And he said, I need to talk to you. And I said, well, man, if you're still here on the first break, I'll come and find you. He goes, I need to talk to you now.

  Darren:

  35:24-35:30

  And so we went around the corner, the intersection of the kitchen and the restrooms, the busiest spot in the building.

  Darren:

  35:31-35:42

  And this guy holds up a half a glass of beer and he says, "I've been trying to turn my life over to Jesus for six years." And he said, "This is my problem." And he started crying.

  Darren:

  35:42-35:45

  And the guy stood there to a total stranger.

  Darren:

  35:45-35:57

  And he's telling me his deepest regrets, his biggest shames, his embarrassment for his family and the problems that this alcoholism has caused, and how he wants to turn this over, but he just can't let go.

  Ben:

  35:59-36:04

  I've understood going there, how little control I have over my own life.

  Ben:

  36:05-36:19

  I know as a selfish person and a sinful person, we will grasp to any bit of control that we have and we'll reach out for it and try to take hold of it.

  Ben:

  36:19-36:27

  And you see these guys that, as a man, it's very hard to let go of all of that.

  Ben:

  36:28-36:30

  And they've had to, they have no choice.

  Ben:

  36:30-36:41

  And you see the ones that come every Friday night when we show up and they're so excited to see us because they've chosen to listen to us and to listen to God's word.

  Ben:

  36:42-36:50

  And they realize that He is in control of their lives and that he's the only one that has the answers for them.

  36:51-36:52

  (soft music)

  Alicia:

  36:56-37:15

  I found out that he actually is a Christian and he's had a pretty tough life and God's done some, I could speak for an hour, but God's done some amazing things in him and using the brokenness of him to now minister to others struggling with addictions things like he did.

  Darren:

  37:16-37:46

  I said bow your head Leo I said we're gonna blow your mind and we stood right there in the center of that busiest intersection we made servers carry big trays of food out around us we made people on the way to the restroom sidestep us and we prayed out loud with my hand on his shoulder we asked God for deliverance we asked him for healing we asked him for guidance and for strength and for him to be able to let go of this this poison in his life that he has identified the ways that it's been holding him back. The and give them your own

  Ben:

  37:46-37:53

  life, they take to heart and I can tell that they're praying for us each and every week and they really do care for us.

  Ben:

  37:53-37:54

  They want us to come back.

  Ben:

  37:55-37:59

  They want us to speak to them about God's word.

  Ben:

  37:59-38:01

  They wanna learn, they wanna drink it in.

  Ben:

  38:01-38:07

  They're very, very hungry for his word and it's really, really exciting.

  Alicia:

  38:14-38:19

  That was one of those moments where it was kind of like, just be still and know that I'm God.

  Alicia:

  38:19-38:21

  'Cause I was like, I just was like floored that day.

  Alicia:

  38:21-38:24

  I was like, okay, I was like, I get it.

  Darren:

  38:26-38:29

  But the greatest thing is, I know he left there with

  Ben:

  38:29-38:34

  something, but I drove the whole way home feeling like I was the one who got something out of that experience.

  Ben:

  38:35-38:40

  It's not us pouring into them as much as they're pouring into us.

  Alicia:

  38:45-38:52

  All our words and deeds and just our mannerisms all reflect Christ.

  Alicia:

  38:52-39:03

  So just be passionate, whether it's in your speech or what you're doing, and always be giving in to the Spirit of Christ and people will notice.

  Alicia:

  39:03-39:09

  Even if you don't realize that you're being a witness to somebody.

  Darren:

  39:11-39:30

  All I ever say is God, I don't know what you want me to say, but I'm gonna open my mouth And I trust that you're going to say something through this I'm not I don't go in with some sort of prepackaged message. I just say God let me Speak for you. Let me speak through me. Let me just

  Ben:

  39:30-39:46

  be a reflection I'm gonna say anything it's that I've chosen to live my life intentionally for him And that I know that He's called you to live your life intentionally for His glory.

  Ben:

  39:47-39:52

  And that in order to do that, you have to step out of your comfort zone.

  Ben:

  39:52-39:54

  You have to get off the bench and play

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Mark 7:24-37

1. Romans 2:4 tells us it is God's kindness that is meant to lead us to repentance? How does God's kindness (compassion) lead us to repentance? What does that look like?
    

2. Share how the compassion of Jesus has impacted you.

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another. Each of you evaluate yourself: have I been genuinely fired up enough about the compassion of Jesus to naturally share Him with others? If not, how are you going to fan that flame?

Defiled: From Within, Not Without

SIN is from WITHIN .

• The Illustration (Mk 7:14-16)



• The Explanation (Mk 7:17-19)



• The Solution (Mk 7:20-23)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:01

  Mark chapter 7.

  00:02-00:04

  Let's turn there nice and loud.

  00:06-00:11

  While you're turning there, I want you to imagine, I want you to imagine that you're having some car problem.

  00:13-00:33

  For some of you, you're like, "Imagine?" Let's imagine that you're having car problems, and you put the key in and it won't start, and you get your car towed to the garage, and you say to the mechanic, I don't know if it's the starter or the alternator or the battery.

  00:33-00:35

  When I turn the key nothing happens.

  00:37-00:43

  Anybody else like me when you go to the mechanic you just feel like a complete idiot? Anybody else?

  00:44-00:46

  Everybody but Ben Moll probably.

  00:48-00:51

  Mike Gates is probably in there too, right? But no?

  00:53-00:56

  I feel like a complete idiot when I go to the mechanic.

  00:56-00:58

  Because the mechanic is always like, what do you think is wrong with it?

  01:01-01:15

  It doesn't move. That was my first diagnosis. I notice it's not doing the down the road thing that it usually does. What do you think is wrong with it? And then you try to imitate the sound. How many people have done that?

  01:17-01:25

  It's like I'm going down the road and I'm like, sounds like you have a cat stuck in your fan belt.

  01:26-01:51

  I feel like a complete idiot when I go to the mechanic. I'm like, I don't know what's...I'm at the point now I'm just shameless. I'm like, unless I pop the hood and there's like a hammerhead shark crammed into the engine somehow that's stopping it from running, the problem has to be that obvious for me.

  01:53-01:55

  to know that there's something wrong with the car.

  01:55-01:59

  But if it involves anything less obvious, I have no idea.

  02:00-02:02

  I'm just like, I don't know.

  02:02-02:03

  I just-- I don't know.

  02:04-02:06

  So imagine you take your car to the garage.

  02:08-02:10

  I don't know what the problem is.

  02:11-02:13

  I turn the key and nothing happens.

  02:14-02:17

  The mechanic says to you, come back tomorrow.

  02:18-02:19

  You show up the next day.

  02:21-02:31

  The mechanic goes, "Come on in here, I want to show you." Check it out, you walk in, and your car is gleaming!

  02:32-02:36

  And you say, "Well, what did you do?" The mechanic says, "Well, here's what I did.

  02:38-02:42

  You had this little rust spot right around the passenger side, a wheel well on the back.

  02:43-02:45

  We patched that rust spot up for you.

  02:46-02:49

  And then we gave it a wash, a wax on the outside.

  02:49-02:53

  did all the glass, completely detailed the inside.

  02:54-03:07

  I mean, we vacuumed and we took our little toothbrushes and got all the grime out from your gear shifter and we armor all the hole insides and we even treated the tires with that stuff that makes them real shiny.

  03:08-03:11

  And you're like, is it fixed?

  03:12-03:14

  And your mechanic says, look at it.

  03:16-03:17

  It's never looked better.

  03:19-03:21

  We did everything that we could to make it look great.

  03:23-03:27

  You jump in, you turn the key, and nothing happens.

  03:28-03:32

  You say to the mechanic, I thought I brought this to you to fix.

  03:34-03:38

  And his response is, look, we made it look good.

  03:39-03:40

  Isn't that what you wanted?

  03:41-03:42

  Is that what you wanted?

  03:44-03:46

  Your reply would be, I don't want it to look good.

  03:47-03:48

  I want it to move.

  03:49-03:57

  And as ridiculous as that story sounds, many people fall into that trap in regards to Jesus Christ.

  03:58-04:01

  All they're concerned about is looking good on the outside.

  04:02-04:03

  "Look at me give.

  04:04-04:05

  Look, I don't drink.

  04:06-04:07

  Look, I don't smoke.

  04:07-04:08

  Look at how I dress.

  04:08-04:10

  I dress perfectly for church.

  04:10-04:11

  Shirt, tie, suit coat.

  04:13-04:15

  Look, I don't swear.

  04:17-04:26

  Look, I don't dance, and I don't play cards, and I don't this, and I don't that, and look at how great I look, and the outside does look good.

  04:28-04:30

  But you know deep down that this isn't working.

  04:32-04:38

  Just as that car isn't moving with a dead battery, you aren't living for Christ with a dead heart.

  04:39-04:56

  Remember chapter 7, we've been talking about legalism and how blasphemous, blasphemous it is to reject God's work and insist on trusting your own work.

  04:58-05:01

  Yes, legalism is blasphemous.

  05:02-05:04

  Here's something else you need to know about legalism.

  05:05-05:06

  It just doesn't work.

  05:08-05:10

  It just doesn't work.

  05:11-05:18

  Keeping the rules, thinking that that is what makes you clean, that's what makes you holy, it doesn't work.

  05:19-05:20

  Because it can't fix heart problems.

  05:22-05:25

  So this passage we're going to look at today, we just have one point.

  05:26-05:27

  I want you to write this down.

  05:27-05:28

  This is it. One point.

  05:31-05:33

  Sin is from within.

  05:35-05:37

  The sin is from within.

  05:40-05:41

  A little pastoral insight for you.

  05:41-05:54

  You know, every week I sit down and open the Bible and try to understand what is God wanting me to know about Him, and what does God want me to communicate about Him.

  05:54-05:57

  And some weeks are a lot easier than others to do that.

  05:59-06:05

  And getting to the heart of this message this week probably the easiest it's ever been for me.

  06:05-06:15

  Because, you know, in this one passage we're going to look at today, Jesus Christ said the same thing five times in this passage.

  06:16-06:22

  If you think I'm repetitive, and I am for a reason, you think I'm repetitive sometimes.

  06:22-06:27

  Jesus said the same thing five times in this passage.

  06:27-06:28

  And do you know what He said?

  06:30-06:30

  Tell me.

  06:31-06:34

  within is from within.

  06:36-06:37

  He says it in verse 15.

  06:37-06:38

  He says it in verse 20.

  06:38-06:40

  He says it in verse 21 twice.

  06:40-06:42

  And he says it in verse 23.

  06:44-06:47

  If Jesus says something once, do you think you should pay attention?

  06:48-06:53

  If Jesus says something twice, do you think maybe you should sit up and listen a little closer?

  06:55-07:01

  If Jesus says something three times, do you think He's putting the stamp how important it is what He's communicating.

  07:03-07:16

  So, when Jesus says something five times in the same teaching, is it possible for us to underscore how important this teaching must be?

  07:17-07:28

  This has to be something so incredibly important for Jesus to keep hammering this nail over and over and over in just one passage.

  07:30-07:31

  And this is the sermon.

  07:33-07:35

  Sin is from within.

  07:36-07:38

  Let's look at the illustration first of all.

  07:38-07:39

  That's the sermon.

  07:39-07:40

  Here's the illustration.

  07:41-07:42

  Verses 14-16.

  07:44-07:55

  It says that He called the people to Him again and said to them, "Hear Me, all of you, I don't understand.

  07:57-08:02

  Okay, so last week we saw previously what Jesus was dealing with was legalism.

  08:04-08:08

  And if the repetition doesn't underscore the importance, how about this?

  08:09-08:11

  Over and over and over throughout the Gospels, we see what?

  08:11-08:13

  People flocking to Jesus.

  08:13-08:14

  People coming after Jesus.

  08:14-08:15

  What do we see here?

  08:15-08:18

  Jesus was calling to people, "Listen! Come here!

  08:19-08:21

  I've got to tell you something." He called the people back to Him.

  08:24-08:24

  Hear me!

  08:26-08:27

  All of you!

  08:28-08:28

  See?

  08:29-08:40

  He says, "And understand." What we're going to look at here, verse 17 actually tells us this next statement we're about to look at is actually a parable.

  08:40-08:43

  This is a physical illustration and you can't miss that.

  08:45-08:47

  Jesus teaches a one-line parable here.

  08:49-08:54

  He says, "I want you to listen to this and I want you to get it down." Here it is, verse 15.

  08:54-09:01

  "There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him.

  09:03-09:12

  But the things that come out of a person are what defile him." What does it mean to defile?

  09:13-09:18

  Well, the Greek word means to pollute or to make unclean.

  09:21-09:29

  This parable is the most graphic sermon illustration that Jesus ever used.

  09:31-09:52

  What he said here in this parable was, "What goes in doesn't make you dirty, it's what comes out." And you're like, "Pastor Jeff, that sounds like a bathroom story." Well, it is. Let's all be mature.

  09:53-09:59

  I'm not going to give you any potty humor. These are the words of Jesus. This is what Jesus literally said, okay?

  09:59-10:02

  So let's be mature about this.

  10:03-10:23

  Jesus was using a bathroom illustration. You're like, "Well, surely that's not what he was talking about." Well, just in case you're not convinced, we see in verses 18 and 19 Jesus was explaining this to the disciples because they didn't get it either.

  10:24-10:32

  Even the disciples when Jesus taught this were like, "What's with the potty story?" Look at verses 18-19.

  10:32-10:33

  We're going to come back to this.

  10:35-10:51

  Jesus said, "Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart, but his stomach, and is expelled?" The Greek word for expelled refers to the place where you sit.

  10:53-10:53

  Okay?

  10:55-11:01

  So Jesus' sermon is, "What goes into you isn't what pollutes you, or makes you dirty.

  11:01-11:10

  It's what comes out." And this is a truth about people, physically and spiritually.

  11:12-11:14

  Look at verses 17-19 again.

  11:16-11:18

  He entered the house and left the people.

  11:18-11:19

  His disciples asked him about the parable.

  11:20-11:23

  Like, where were you going there, Jesus?

  11:24-11:25

  What was that all about?

  11:26-11:27

  They knew what He was saying.

  11:29-11:33

  He said to them, "Are you also without understanding?

  11:35-11:39

  Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him?

  11:41-11:46

  Since it enters not his heart, on his stomach and is expelled.

  11:47-11:54

  Thus, he declared, "All foods clean." This is the explanation.

  11:55-11:58

  And this gets literally to the heart of the matter.

  12:01-12:02

  That is this.

  12:02-12:03

  Down with the externals.

  12:05-12:07

  Down with the externals.

  12:08-12:14

  Notice that with one statement, Jesus lifted all of the Old Testament dietary restrictions.

  12:17-12:22

  Mark inserted that here parenthetically in verse 19.

  12:22-12:24

  He declared all foods clean.

  12:26-12:33

  The Pharisees taught that avoiding certain things was what kept you ceremonially clean or holy.

  12:36-12:47

  We talked about this last week, And we can't emphasize how important the statement of Jesus really is because of the prevalent teaching of Jesus' day.

  12:48-12:56

  In Jesus' day, all of their rabbis, all the Pharisees, all of the scribes, all of they teachers that were revealed all had the same sermon.

  12:57-13:07

  And it was this, "Avoid this if you want to be holy." "Avoid this if you want to be holy." "Avoid this if you want to be holy." "Don't eat this." Don't touch this. Don't go near this.

  13:07-13:08

  Don't consume this.

  13:09-13:09

  Don't walk here.

  13:10-13:12

  Don't wear this." That was their sermon.

  13:13-13:15

  Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

  13:17-13:20

  Pigs are unclean animals, so don't eat bacon or you're unclean.

  13:22-13:24

  Remember last week we talked about the Talmud.

  13:25-13:38

  They wrote all these rules to help you keep the Levitical law, and then they wrote a commentary about their own rules, Their rules and the commentary about the rules are collected in this volume called the Talmud.

  13:38-13:40

  And part of that was the washings.

  13:42-13:50

  How many volumes and chapters about washings, washing your hands, washing the cups, washing the pots and pans, washing the sippy cups.

  13:52-13:56

  Over and over and over, what the people in Jesus' day heard was this sermon.

  13:57-13:59

  Defilement comes from the outside.

  14:00-14:02

  That's what they always heard.

  14:02-14:04

  being impure.

  14:04-14:07

  It comes from what you touch and what you consume.

  14:08-14:10

  That's how you get unclean.

  14:12-14:14

  That was the sermon everybody heard.

  14:15-14:17

  They said the inside's fine.

  14:17-14:18

  What's going on in here? This is okay.

  14:20-14:25

  We run into problems when we break the rules.

  14:26-14:28

  We touch things that we shouldn't touch.

  14:29-14:30

  that in here we're good.

  14:32-14:46

  There was a day, even in recent history, and I don't think I'm that old, but I remember that there was a day that people thought that man was basically good.

  14:47-14:48

  Even though the Bible says otherwise.

  14:51-14:59

  There was a sort of an understanding amongst us in this culture I think deep down people were basically good.

  15:01-15:02

  Those days are gone.

  15:03-15:05

  Even the secular people don't believe that anymore.

  15:05-15:05

  Did you know that?

  15:06-15:14

  Even the secular people are like, "Yeah, people are messed up." Everyone now agrees that man has some problems going on in here.

  15:16-15:18

  So now the question is, where did it come from?

  15:20-15:22

  How did man get evil?

  15:23-15:34

  A man by the name of Philip Zimbardo a book that was published in 2007 called "The Lucifer Effect." And this is the gist of his book.

  15:35-15:37

  Evil is environmental.

  15:39-15:40

  Does that sound familiar?

  15:42-15:45

  Just like the people in Jesus' days said, "Evil is what's out here and comes in here.

  15:46-15:56

  Evil is out here and comes in here." We have a guy that just wrote a book a few years ago, and that's his whole...he put some psychological labels on it. He's revered for this.

  15:56-16:23

  But that's the thesis of his book, "Evil is Environmental." I want to read a short quote for you. This is from the website. You can look this up, The Lucifer Effect. This is straight from the website. It says, "The Lucifer Effect raises a fundamental question about the nature of human nature. How is it to become perpetrators of evil.

  16:25-16:42

  In trying to understand unusual or aberrant behavior, listen, we often err in focusing exclusively on the inner determinants of genes, personality, and character.

  16:45-16:45

  You catch that?

  16:47-16:57

  When we're trying to understand why people do evil things, "Do you know a mistake that we make, people? Do you know a mistake that's common that we make?" It's looking at a person's heart.

  16:57-17:01

  That's a common mistake. That's rookie. They should have covered that in 101.

  17:01-17:02

  Looking at the heart.

  17:03-17:22

  He says, "We also tend to ignore what may be the critical catalyst for behavior change" - here it is - "in the external situation, or in the system that creates and maintains such situations.

  17:24-17:25

  What makes people evil?

  17:26-17:28

  He says, "Here's the thing we're overlooking. It's out here.

  17:29-17:32

  It's the situations that people find themselves in.

  17:33-17:46

  It's the system." He says, "I challenge readers to reflect on how well they really know themselves and how much confidence they have in what they would or would not ever do and put into new behavioral settings.

  17:48-17:48

  That's his book.

  17:48-17:55

  He's like, being in the wrong environment can turn you into Hitler.

  17:56-17:57

  It's all about the environment.

  17:59-18:10

  And this fundamentally backwards philosophy about man, about the origin of evil, and about what causes evil things to happen, it's still being promoted.

  18:12-18:14

  You have to understand this, people. This is in your face.

  18:15-18:19

  Literally, in our day, this is in your face every day.

  18:20-18:21

  What do you mean?

  18:23-18:31

  Anytime there is a mass shooting, for example, you know how tragic for one of those to happen.

  18:31-18:38

  But how frequent has it become for somebody to show up, whether it's at a school or a military base, and just start shooting people.

  18:39-18:51

  theater, they start shooting people. What do you always hear on the news when there's a shooting? All the politicians lobbying for what?

  18:53-18:57

  Yeah, I heard somebody say gun control, right? Because what's the problem?

  18:58-19:01

  If somebody's shooting other people, what's the problem?

  19:01-19:03

  The problem is obviously the gun, right?

  19:04-19:04

  It's the gun.

  19:05-19:12

  It's the gun's fault. Because if If that person didn't have access to a gun, they wouldn't have done such a thing, would they?

  19:13-19:14

  Would they?

  19:15-19:15

  Would they?

  19:18-19:20

  Will gun control stop murder? Yes or no?

  19:22-19:23

  It will not.

  19:24-19:27

  Now look, this isn't a political platform here, okay?

  19:28-19:29

  Gun control will not stop murder.

  19:31-19:32

  It won't.

  19:33-19:34

  Remember the first murder in the Bible?

  19:36-19:37

  You didn't kill Abel, right?

  19:38-19:39

  You didn't have a gun.

  19:40-19:44

  What was the problem? Gun control is not going to do it.

  19:45-19:50

  No amount of gun legislation can even touch the real problem because that's not going to the source.

  19:52-20:03

  If there were a way, and we know that we are so far beyond this, but let's say hypothetically there was a way to physically remove every gun from the planet, would that stop murder?

  20:05-20:07

  It would not. It absolutely would not.

  20:09-20:11

  Every time there's a shooting, it's the gun's fault.

  20:12-20:13

  Where do we place the blame?

  20:13-20:14

  What makes people do this stuff?

  20:15-20:17

  Secular psychology, by the way, has made this a science.

  20:18-20:20

  You're always going to find someone to blame for your problem.

  20:21-20:23

  Why do I sin?

  20:24-20:26

  Well, it's because of how I was raised.

  20:26-20:28

  My parents never loved me.

  20:28-20:31

  I never had a swimming pool or a pony.

  20:32-20:36

  And I got hooked on drugs because it was my friend's fault.

  20:38-20:39

  It was my wife's fault.

  20:41-20:43

  It's the economy's fault.

  20:43-20:45

  It was President Bush's fault.

  20:46-20:50

  We live in a society where it's just constantly, it's everybody else's fault.

  20:50-20:51

  Who can we blame?

  20:51-20:52

  Who can we blame?

  20:52-20:53

  Who can we blame?

  20:53-20:55

  I have a problem, but it's not my problem.

  20:55-20:56

  You're causing my problem.

  20:56-20:57

  Who can I blame?

  20:57-20:58

  Better yet, who can I sue?

  21:00-21:03

  Psychologists say that we live in a toxic environment.

  21:05-21:06

  How about a toxic heart?

  21:07-21:09

  Anybody think that that might be part of the problem?

  21:10-21:12

  Anybody think that the problem might not be a toxic environment?

  21:13-21:17

  Anybody think that there's a possibility that the problem's in here?

  21:19-21:20

  Now listen, you've got to hear this.

  21:21-21:26

  I am not discounting the effect that outside influences can have.

  21:26-21:27

  I'm not discounting that.

  21:28-21:36

  I realize that some people have been affected by some outside influences, but we are always looking for someone else to blame.

  21:37-21:38

  It's never your fault.

  21:40-21:41

  By the way, that's not a fad.

  21:42-21:44

  Remember back in Genesis chapter 3 when Adam sinned?

  21:46-21:57

  God's like, "Adam, where are you?" "I'm naked, so I hid myself." Like, "Confession time, Adam." Do you remember what Adam said?

  21:59-22:03

  Adam literally blamed everyone that he knew.

  22:05-22:06

  True or false?

  22:07-22:10

  At this point in history, Adam knew two people.

  22:11-22:13

  And what did he say to God?

  22:13-22:18

  "The woman that you gave me." True or false?

  22:19-22:24

  "The woman that you gave me." It's like, you know what, God?

  22:24-22:27

  Things were pretty hunky-dory when it was just me and the animals.

  22:30-22:37

  I'm not saying I'm just saying that when you put me in the sleeper hold and brought Eve and you did that whole thing.

  22:37-22:38

  I'm just saying.

  22:40-22:41

  I'm just saying, there were no problems before that.

  22:42-22:42

  That's all I'm saying.

  22:43-22:45

  He believed every single person that he knew.

  22:47-22:48

  And we do the same.

  22:50-23:01

  Ok, so secular psychology says, just like the first century Pharisees said, your problem is environmental, toxic environment.

  23:03-23:04

  You've got to avoid things.

  23:05-23:06

  What's the Bible's answer?

  23:06-23:07

  You know what the Bible's answer is?

  23:07-23:21

  James 1.14 says, "But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire." That's one of the most manly verses in the Bible because lured and enticed - hunting, trapping, fishing turtles.

  23:24-23:38

  James says, "You're tempted when your own heart sets the trap for you." So Jesus' simple explanation of the problem completely went against the current of all the teaching in His day.

  23:38-23:44

  And for me to stand and say the same thing today goes completely against the current of what's being taught today.

  23:45-23:51

  But it's so urgent and it's so clear, And the message is this, sin is from within.

  23:52-23:53

  So what's the solution?

  23:53-23:55

  Look at verses 20-23.

  23:57-24:02

  And he said, "What comes out of a person is what defiles him.

  24:05-24:31

  For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness all these evil things come from within and they defile a person.

  24:32-24:34

  You know, the Pharisees, they loved their list.

  24:34-24:36

  They loved their list, right?

  24:37-24:40

  Don't do this, don't touch this, don't do this, don't touch this, don't do this, don't touch this.

  24:43-24:45

  And Jesus said, "You like lists?

  24:45-25:16

  list for you. This is a legitimate list though. And there's 13 things on the list here. By the way, this isn't like FYI that Jesus was just like, "Here's a little factoid for you." What Jesus was saying was, "The problems from within, so the work needs to happen in your heart and only God can do that." Every one of these could be an entire sermon. We're We're not going to do that.

  25:18-25:19

  Because we just want to look at the main point.

  25:20-25:21

  And this was Jesus' point.

  25:21-25:24

  All of this sin is from within.

  25:25-25:29

  Looking through the list quickly, the first several on the list are actually in the Greek.

  25:29-25:30

  They're plural.

  25:31-25:37

  The words are in the plural indicating that these are more of the action type things.

  25:38-25:40

  The first thing it says is evil thoughts.

  25:42-25:47

  that's intentions or ideas.

  25:47-25:47

  That's what that means.

  25:48-25:49

  You have evil intentions.

  25:50-25:53

  You're inclined to do wrong things.

  25:54-25:56

  That's not your mama's fault.

  25:56-25:57

  That comes from within.

  25:58-25:59

  That's a problem in your heart.

  26:00-26:01

  It is from within.

  26:02-26:04

  Next on the list is sexual immorality.

  26:05-26:11

  We live in a day that the only thing that's considered immoral Marriage and sex the way God intended.

  26:13-26:15

  I read an article just last night.

  26:16-26:18

  You know the actress Kirsten Dunst?

  26:18-26:19

  You know that actress?

  26:19-26:26

  She was I'll put it in our context - she was Mary Jane in the Spider-Man movie.

  26:27-26:29

  She came under heavy criticism.

  26:30-26:30

  Go home and look this up.

  26:30-26:31

  Did you hear about this?

  26:31-26:42

  She came under heavy criticism for her controversial talk, for her controversial opinion marriage. You want to know what she said?

  26:43-26:45

  I'm going to paraphrase. You can look up the quote.

  26:46-27:06

  I didn't like print out the article or memorize it. Paraphrase it. What she said was, "I think there's something to be said for a woman who is a homemaker and takes care of things at home and wants that knight in shining armor to take care of her." And the feminists were like, Where is the panic button?

  27:07-27:10

  "Eee! Eee!" "I can't believe you would say something like that!

  27:10-27:15

  You've just set us back a thousand years!" That was the controversial thing.

  27:16-27:25

  And you know, you know, that if she would have come out yesterday and said, "I'm in love with another woman," you know everybody would have been applauding that.

  27:26-27:31

  And you'd see it on the Today Show, and you'd hear about it on the news, and it'd be on every website.

  27:33-27:35

  She was so proud of the courage that she showed.

  27:36-27:45

  But because her opinion of marriage and sexuality kind of echoes concepts from the Bible, it's really sad.

  27:46-27:47

  Next on the list is theft.

  27:49-27:50

  You know why you steal things?

  27:51-27:52

  Because you're a thief in your heart.

  27:52-27:53

  That's why.

  27:54-27:55

  That's the reason.

  27:56-27:57

  It's not an external thing.

  27:57-27:59

  It's because you're a thief in your heart.

  28:01-28:01

  Murder.

  28:03-28:07

  We know that Jesus said murder was if you hate someone.

  28:08-28:10

  If you hate someone, that's the same as murder.

  28:11-28:22

  That comes from your heart. Adultery. If you lust, that's committing adultery. That comes from the heart. Sin is from within. Coveting, that's just literally greediness.

  28:22-28:30

  You can never have enough. Sin is from within. Then wickedness. Wickedness.

  28:30-28:31

  It is from within.

  28:32-28:34

  The problem is not out there, it's in here.

  28:36-28:37

  The next part of the list is singular.

  28:38-28:38

  These are attitudes.

  28:39-28:40

  Deceit.

  28:41-28:45

  What would you do if you were put in a situation where you had to lie for someone?

  28:46-28:49

  There again, well, deceit is environmental, right?

  28:50-28:51

  Well, not according to Jesus, if that matters.

  28:52-28:54

  Jesus said it stems from within.

  28:57-28:57

  Sensuality.

  28:58-28:59

  What's sensuality?

  28:59-29:01

  That's just having a dirty mind.

  29:01-29:03

  Everything's an anatomy joke.

  29:04-29:11

  Everything's a joke about private parts and double meaning in everything you say.

  29:12-29:14

  Dirty mind - what's the expression we use?

  29:14-29:15

  Your mind's in the gutter.

  29:17-29:18

  That's from within.

  29:20-29:22

  Envy - literally, that's evil eye.

  29:23-29:24

  Having an evil eye.

  29:27-29:27

  It's from within.

  29:28-29:30

  That's abuse of speech.

  29:32-29:32

  Sin is from within.

  29:33-29:33

  Pride.

  29:35-29:37

  That's really like the grandfather of all sin.

  29:39-29:39

  Me first.

  29:39-29:41

  It's all about me, my wants, my preferences.

  29:42-29:45

  What's good for me, what's in it for me, what's best for me.

  29:46-29:47

  You weren't raised that way.

  29:48-29:48

  Sin is from within.

  29:49-29:51

  And last is foolishness.

  29:52-29:55

  That's just unthinking or senseless.

  29:57-29:59

  It's interesting that that's on a list.

  30:00-30:01

  That's on a list with sin.

  30:01-30:05

  I don't think that's just like a person with a lower IQ than the average person.

  30:05-30:10

  It's just somebody that chooses to not think.

  30:12-30:14

  Chooses to not apply wisdom.

  30:14-30:20

  Chooses to not accurately or earnestly receive God's Word.

  30:22-30:22

  Sin is from within.

  30:23-30:45

  All of these things - point, they're in the heart. Pharisees and America 2014, the message is just as controversial, it still rings true, the pollution doesn't come in, pollution comes out.

  30:47-30:52

  The question is where does change need to happen? Where does the change need to happen?

  30:53-30:54

  It needs to It's in here, doesn't it?

  30:55-31:04

  We've convinced ourselves by going to the right therapist, the right counselors, and we can put all this external scaffolding.

  31:04-31:05

  This is going to fix my addiction.

  31:06-31:07

  This is going to fix my marriage.

  31:07-31:11

  Now listen, I'm not talking about getting biblical spiritual counsel.

  31:11-31:12

  We all need that. Amen?

  31:13-31:15

  The Bible says we all need that.

  31:15-31:26

  What I'm talking about is going to this secular guy who's trying to blame all your problems on these external things and try to use other external things to fix.

  31:27-31:28

  You are wasting your money.

  31:29-31:30

  You are wasting your time.

  31:31-31:32

  The sin is from within.

  31:34-31:38

  You have to acknowledge that you are the problem.

  31:40-31:44

  And you have to acknowledge that you can't fix the problem.

  31:46-31:47

  Here's the good news.

  31:49-31:52

  provided exactly what you need.

  31:53-31:56

  If our ushers would come forward, we're going to receive the Lord's Supper.

  31:58-32:00

  If our worship team would make their way up.

  32:01-32:04

  What a perfect opportunity to receive the Lord's Supper.

  32:05-32:11

  As we gather around His table, we remember the provision that Jesus made.

  32:12-32:23

  Listen, church, as we're entering into this season especially, I'd like to remind you that Jesus' death and resurrection is so much more than just forgiveness.

  32:25-32:27

  Jesus' death and resurrection is so much more than forgiveness.

  32:28-32:31

  When I was a kid, I went through confirmation classes in the Methodist church.

  32:34-32:35

  Do you know what they did in this class?

  32:36-32:42

  One by one, the pastor would pull you into the auditorium for a one-on-one talk.

  32:42-32:44

  This was the talk that he gave me.

  32:45-32:55

  He's like, "Jeff, you don't want to go to hell, do you?" Twelve years old, I was like, "Do you mean today?

  32:56-33:03

  Do you have a sign up? Are you getting a bus today?" He's like, "You don't want to go to hell, do you?" I was seriously freaked out.

  33:03-33:30

  I'm like, "No, I don't want to go to hell!" He's like, "Then you want to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, right?" I was like, "I guess." And every time that pastor saw me after that, he would say, "I remember the day you gave your life to Jesus." And I would just be like, "Yeah, it was a good day." Church, some people look at Jesus that way like He's just a ticket to heaven.

  33:31-33:33

  Jesus died on the cross and He's my ticket to heaven.

  33:35-33:36

  That is not the Gospel.

  33:37-33:38

  That is not the Gospel.

  33:41-33:46

  Jesus isn't just about getting you free past the heavens, He is about transforming you.

  33:48-33:52

  God's goal for you is to conform you into the image of His Son.

  33:54-33:58

  The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, here's what this is about.

  33:58-34:00

  His death was to forgive you of your sins.

  34:01-34:06

  He took the wrath of God on Himself in our place.

  34:07-34:10

  But He arose from the dead so that we might have eternal life.

  34:12-34:17

  You understand, God doesn't just want to save you and say, "Hey, I'll see you when you get to heaven.

  34:17-34:22

  Best of luck to you in the meantime." The Bible says He gives you a new heart.

  34:23-34:42

  His Spirit comes and indwells you and He changes your heart of stone, your cold, dead, calloused to the things of God heart of stone, and He gives you a heart of flesh, a heart that is alive, and your appetites are changed, and you want to live for Him, and you want to please Him, You want to serve Him.

  34:43-34:45

  He wants to change you.

  34:46-34:47

  And you can't miss this, people.

  34:49-34:50

  Sin is from within.

  34:51-34:53

  That's exactly where God wants to rest.

  34:55-35:00

  He wants to do the business in here that only He can do.

  35:01-35:04

  You're never going to fix the problem from the outside in.

  35:06-35:10

  But if you're willing to receive, God will fix the problem for me.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Mark 7:14-23

1. What was the point of Jesus' teaching? How would you restate it in your own words?
    

2. What are ways people think they are "defiled from the outside" today? i.e. What are some things you have blamed YOUR sin on?

Breakout Questions:

Pray for one another!