Ben Brinkerhoff - Who Do You Say That I Am? - Class 3

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Good morning, my dear brothers and sisters. OK, admit it, that’s a confusing story. I mean, look at the things we just read. There’s so many questions there. And when there’s questions, there’s fun because we can explore the scriptures and try to dig into what they might be meaning, because they’re, you know, we look at the even though, even though the story of the man who’s who had to, in a sense, be healed twice.

2. 0:31

   What, what’s that about? And, and how about the, the baskets full of bread and the fragments? And Jesus says, how do you don’t understand? And, and we’re looking at going, I’m not sure I understand. Aren’t we, if we’re being honest with ourselves and, and, and the, the, the leaven of the Pharisees and the, and the leaven of Herod, What, what’s that about?

3. 0:56

   And what does that have to do with them forgetting bread? And why does he rebuke them so much for forgetting bread? These are these are things that are right there in the text. And you look at that and you go, I’m not sure I know what that’s about. And that is the start of a great Bible study. That’s the start of a great Bible study, young people. It’s not about seeing it and, and, and having the answers right away.

4. 1:23

   It’s it’s asking yourself the questions and it’s it, it’s exploring and being interested in the in the answers because every word of the Lord Jesus Christ is important. You can take that for certain. There’s not a single word this man says that is not worth exploring. It’s not worth digging into if it, if it’s written in the scripture, it’s there for a purpose, it’s there for a reason. And if you look into those reasons, you’re going to find wonderful lessons that you can live by. So the the title for this class is for this series of classes is who do you say that I am?

5. 2:03

   And of course that that title speaks to the climax of Matthew chapter 16, but I chose it for excitational reasons because I think you’re going to understand and perceive as a go through the study is that understanding who the Lord Jesus Christ is is what all this is about. Now we know that the that the Herodians and the Pharisees, they didn’t understand who the Lord Jesus Christ was. We we can understand that.

6. 2:36

   What’s maybe harder to understand is had his disciples don’t understand who he is either. And that’s where we’re going to uncover in this chapter. We we can perceive that that his enemies, they don’t understand who he is. Of course they don’t. They’re threatened by him, but his disciples not understanding who he is. You see, if you if you look into a text, I don’t know if anyone hears A psychologist, probably some of you are right. Don’t don’t raise your hand and be embarrassed, right? But but they’ll tell you that that being understood when you don’t feel like you’re understood. That’s maybe the one of the most frustrating things you can experience.

7. 3:23

   You can, you can go through many different difficulties and hard shifts and difficult times, right? But if you’re around people that you feel genuinely understand you, then you can cope and get through that time because you feel like at least the people around me can support me because they’ve heard me. But we don’t feel understood.

8. 3:47

   It’s one of the most frustrating things that leads to isolation. It leads to frustration. It can lead to depression. I just want to ask the question, who understood the Lord Jesus Christ? Who understood this man?

9. 4:04

   Obviously the Herodians didn’t, obviously. Obviously the Pharisees and scribes didn’t. We know that. Did his disciples understand him? Can you can see how this is all leading to the question? Who did men say that I am? Can you see that we’re all leading to that question? Why would we need to lead to that question if in fact people did understand who He was? No one understood this man and we’re going to see today that his own disciples didn’t even understand Him. You know what we’re told in John chapter one, verse 11, where said that he came to his own and his own people did not receive him.

10. 4:42

    That is in the in the in the prologue of John, he came to his own and his own people did not receive him. We’re told in Isaiah 53 in prophecy he was despised and he was rejected of men. He was a man of sorrows and he was acquainted with grief. Who understood this man?

11. 5:05

    I think these words speak to a profound loneliness that our Lord experienced. So here’s what I’m aiming for in the studies I’m asking Do we the children of God, through this man, do we see and hear him? Do we understand who he is? Or are we, like his disciples, blinded by our own assumptions and by our own concerns? Are we so interested in who we want Jesus to be that we don’t know who he is?

12. 5:49

    So we’re going to see in this study that Jesus issues a warning to his disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of the Sadducees, and it’s a warning that they completely misunderstand. We’ll see that this exchange about the misunderstanding reveals their own spiritual blindness. And then we’re going to get a story about blindness, probably not coincidentally.

13. 6:21

    We’re going to see and understand why Jesus reacts so strongly to their confusion, where they failed to perceive, and why it is that their hearts are hardened. And we’ll see how this blindness and hardness of heart reflect a greater spiritual challenge that they needed to overcome. And I dare say that I need to overcome as well.

14. 6:46

    So let’s pick up the story, then the narrative in Mark chapter 8, Matthew 16. Now we’ve already looked already that Jesus arrives into an area called Downmanutha, but Matthew terms it Magdala here. OK. In our previous study, we discussed the only record. This is the only recorded visit. He has the Magdala, and there He has an argument with the Pharisees and the Sadducees who demand a sign. Now why this is the only recorded visit to Magdala? We know that one of His most devoted followers, Mary Magdalene, was from Magdala.

15. 7:29

    She was a Magdalene, right? She was from this city, and Luke chapter 8, verse 2 says that seven demons were cast out of her. We don’t know if He goes to Magdala specifically for her or defined her. We’re not told. So the purpose of his visit is not stated, but Scripture indicates that wherever whatever reason that he came to that city for, he did not stay there long because Mark chapter 8, verse 13 says that he left them and got into a boat and he departed to the other side.

16. 8:02

    So he goes from here up to there. That’s the journey his disciples need to take. And I want you to get a sense where it says, and he left them and he got into a boat. Now, I, I don’t know what that conveys to you, but I, I get AI get a sense of urgency.

17. 8:20

    He leaves the he leaves the, the, the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees and he gathers his disciples and he gets into a boat and he parts the other side. And I’d suggest that there was some urgency in this, in this exchange, because we’re told in Mark chapter 8, verse 14, the next verse, that they forgot to bring bread.

18. 8:43

    So their lack of food is suggesting to me that Jesus rushed them and he’s trying to get distance between his disciples and the hostile Jews in Magdala. So Sea of Galilee is about 21 kilometers long and about 13 kilometers wide. OK, so you think to yourself, how long does it take to go from here to here?

19. 9:07

    Of course you don’t. You probably don’t go straight across. So I mean, if you went straight across, that’s about 10 kilometers. And they say, well, that could take an hour and a half to go 10 kilometers. Or if you kind of go a little bit more circuitously, maybe that takes you up to three hours if the wind is going against you.

20. 9:30

    OK. So at some point during this crossing, the disciples realized that in their rush, they’d only taken one loaf of bread among them. Matthew’s account places this realization about one loaf of bread when they get to the other side. But Mark actually places the realization about one loaf of bread while they’re still in the boat.

21. 9:52

    And what that suggests is not a contradiction between Matthew and Mark. What it what it suggests is they were talking about the fact they had one loaf a long time. They began the conversation in the middle of the seat and they were still having the conversation when they got to the other side. They were talking about this a long time. This is not a passing curiosity or an interest or oh ho hum, we only have one loaf of bread.

22. 10:14

    They’re concerned about having one loaf of bread. They were talking about it and talking about it and talking about it for an hour or more. They’re concerned. They’re worried, OK, That’s what I want to just impress upon you. They’re worried about it. And in Mark chapter 8, verse 15, we read that Jesus says take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod or Matthew reads the leaven of the Sadducees. And of course those are very much connected. They confuse.

23. 10:52

    Disciples assume that Jesus is reprimanding them because they forgot to take bread. Now Jesus perceives A misunderstanding and he reacts strongly. Now let’s look at that strong reaction which is found in verses 17 and 18. It says there, why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand?

24. 11:23

    Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see? Having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? OK, so wow, this is quite the reaction. Feels on the surface like an overreaction, but it’s not. Of course it’s not, but reads that way at first. So let’s ask some questions, shall we?

25. 11:52

    Here’s some questions I’d like to ask. Why did Jesus react so forcefully? What was it that the disciples failed to perceive or understand? And thirdly, why did he accuse them of not seeing, hearing and remembering and thus evidencing a hardened heart? OK, so trying to answer these questions are going to guide this class.

26. 12:25

    So I hope you’re curious about this, because if not, then it’s going to be a long hour, right? Raise your hand if you’re curious. Raise your hand if you’re not.

27. 12:38

    I see. I see if you could use the powers of psychology so easily, can’t you now? OK, so you’re curious. You admit it. OK, so you’re going to be interested in what we’re saying. OK, so to start to answer these questions, let’s go to an earlier time, in fact, a very relevant earlier time, which is no doubt linked to what Jesus is frustrated about here in this chapter. It’s a time when they were also on a boat, and it’s a time when they also failed to appreciate the lesson of the loaves. And it’s a time in which Jesus accused them of having a hardened heart.

28. 13:22

    Now, probably some of you in your mind’s already going here, but it’s Mark chapter 6 and verse 50. Now this has to be connected because of all the different points of of overlap we have between these two passages. So this is right after the feeding of the 5000 young people. So he just had fed the 5000, right? And you know the story that that Jesus was walking on water to them.

29. 13:54

    And we read there, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to him and said, take heart, it is odd, do not be afraid. And he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased and they were utterly astounded and want just maybe just pause there. They were utterly astounded. Now, by the way, that feels to me like a reasonable reaction, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their heart was hardened.

30. 14:37

    OK, so here’s Scripture directly links the astonishment at Jesus walking in the water to their failure to understand something about the loaves. What was that? What do they fail to understand about the loaves? The phrase utterly sounded or in the King James, it’s sore, amazed beyond measure, expresses an overwhelming, maybe even like an incomprehensible level of shock.

31. 15:08

    And I can understand that. You can understand that if you saw Jesus walking on water getting into the boat with you, you would have that sort of reaction, I think. But why is that evidence of a hard heart?

32. 15:24

    Here’s another question. What’s a hard heart? There’s no perfect definition of a hard heart. I’m going to give you a working definition, but it’s flawed, and you might seek to make it, help me make it better.

33. 15:41

    But a hard heart is one that simply can’t softened to absorb a new truth about God despite overwhelming evidence. I cannot soften to accept a new truth about God despite overwhelming evidence. The best example is probably Pharaoh. Pharaoh’s heart could not soften to accept the fact that the God of Israel was the God of gods and the Lord of Lords, and therefore he could not turn over and humble himself before that God to let the people go worship in the desert. That was Pharaoh.

34. 16:24

    What’s the truth that the disciples could not absorb despite overwhelming evidence in Mark 6, the feeding of the 5000? What was it that they could not understand? Why was their heart hard? They had just witnessed Jesus multiplied 5 loaves and two fish that feed thousands. Surely this was a sign. And yet, although they were obviously eyewitnesses to the sign, there’s something about that sign that they didn’t understand.

35. 16:59

    They didn’t understand its meaning. They saw it, but they didn’t know what it meant. In our previous study, we saw how Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and the Sadducees for demanding a sign, and He pointed out their ability to interpret the weather based on the color of the sky. But he criticized them because they could not discern the signs of His identity. They could recognize natural patterns, but they were blind to understand the implications and truths revealed by Jesus. Miracles.

36. 17:38

    OK, but that’s the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and we can put them in a box and they’re over here. They’re the bad box. OK, what about disciples?

37. 17:52

    We can understand. Oh, yeah. Heart of heart. Heart of heart. Proud heart of heart. What about the disciples in the boat? Do you think you’re in the boat?

38. 18:06

    This one hits more close to home, don’t you think? I mean, of course they didn’t understand. This isn’t blindness outside of the house. This is blindness in the boat. Disciples. They saw the feeding of the 5000. But when we’re told they’re utterly astounded, there’s an implication to being utterly astounded is that the disciples did not fully comprehend what the feeding of the 5000 revealed about Jesus. They had not yet understood the full implication of who he was. Now, of course, that’s what Matthew 16 is all about. Who am I?

39. 18:57

    They didn’t understand it yet and I put forward to you disciples heart was hard because they didn’t fully understand or were ready to accept who Jesus was. See, if they understood the significance of the loaves, they would quickly come to a resolute conclusion. Conclusion. And one of the things that they would understand is that they would have no concern whatsoever

40. 19:42

    about bread. If they understood who Jesus was, they would no longer be utterly astounded at His power, and they would have no concern whatever about having one loaf in the boat. I, I, I, I need a pause for a moment because maybe that’s not the power of that is not clear enough. The man had just fed 5000 people

41. 20:18

    and they’re worried about having one loaf. Pause and consider that he had fed 5000 people. And they’re worried about having a loaf. Does that reveal something to you about how their heart was still closed? Jesus says this in Matthew, excuse me, Mark chapter 8 and verse 18. He says having eyes see ye not having ears hear ye not.

42. 20:52

    And do ye not remember? So Jesus had this overwhelming experience with his miracles. And it’s that it’s that those who experience His miracles don’t understand what the miracles mean. With very few exceptions, you know, I can only think of very, very few exceptions where someone witnessed the miracle and understood what it meant.

43. 21:21

    One of those exceptions is probably Mary of Magdalene, she out of which seven demons were cast out. She knew immediately what that meant. This man is the Lord, and I will follow him wherever he goes and wherever he is. I need to be, and there’s nothing more important to me than this.

44. 21:47

    And I have no pride with this man. I need to be at his feet and listen to every word he says. There’s very few examples in the scripture where Jesus did a miracle and someone understood what it meant.

45. 22:06

    This is his literal experience. You know, Jesus says here, he says having eyes, you see not. He says having ears. You hear not and do what Mark does because you know, this is just amazing what scripture does. Mark gives us an example just before Jesus says that about a man that was given the gift of hearing but couldn’t listen.

46. 22:31

    And then he gives us a miracle about a man that was given the gift of sight but couldn’t see. You think that’s a coincidence? For example, let’s let’s look at this example. This happens in Mark Chapter 7. We read it yesterday as introduction to our first reading. It’s got that wonderful world, Afafafa right where you look at that and you have to practice it before you get up there because it’s such an impossible word to say, right, Right.

47. 22:55

    So we all know that story based on that word alone. We know that story and and listen, let’s look at this, right? And they bring it unto him, one that was death. OK, can’t hear you get this. This is not this is not a play on words. This is this is an intentionally put here.

48. 23:13

    You’re like, listen, he healed many people, didn’t he? It says they broaden him the lame and the blind and the and the and the maimed. But we’re told about the story. Why? Well, it says they brought him one that was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. And they beseech him to put his hand upon him.

49. 23:29

    And they took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and spit and touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and Seth unto him, Effafatha, that is be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loose, and he spake plain. I mean, obviously that in itself is a stunning miracle, but this is what I want you to point listen to. And he oops this way.

50. 23:57

    And he charged them that they should tell no man, but might be worth underlying the word but there. But the more he charged them so much the more a great deal they published it. I don’t know who the they is. Here is the they the man that was deaf and his friends, was they the disciples? It doesn’t really matter.

51. 24:30

    The point is, we have a miracle about a person who couldn’t listen, and miraculously Jesus helped that this man to listen, and the result of the miracle is that he doesn’t listen.

52. 24:48

    This is irony. Do you see this? It’s irony. So just before Jesus accuses them of hearing, you don’t hear, you don’t understand the miracles I fed 5000 people. You don’t understand this. You’re complaining about a wolf. But that’s not unusual because Jesus had just given a man the gift of listening who couldn’t listen, OK, and, and, and, and look at their response, right?

53. 25:22

    So this man, he cannot hear. He’s able to hear. And, and, and, and they respond this miracle, just the way they responded to Jesus when he got into the boat. Now when it got into the boat after the feeding of the 5000, he walked on water, he got on the boat. It says they’re utterly astonished beyond measure.

54. 25:45

    And look what it says here in Mark Chapter 7 verse 37. And they were beyond measure astonished. And they’re like, that is not a compliment.

55. 25:56

    It means they don’t get it. Just like in the boat, when he says your hearts are hardened, you don’t get it. You don’t understand that the Lord Jesus Christ says don’t tell anyone. You don’t tell anyone why? Because he’s the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s why you listen to this man. If you know who he is, you get it.

56. 26:18

    People don’t listen to him. This was his experience everywhere he went. People don’t listen to him, no matter what miracle he does, no matter what sign he shows, they don’t know who He is, they don’t recognize who He is. They don’t give him the authority he has. Not only the Pharisees and the Sadducees, even the people that received the miracles, this was his experience of life.

57. 26:47

    This is what the Lord Jesus Christ experienced day in day out. People not understanding who He is over and over again because so this is a story about a man that was given the ability to hear that couldn’t listen. How about a man given the ability to see that couldn’t perceive? Well, that’s our next story, Mark chapter 8, verses 22 to 25. Now these two stories sandwich this whole experience that Jesus has in Magdala.

58. 27:17

    We read there that it comes to a Bethsaida, and they bring a blind man unto him and besought him to touch him, and he could. And he took the blind man by the hand and let him out of the town. And when he had spit on his eyes and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw aught.

59. 27:39

    And he looked up and said, I’m see men as trees walking. And after that he put his hands again upon his eyes and made him look up, and he was restored and saw every man clearly.

60. 27:51

    So having the deaf man who’s hearing was restored but unable to listen, we now have the blind man whose side is restored, but he’s unable to perceive. I probably not a coincidence.

61. 28:05

    Now there in our community, there’s a lot of discussion about this, this miracle and what it means. But the fact that this miracle falls hard on the heels of Jesus saying his disciples seeing you cannot see. Given that that’s what Jesus had just said a few verses earlier. I think this miracle is about someone seeing but cannot see.

62. 28:36

    The thing is, people can have miraculous things happen to them, even acknowledge that the source of the miracle must be God, and still not understand, still not perceive. You know, there’s a man in the Old Testament who had witnessed several miracles, and it even acknowledged that the God of heaven must be the source of those miracles.

63. 29:03

    And yet that man could not perceive who God was. And interestingly, that man is described as a tree. You know what I’m thinking about, don’t you?

64. 29:24

    Daniel chapter 4, verses 20 to 22, it says this is in the context of a dream that Nebuchadnezzar had had, and he asked Daniel for interpretation. And Daniel comes to him and says, The tree that thou solace, which grew and was strong, whose height reached up into heaven, the sight thereof to all the earth, whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and it was meat for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon which branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation. It is thou, O king, that are grown and become strong, and thy greatness is grown and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the ends of the earth.

65. 30:08

    So here we have Nebuchadnezzar, described interestingly as a tree. Now you’d have to admit that Nebuchadnezzar was a man who had seen great miracles, no doubt. How about the burning fiery furnace? For one, he had received amazing visions, such as, you know, we saw the image of the gold, silver, brass, iron and iron mixed with clay. He had seen that vision interpreted, although he had not told anyone what the dream was.

66. 30:46

    So he’d seen many miracles. But my question to you is this, did they, Mechanizer understood what they meant? Did he? He was like a majestic tree. He was tall and he was proud, but he didn’t understand that God had planted and watered him for his purpose until we’re told in Daniel chapter 5 verse 25, till thou know that the most high ruleth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will. It was after this vision of the tree was fulfilled that Nebuchadnezzar saw clearly.

67. 31:49

    OK, but here’s my here’s my question to you. Were the disciples so very different than Nebuchadnezzar? They’d seen miracles. Nebuchadnezzar saw miracles, but they they really understand what they meant.

68. 32:09

    Did they know what the miracles implied? See, Nebuchadnezzar believed that no other God could deliver like the God of Israel could deliver. But did he know that same God of Israel ruled over the kingdoms of men and gave those kingdoms to whomsoever he will?

69. 32:34

    He believed that God had power. No doubt he had said already, but did he understand what the power meant? I suggest to you that this describes the disciples as we encounter them in marks 6-7 and eight.

70. 32:52

    I’d say so because Jesus says hearing, they could not hear, and he says seeing they cannot perceive. In mark 6, they’re utterly astounded at the miracle of the loaves. They’re hard. Is hard hard. We shouldn’t be surprised then that in the context of the hardness of their heart, the thing that Jesus decides to bring up to them, the thing he asked them to recall to mind was the feeding of the 5000, the feeding of the 4000. So we read then in Mark Jesus rebuke it says there I break the five loaves among 5000.

71. 33:35

    How many baskets full of fragments take you up? They send to him 12. And when the seven among the 4000, how many baskets full of fragments took you up and they said 7. He said to them, how is it that you do not understand? So what is Jesus getting to by citing baskets and fragments? Now this is a situation where there has to be layers of meaning.

72. 34:06

    Every word young people of in the Bible is important. Every word of the Lord Jesus Christ is important. So numbers like 12 and seven are important. The feeding of the 5000 among the Jews, the feeding of the 4000 when the Gentiles in Decapolis is important. Bread itself is a rich Bible symbol. The words for baskets in this verse are different from one another. That must be important.

73. 34:31

    There’s just no word in the Bible that isn’t important. There’s no word the Lord Jesus Christ says isn’t important. And God willing, we’re going to look at some of those details and we’re going to find some symbolic meaning. But here’s the thing I want you to see before we look at any of those things is that the clear and obvious and undeniable implication of what Jesus is saying is I fed 5000 men and there was leftover. I fed 4000 men and there was more than enough. Don’t you understand?

74. 35:18

    Can you see? He say, you see the miracles, but you don’t know what they mean. You hear the teaching. You don’t perceive the authority of the one who’s teaching you seeing. You don’t see hearing, you don’t hear. You’re worried about bread. You don’t understand the manner of the man who’s with you in the boat.

75. 35:39

    So Matthew adds this in Matthew chapter 16 verses 11 and 12. He adds, How is it that you do not understand that I spoke to you not concerning bread, but that ye should be beware the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

76. 36:00

    Then they understood then understood they how he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Tell me, why would Jesus be so concerned that his disciples thought he was talking about actual bread rather than doctrine? He’s Jesus is really concerned that they are confusing this.

77. 36:31

    Jesus is concerned that that that disciples think he’s actually talking to them about bread. Now think this through. If Jesus was talking about bread, in that case he’d be some saying something along these lines. And I want you to pay attention to this because you don’t. If you miss this, you might miss a little bit of what I want to say if, if, if they actually if, if they are, if they actually thought Jesus was talking about literal bread, then they would be assuming that Jesus was saying something along the lines of beware the leavened bread that derives from the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

78. 37:09

    That bread is tainted. Avoid buying their bread. So if he’s talking about bread, that’s what he’s saying. He’s saying beware buying the bread, the leavened bread that comes from the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Their bread is tainted. Avoid buying their bread. If he was literally speaking about bread, that’s what he was saying. Now, what would be problematic if Jesus was actually saying that precisely this to discriminate who you buy bread from because the source of the bread taints the bread, is the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. It was the exact opposite.

79. 37:59

    That was their doctrine. And if if he was talking about literal bread, then they would be assuming that he was teaching the same doctrine that they’re teaching and he’s actually telling them to avoid doctrine. You can see why he’s he’s not very happy with his misinterpretation. Now, I mean, to understand this a little bit better, we have to kind of see what the New Testament gospels teach to us about the teaching at that time about bread and about how is used to discriminate. For example, in Matthew chapter 15, so 1 chapter earlier verses 2 and 11 we read there, why do thy disciples transgress through tradition of the elders, for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.

80. 38:43

    Verse 11 says it’s not that which goeth into the mouth that defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth this defileth a man. So so doctrine about defiled foods. What defiles was used by the religious leaders of Jesus day to discriminate against 2

81. 39:11

    discriminate against the Gentiles. I I want you just to note how the Samaritan woman is in shock when Jesus asked her for a drink. Jesus said that. Then saith the Samaritan woman unto him. How is it that thou being a Jew asketh drink of me? She’s shocked.

82. 39:32

    A Jew would never even ask the Samaritan to draw water from a well. And the Samaritan woman says the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. And what she means by no dealings is you will not drink anything we draw, you will not eat anything we bake.

83. 39:50

    You will not have any meal or fellowship with us. You have no dealings with us. Now think about that for a moment. The disciples are concerned that they don’t have enough bread. They think that Jesus is rebuking them for this and telling them not to buy bread from groups associated with the Pharisees and Sadducees.

84. 40:13

    If they don’t buy bread from any groups associated with the Pharisees and Sadducees, who are they going to have to buy bread from? From the Gentiles? And they’re thinking this is a problem.

85. 40:27

    That’s Jewish discrimination doctrine. It’s not rooted in the word of God, but it’s rooted in nationalistic pride. It’s rooted in the ideas of men. Now the Mishnah, written around 200 AD, codified a lot of the Jewish thinking at that time about food laws and how to deal with Gentiles and about purity and interaction.

86. 40:54

    Now there’s a section of the mission called Avodah Zarah, which literally means foreign worship or idolatry, Avodah zarah. And if you look at Avodah Zarah

87. 41:08

    26, it says their bread and their oil are prohibited. Avodah Zarah. You might want to write that in your margin just so you have a reference to define where this is prohibited. The mission not prohibited. You buy their bread, but their oil was permitted. See, Caleb, I have to quote from something that’s not the Bible every talk, right? I was talking to Caleb Warren about this. I can’t help myself, Right.

88. 41:33

    History major. You see. So their oil was prohibited when there is no alternative. So only only when there’s a permitted, I should say the only when there’s no alternative can you buy even their oil.

89. 41:50

    So think about it. This is the teaching of the time. But what had Jesus just just done? What he just done? He shared bread with 4000 Gentiles.

90. 42:10

    What do you think he thought of their teaching? You see what a profound thing it was for Jesus to break bread with 4000 Gentiles. Did you see that’s a profound thing? Do you see how hugely anti cultural that was of the Lord? So Jesus is not asking his disciples to mirror Jewish discrimination doctrine.

91. 42:40

    That was not his doctrine. That was their doctrine. He wanted His disciples to avoid the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and it was their self important doctrine that it was the reason they couldn’t perceive that the signs they were seeing pointed to the fact that He was the Messiah. It was because the Gentiles were unburdened by Jewish doctrine that their eyes were open that they could actually see what they were seeing and behold and know who He was.

92. 43:16

    Jewish doctrine is worth looking into because on the surface the Pharisees and the Sadducees had very different doctrine. Yet it’s interesting that Jesus says avoid the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees now, but they had very different doctrine. So let’s look into their doctrine, see how they’re different and then see where the commonality is that Jesus must be referring to.

93. 43:39

    He says avoid the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. So first the doctrine of the Pharisees. Well, we’re told that the Pharisees weapon was hypocrisy in Luke chapter 12 verse one. This means they would hypocritically teach one thing, but secretly they would do another. Why? Because they want to be held in high esteem.

94. 44:01

    So they built up man made rules that they could keep publicly so other people would know how religious they were. The Pharisees judge Jesus then based on their own man made laws that they called traditions, and they would condemn Jesus when he forsook those traditions because he was keeping God’s righteous character and mercy. So that was the doctrine of the Pharisees, to interpret the law, to call it traditions, to impose it upon others, to not keep it themselves, and to do so, so that they look religious and important in front of the people, which the Scripture calls hypocrisy.

95. 44:37

    That’s their doctrine. What about the doctrine of the Sadducees? Well, the Sadducees doctrine taught them that there was no hope because they didn’t believe in a resurrection. So doctrines like resurrection are clearly elucidated in the later prophets. But they didn’t accept that the later prophets were inspired. Of course it was very convenient that they didn’t believe the later prophets were inspired because the later prophets were mainly non priests. They wouldn’t want to accept the fact there was a bunch of non priests out there in teaching roles. That would definitely erode their authority. Not interested in that whatsoever. So, and they also would have to acknowledge that those later prophets repeatedly condemned political association with Gentiles, and the Pharisees loved their political associations with Gentiles.

96. 45:32

    So Sadducees couldn’t accept that. So absent revelation from the prophets, the law itself offered no hope of salvation afterlife. So the Sadducees thought, well, there’s no hope for anything after this life might as well maximize today. And they pursued politics, they must sued, pursued materialism, they pursued status. They accommodated themselves with Herod and were self important, holding official duties and offices.

97. 46:06

    They rejected Jesus for threatening their power sharing system with the Romans and for calling on them to repent. So that was the doctrine of the Sadducees.

98. 46:18

    So what doctrine is in common brothers and sisters? Well both Pharisee and Sadducee interpreted scripture and I will venture to say a self-centered way in order to build up and project their own status in Jewish society. They use God’s word and the power they gain from it in a self selfish way. And because this self-centered point of view was threatened by Jesus, they were dollop hearing and they were dollop seeing. And they’re unwilling and unable to see the signs right in front of them because it threatened them. It threatened their place and status in society. That’s their combined doctrine.

99. 47:10

    But here’s a question. Why would Jesus link doctrine to bread anyways? To leaven. Kind of an interesting association. I mean, we know that it spreads. Doctrine spreads, leaven spreads. Why would he link doctrine to bread? Think about the first temptation. We’re told in the first temptation that Jesus was 100 and the temptation was this use your miraculous power in a selfish way.

100. 47:55

     And what was the basis of that temptation? Turn the stone into bread. Using God’s power in a selfish way, turn the stone into bread. But what was Jesus response?

101. 48:12

     Jesus response was, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. The Pharisees and Sadducees didn’t live by the words that proceed out of the mouth of God. They live by the words that proceed from their own mouth, their own traditions, their own interpretations. You see, that’s the source of doctrine, the mouth of God. They wanted to use their own power to make their own bread, to fill their own stomachs.

102. 48:57

     They want to use their place in society. They want to use their power for self-centered reasons. Jesus had stared down that temptation. He called it bread, and He will not be filled with it. Beware the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees. They’ve made their own bread. It’s full of leaven, and their berries are full of it, and they cannot hear, they cannot see because of it. And amongst the many doctrines that both these groups adhered to was to never eat with Gentiles. But Jesus had just fed 4000 Gentiles so they wouldn’t go away and be faint on the way, and that he had done that with God’s blessing because he prayed before he offered. I think Jesus is driving in this section giving them a warning about Pharisee and Sadducee self important doctrine which included the rejection of Gentiles. And he directs their thinking to the feeding of the Jewish 4000 and the feeding of the Gentile, excuse me, Jewish 5000 and the Gentile 4000.

103. 50:14

     And he points them to specifically, not to the bread. What does he point them to instead of bread? He points them to the fragments. You notice that look at Mark chapter 8 verses 19 to 20. When I break the five loaves among 5000, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say in Him 12 and when the seven among 4000, how many baskets of fragments took ye up? And they said seven.

104. 50:56

     Why is Jesus focusing on fragments? Well our first clue comes from John chapter 6 after the feeding of the 5000. Jesus says this in John 6 verses 12 and 13. When they were filled, he said to his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together and filled 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. So the key with fragments is that nothing was lost. You see that very clearly.

105. 51:35

     The key with fragments is that nothing was lost. The fragments are not for the ones that originally ate the meal, because those ones are already full.

106. 51:45

     The fragments are gathered in the baskets, presumably to give to the ones that are still hungry. Now, there’s one particular story in the Bible, in the Gospels, I should say. There’s one particular story in the Gospels about someone who is desperate for fragments. Can you think of it? Who? What’s the story in the Gospels about someone who was desperate for fragments? I love.

107. 52:15

     I love how you guys are thinking like one step out of me. I love it. Keep doing it right, 100%. There’s a story about a woman who is desperate for fragments, and this story comes just before the feeding of the 4000. I think this story inspires Jesus to feed the 4000. So turn with me that story because we read it yesterday.

108. 52:37

     It was Matthew chapter 15. We’re going to start with verses 21 to 24. Then Jesus went fence, and departed into the coast of Tyre and Zidan. And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

109. 53:04

     And he answered her not a word. And his disciples came, and beside him, saying, Send her away, for she cried after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel. So why is this story interesting and important to our story? Well, here Korea, we see a Gentile woman. She’s not just a Gentile woman, she’s a Gentile woman that seems to understand several things.

110. 53:31

     Firstly, we can see that she can see that Jesus is the son of David. So by implication she knows that Jesus is the Messiah. Secondly, she understands that the hallmark of the Son of David would be that mercy would not depart from his house. So she understood the character of the Messiah. Thirdly, she expressed a need for which Jesus did not answer a word.

111. 54:04

     So what do the disciples do? Well, they asked to send her away. Why? Well, why wouldn’t they? Wasn’t this the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees at the time? The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans, remember. No dealings. They wouldn’t even accept water drawn from a well from a Samaritan.

112. 54:28

     Perhaps worse, a Syrophoenician hadn’t remember when Jesus went into the synagogue in Nazareth in Luke chapter 4, and he he talks about the woman from Syria that Elijah was sent to. Remember that it says, I tell you there were many widows in the days of Elias when the heaven was shut up, three years and six months when the great families were at the land, but unto none of them was Elias sent, saved to Serepta, a city of Zidan, unto a woman that was a widow.

113. 55:00

     And they in the synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath. That’s the view, that’s the anti Gentile view. But what had Jesus been doing the last six months where he found faith not among the Jews, but among the Gentiles? So now back in Matthew 15, she came and worship him, saying, Lord, help me.

114. 55:25

     But he answered and said, it’s not me to take the children’s bread and cast it to dogs. And she said, truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the Master’s table. Then Jesus answered, And send to her, woman, greatest thy faith, be it unto thee, even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

115. 55:49

     So Jesus says, he’s sent to the lost sheep of the House of Israel, but this woman’s lost, and she’s not in Israel. So Jesus responds and says, Well, it’s not right to take the bread away from children and give it to the dogs. And that was the Jewish attitude of the time. Now, Jesus knew what he was saying and he knew it was affronting. And, and why does he use the analogy of a dog Who is the most faithful Gentile in the Old Testament? What’s his name mean?

116. 56:18

     You think Jesus was just using that by chance? So what Jesus is doing, he’s raising the drama of the moment so the disciples can hear what true faith sounds like, because they would have thought of her as a dog, a unclean, dirty, vile dog. And seeing the on the surface alone, they’re probably right. And they probably agreed with Jesus words. You wouldn’t feed a dog with the children’s bread, now would you? Yet she responds, and here’s the point. The dogs eat fragments of bread.

117. 56:56

     They eat what’s leftover. They eat the crumbs. The dogs ensure. Does anyone have a dog? The dog’s assured. Nothing’s lost, don’t they? Now that’s humble faith. And there’s perhaps no greater contrast to the proud leaven like doctrine of the Jews to the humble faith of this Gentile. And Jesus calls her faith great.

118. 57:22

     A commendation reserved to the Gospels exclusively for this woman and the centurion of Matthew, chapter 8. This is why Jesus mentions the fragments or crumbs. The fragments are fed to the ones that were rejected by Jewish doctrine, and those would be the ones that he would feed at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

119. 57:47

     So back in Mark 8, Jesus asked how many baskets of fragments took he up among the Gentiles 7. They said seven large baskets, 7 baskets full of fragments for the Gentiles, and seven of course, is a symbolic number. You might be thinking of the seven ecclesias, you know, Gentile ecclesias mainly, but there’s maybe even a verse that illustrates better how sevens connected. You can’t forget it because of Deuteronomy Chapter 7, right? And Deuteronomy Chapter 7 says, when the Lord thy God shall bring thee in the land where thou goest to possess it, and as cast out many nations before thee. The Hittites 1, the Girgashites 2, the Amorites 3, the Canaanites 4, the Parasites 5, the Hivites 6, and the Jebusites 7.

120. 58:34

     Seven nations mightier than thou. So 7 baskets for Gentiles. And the word for basket here is spiras, and the word describes a large basket, the kind of basket they use to drop Paul from the Damascus wall.

121. 58:55

     That’s a spirus, right? And that is a kofnos, which is the basket used amongst to to gather food, the fragments leftover amongst the Jews. So the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees would never allow the disciples to save the fragments for the lost. But as his gospel spread, it wasn’t the children that accepted the truth.

122. 59:25

     Anyone here have a bring a baby to the camp? Maybe 2-3 years old? Anyone here have a 2-3 year old baby? Ever tried to feed a baby who thought it wasn’t hungry and didn’t like the food? Right? What does the baby do to the to the to the food you put in front of it or try to feed it right?

123. 59:44

     It’s all over the place now. This is when you want a dog, right? You try to feed a two or three-year old when it doesn’t want to be fed, it doesn’t like what it’s been eating. The baby eats very little, but the dog eats a lot, right? And and that’s, that’s a little bit what we’re, we’re like here, right?

124. 1:00:03

     It’s like the Jews in the 1st century took the food that was being given to them and they spat it out and they, they spread it everywhere, those children, but the dogs came and lapped it up. They ate most of the bread. And accepted that Jesus was the son of David, the son who brought mercy. All right, so let’s summarize.

125. 1:00:27

     I get accused of, of dumping a lot of information and never summarizing. So, so I sat down. I’m like, I’m going to write a summary of this talk. And then I thought, I’m just going to put on the board, right? And that way, if you guys want to write down, you can see Alyssa, I did a summary, right?

126. 1:00:46

     So this is the summary of what I’m trying to get at in this chapter because there’s a lot of information that we brought to the surface. And this is the summary, OK? Jesus wasn’t warning his disciples about physical bread or they where they should buy it. He was warning them to beware the corrupt teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Their leaven wasn’t about bread at all, it was the prideful self-serving doctrine that blinded them to the truth of who Jesus was.

127. 1:01:15

     The Pharisees are hypocrites. They are obsessed with outward appearances, with man made traditions that excluded others, including Gentiles, from God’s mercy. The Sadducees on the other hand, they rejected the hope of the resurrection, clung to political power, clung to material gain, and both groups had this in common. They used religion to promote their own self-interest, and their spiritual blindness kept them in combination from seeing,

128. 1:01:50

     from seeing the signs of God’s Kingdom that Jesus was offering right in front of them. But by contrast, Jesus fed thousands. He fed Jews and Gentiles alike. He fed them with bread that symbolize God’s abundance. There was more than enough. He gathered the fragments that nothing be lost. He’s illustrating God’s desire to save everyone, even those the Pharisees and Sadducees would have rejected due to their doctrine.

129. 1:02:21

     Jesus want his disciples to understand the true bread of life is not physical bread or human doctrine. It’s every word that comes from the mouth of God and that alone that’s what brings life, unity and salvation to all who humbly believe. Jesus desperately wants his disciples to understand who he is.

130. 1:02:48

     And I guess that’s the question for us, brothers and sisters. Can we perceive who this man is? Can we see how his doctrine is so different than the prideful doctrine of men?

131. 1:03:04

     Are our hearts still hardened, or can we perceive the power of this man to save the heart of this man? So having rebuked his beloved disciples and warned them against the doctrine of Pharisees and Sadducees, he’s now going to begin a trip up to Caesarea Philippi with one thing squarely on his mind. It was the very thing the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees was preventing them from seeing. And it could be summarized in a single question. Do you know who I am?

132. 1:03:44

     And we’ll take up that question in our study after the break. Thank you our brother Ben for a very deep study this morning making it very palatable for all of us to ingest. It was very deep. I thank him for the summary, saved me having to think of it so thank you for that.

133. 1:04:15

     We will be having a a break after I give thanks for the morning tea. The announcements will be given after the next study and the next study will start promptly at 11:15. Please stay seated while I just give a thanks for the morning tea. Oh our great God, we do thank Thee. We thank Thee indeed that our brother has prepared words for us to break down an important understanding how that the pride of men and women can be a blocker to what our Lord is teaching and His purpose. And if we truly understand Thy word of truth, if we truly let it work in our hearts, it will help us to preach Thy word to others in the world around about us and draw people to the true Lord.

134. 1:05:07

     And we also thank Thee that us provide us with the daily bread that we enjoy the natural which plays a part that may we truly appreciate that the spiritual is the greatest and the life sustaining for eternity. Please accept our thanks through the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.