Satisfied In Christ

Grace Fellowship Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To access other sermons or to learn more about us, please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca.

00:15

Lord, we pray this in Christ's name, Amen. Amen. Well, we've had a lot of stopping and starting these last few weeks, haven't we?

00:26

We've been in Mark, went to James. We're back in the Gospel of Mark again this week. And as we've already heard, we're in chapter 8, looking at a bigger section than maybe we've been used to over the last few weeks, looking at verses 1 through 21.

00:42

And as we continue to make our way through this Gospel of Mark, we're starting to see a theme arise that's popping up more and more, and that is the theme of faith or of trusting in Christ.

00:56

Throughout the book, as you've heard me repeat, probably more than you'd care to hear, we've seen this demonstration of Christ's power and authority, that Christ is, as the opening lines in this book go, the

01:11

Son of God. And we've seen these crowds that surround Christ largely get

01:16

Him all wrong. They just don't know what to make of Him. He's a wonder worker, a man of miracles, but they don't see

01:25

Him as the Son of God or even as God incarnate. But over these last couple of weeks, especially last week or two weeks ago, when

01:35

Steve taught on the persistent faith of the Syrophoenician widow or the deaf

01:42

Gentile man who was healed in the Decapolis, or the Gentile – you'll hear that word a lot – the

01:49

Gentile word or the Gentile proclamation in that region that Christ has done all things well, the emphasis has, for these last few verses and for the coming 21 verses, been this – faith in Christ, trusting in Christ.

02:07

If you were to ask the average Christian, what does that mean to place their faith in Christ? Would you know how to respond, what it means to believe in Him?

02:18

And so as we enter into this new chapter, in chapter 8, and these first 21 verses, we're going to find that this theme of faith and of trust is going to persist a little while longer.

02:29

And this text, as we've already heard, is going to take us into three different scenarios. Typically, we've looked at just one particular account and unpacked that for all it's worth, but we're now going to look at three different situations that Christ finds

02:43

Himself in, and we're going to glean from each of those something about this great idea of faith, of trusting in Him.

02:53

Now, I want us to recognize early on, for all of us here, you know this,

02:59

I'm sure, that we live in a world that does not trust in Christ, where, in fact, faith in Christ is mocked and scorned.

03:11

Every day when we wake up, we go out into a world, whether through our smartphones or through our work, we push our boats, as it were, into a turning sea of trouble and fear.

03:27

We live in perhaps the most anxious time in all of human history, where the people around us are fearful.

03:35

There's turmoil. We are bombarded with unbelief, restlessness, fear. It's a world also that has no lasting answers for these issues.

03:45

And we have no doubt, brothers and sisters, been influenced by this world in which we live.

03:51

I think that if many of us Christians were honest with ourselves, we would agree that we are as anxious and as worried as the average man or woman who does not believe in God, who has zero hope in Christ.

04:05

Sure, we might have something in theory, but in practice, I fear that many Christians today are just as anxious as the atheist sitting next to them at work.

04:16

Some of us in this room, we admit that we read our Bibles, we pray, we hear the Gospel preached, and we believe it, but then we turn around and dwell on our problems and worry like unbelievers.

04:31

Brothers and sisters, how are we to put away this worry? How are we to put away godless anxiety and preoccupation with temporal problems and live as faithful Christians in a discontented and dissatisfied world?

04:48

I think as we study this text today, we're going to learn some of the answers to that question.

04:54

If you're here in this room, you struggle with anxiety, you struggle with worry, you struggle with a weak faith, which

05:02

I feel like that characterizes all of us to a great degree, a weak faith in a mighty

05:07

Savior, then this text is really going to offer us some help. Because in this text, we're going to learn, we're going to see what it means to be fully satisfied in Jesus Christ, what it is to faithfully believe in Jesus in the midst of great need, in the face of doubt, in the face of scorn, in contrast to the influences of this fallen world.

05:33

Christ, brothers and sisters, is to be the steadfast anchor of our souls.

05:38

We're to bring our every need to Him. And when we do, we will find as we saw in the last passage that Steve preached through, that final verse in chapter 7, we will find when we put all of our trust in Him, all of our hope in Him, that He has done, in fact,

05:56

He has done all things well. He does all things well. And so my goal today, brothers and sisters, if it's accomplished by the end, will have you leaving this door better equipped to be fully satisfied in Christ.

06:12

Does that describe you today? Fully satisfied in Christ? We'll find out.

06:20

So we'll look in our passage here in Mark chapter 8, and I'm going to read the first 10 verses, verses 1 through 10.

06:27

It reads like this. In those days when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them,

06:36

I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.

06:42

If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way, and some of them have come from far away.

06:49

And his disciples answered him, How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?

06:55

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.

07:05

And having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples, and set before the people, and they set them before the crowd.

07:14

And they had a few small fish, and having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them.

07:21

And they ate and were satisfied. I want us to focus on that word. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full, and there were about 4 ,000 people, and he sent them away.

07:35

And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples, and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

07:42

So as we study this first paragraph in its context, I want to first exhort you to this.

07:49

You'll see this in your handouts. Put off anxiety. Put off anxiety for your own life, and be satisfied in the providence of Christ.

08:01

Oh, to be satisfied in him. So right away, if we look at the context of this passage, we have every reason to believe that Jesus is still in the

08:12

Decapolis. If we look in Mark 7, in verse 37, we see that he was in the region of Decapolis when he healed the man who was deaf and mute.

08:22

And the Decapolis, if you don't know much about it, was a league of ten Greek cities on the eastern shore of the

08:29

Sea of Galilee and of the Jordan River. So it was outside of Israel, among the people that the

08:36

Jews would have considered the unclean Gentile nations. So you have Christ on an excursion, not in Israel now, but amongst these other nations surrounding

08:46

Israel. And it would appear that the word spread. After Christ had healed the deaf and mute man in chapter 7, a great crowd followed

08:53

Jesus into the wilderness, into this area of the Decapolis, where he taught for three days.

09:01

And this lasted up until the third day, when the crowd had finally run out of its last portions of food.

09:08

And I want us to see this. In chapter 8, in verse 2, we're told that Christ had compassion on the crowds.

09:16

Oftentimes when we read this, just in our regular daily reading, we don't stop and park ourselves on a particular word, but I want you to see this for a second.

09:25

Here is the Son of God standing before the outsiders, the outsiders as compared to the nation of Israel, the godless

09:33

Gentiles. He sees their physical need, and he has compassion on them.

09:40

Now you might recognize that this scenario is strikingly similar to Jesus' feeding of the 5 ,000.

09:47

If we go just a couple chapters earlier to chapter 6, there we see that Christ had compassion on a large crowd of Jews in Israel, in Bethsaida, where he taught them and fed 5 ,000 with five loaves and two fish.

10:01

And it's the same word compassion that Christ again experiences, that Mark uses to describe

10:08

Christ's feelings towards these people. And this word is pregnant with meaning, this word compassion.

10:15

It comes from the Greek word splanghizomai, which makes reference to a person's vital organs.

10:23

And what it means is that a person who experiences this type of compassion is deeply moved at the very core of their being.

10:31

A close English expression that we might have is if we were to say that something is gut -wrenching, just that feeling that one has deep in a person's core.

10:41

And so Christ looks at these people, and it's as if his heart is broken by not only their spiritual hunger, but their physical hunger.

10:52

Now, this presented an opportunity. We know that Christ often gave his disciples opportunities to test their faith, but this gave

11:00

Christ the opportunity to probe the faith of his disciples. And so he turns to his disciples, and he gives them the opportunity.

11:06

They've already been in this scenario before. Would they look to Christ this time to meet the physical needs of this vast crowd of people, or would they succumb to human reasoning and despair as they had done already?

11:20

And so when Christ calls his disciples, we see this in verse 2, he called his disciples to him and said,

11:28

I have compassion on them. And he says, they have been with me now three days.

11:34

Even this word been is full of meaning. Here Mark uses an unusual word.

11:39

We know from the Gospel of Mark that almost every time he references a crowd it's in a negative light.

11:45

They're confused. They're not understanding. They're getting in the way. But here this word been, just a simple word, to be with Jesus, is actually surprisingly, unusually, uncharacteristically positive.

12:00

An uncharacteristically positive description of a crowd. That this crowd had been with Jesus implies that they were actually loyally adhering to him.

12:10

That for these last three days, they had been committed to him. Almost synonymous with faith in Christ.

12:19

And this type of description, it's this type that ought to have shamed the

12:25

Jews of Christ's day. Because they didn't see Christ merely as a meal ticket.

12:32

Nor did they treat him like a genie who dispenses miracles upon request.

12:38

But they came to Christ to be with Christ. They came to him to sit at his feet and to be taught by him.

12:49

But now that they were growing hungry, it would have been far too difficult in this region of the Decapolis to send them away in this condition.

12:57

You have to understand that if you were to travel to the Decapolis today, what you would find is a range of rugged mountains, of steep cliffs, of deep valleys, of rocky crags.

13:08

And some of these areas in this day were so remote that it might have taken these people several hours to get home, if not several days, depending on where they were coming from.

13:17

So Christ puts this challenge to his disciples. What are they to do with this hungry group of people whom

13:25

Christ loves, whom Christ is showing compassion? And characteristically,

13:32

I think even the kids, if you've read your Bible a few times, you know that oftentimes we view these disciples as these doting men that follow

13:40

Christ. Characteristically, the disciples cave in under the pressure.

13:45

Rather than being filled with faith in the living Son of God, they are moved to despair and they ask a question that's strikingly similar to the same question they asked in Mark 6, in the feeding of the 5 ,000.

13:57

How could one possibly feed all of these people in such a desolate place?

14:03

Again, Christ asks them how many loaves they have. This time we're told that they had seven loaves of bread, not fish, and a few small fish.

14:14

And he offered up the customary prayer of thanksgiving. He broke the bread, he blessed the fish, and he distributed it to this crowd of 4 ,000 people.

14:27

In Matthew 15, in verse 38, we're told that this was 4 ,000 men besides women and children.

14:35

So the estimates grow to be much larger if you read John MacArthur's study Bible. He says up to 16 ,000 people.

14:42

That seems like a lot. I don't know, but just an estimate. And I want to draw our attention to this.

14:49

Christ sees this group of people. He has compassion. He provides food. And then in verse 8, we're told that the crowd ate and they were satisfied.

15:00

They were filled. They were satiated. It was complete. They had everything that they needed.

15:10

With this small portion of food that I would muster would barely feed this group, maybe even just the children as they beat us to the back of the room.

15:20

Seven loaves and a few small fishes. Christ breaks these. He blesses these. He gives thanks for these.

15:26

Very similar to at the Lord's table. And he distributes them. And it feeds 4 ,000 people in addition to others.

15:37

And then we're told that when all was said and done, when all of these people were satisfied, they collected seven baskets of leftovers.

15:47

Now note this with me. In the feeding of the 5 ,000, Mark tells us that there were 12 baskets of leftovers.

15:53

And he actually uses an interesting Greek word there, kouphinos, which is just a hand basket.

15:59

Kids, have you ever been on a picnic before where you take a little basket or maybe a lunch kit of sorts?

16:05

That would be a kouphinos. So in the feeding of the 5 ,000, they had a little basket that they were able to feed 12 little baskets of leftovers.

16:13

But in this case, Mark uses a different word, the Greek word spouros, which don't denote something altogether different.

16:20

These are seven large, you can think of almost a hamper, something that you'd carry your laundry in.

16:27

I remember when we were homeschooling, Nicole was getting into this idea of taking books from the library and she read about this one woman who would just come to the library with a hamper and fill it full of books for the children to read that week.

16:40

It would have had to have been a hamper of that size because the same Greek word spouros is used in Acts 9 in verse 25.

16:49

If you remember after Paul was converted and he was in the city of Damascus, he was on the verge of being put to death.

16:55

And so the believers lowered him through a break in the wall in the city of Damascus, we're told, in a basket that was in a spouros basket.

17:04

And so this is a basket that can hold a man, a fully grown adult man. And here there are seven of these baskets filled with leftovers.

17:14

So when Christ saw these people who were committed to him, he was not indifferent.

17:19

He was not unmoved. He was filled with compassion He saw their need and he met it in abundance.

17:27

In fact, the number seven itself was widely recognized in Jewish culture and literature as the number of completion.

17:37

And if we were even to go in our Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy, I won't have us turn there today, but in Deuteronomy chapter seven in verse one, it actually speaks of the seven

17:48

Gentile nations in that region. It could speak not only to these people being completely satisfied by consuming this food, but actually

17:57

Christ on his mission to satisfy not only the Jews, but all of the

18:03

Gentile nations. That when Christ came to this world, he came to satisfy his people.

18:13

Now I want us to see two truths here. I really wrestled with this text because we've looked at something that's very, very similar.

18:20

And some of this is just pure narrative. But what do we learn from this pure narrative of the feeding of the 4 ,000?

18:28

I want to see two truths. Firstly, brothers and sisters, just dwell with me for a moment.

18:35

Even if you're bored and getting tired already, just dwell on this with me for a moment, the very goodness of Christ.

18:46

Oh, Jesus is so much better than what we have in our minds, brothers and sisters.

18:54

He really is. And ask yourself, do you believe this?

19:00

Jesus Christ really is the perfect King. He is the perfect Savior of the world.

19:09

He is the perfect Lord. Jesus Christ as the Son of God possesses all of the divine attributes.

19:17

And we could rattle through all of those that He is just and righteous, that He is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, that He is truth.

19:28

But see this with me for a second, that here we just get a small glimpse of Jesus Christ as both all -loving and all -sovereign.

19:41

If you find me the most righteous human king in this world, he might have every ambition to bring about peace, to deal with hunger, to pursue the welfare of his people.

19:55

But I will tell you with certainty, he does not have the ability to bring that about. If you were to find the most powerful ruler in this world, they would likely be far from the most righteous.

20:09

But here in Christ you have both, all -loving and all -sovereign.

20:17

And when He sees His people, He has compassion on us and He uses that love and that sovereignty for our good.

20:29

As I was studying this, I thought about Romans 8 .32, He who did not spare

20:36

His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?

20:44

And this love of Christ that we have, if we are in fact in Christ, is something that can never be taken away.

20:51

Romans 8 .38 and 39, Paul said, For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor heights nor depths nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our

21:08

Lord. Note with me, firstly, the goodness of Christ. But second here, note with me the dullness and forgetfulness of the human heart.

21:19

Might I suggest the dullness and the forgetfulness of our own hearts, of your heart.

21:26

We often look at the disciples, I mentioned it already, as this kind of doting group of people and as we read it we silently scoff at their hardness of heart and unbelief.

21:37

We'll see in just a short time later the disciples are going to be fretting about bread again, anxious about whether they will have enough bread to eat on their next trip.

21:46

They walked with Christ for this whole time and they still forgot His heart for His people and His power.

21:55

But dear saints, isn't it true that if we look at the disciples we see so much of ourselves in them.

22:04

Is this not the exact same reason why we are often found fretting and anxious about temporal things?

22:11

Because we have not fully apprehended the glory and the grace of the

22:18

Lord Jesus Christ and His great readiness and His ability to satisfy our every need, our every physical need, our every spiritual need.

22:29

We forget Christ. We forget that we have been bought, we are no longer children of the devil, but we are children of God and as God's children our

22:41

Father is always perfect in His provision for His family. I've recently been talking to a number of people about anxiety.

22:51

I struggle with my own anxieties and I'm just reminded regularly of all of the commands in Scripture to not be afraid, to not be anxious, to not fear.

23:05

I once heard someone say there is a command not to be afraid, not to be anxious for every day of the year.

23:14

Do not be afraid. 1 Peter 5, 7 is a perfect one that fits with this.

23:20

Cast all your anxieties on Him. Why? Because He cares for you.

23:28

This is a psalm I often quoted to my children. As a matter of fact we used to sing it. Cast your cares on the

23:34

Lord and He will sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved.

23:43

And sometimes, brothers and sisters, God's providence is sweet and it's just as we expect it would be.

23:50

You've heard us tell stories before of George Muller. Who here has heard of George Muller before? Got a few people here, a few kids that have heard

23:57

George Muller. There's numerous stories about George Muller but one of the things about George Muller, if you've never heard him, is this.

24:06

He opened an orphanage, not simply to care for children, but to show that God answers prayer and provides for His people when they make their needs known to Him.

24:18

Without anxiety, bringing your needs to God and to God alone. And one day, there's one such story of God's providence in the life of George Muller.

24:28

He opened a massive orphanage in Bristol, England. And one particular day, he went up to a young orphan girl named

24:36

Abigail Townsend. I'm not sure how old she was, maybe Elise's age, a little bit older.

24:43

And he said to her, he said, come with me and see what our father will do.

24:50

And so he led little Abigail by the hand. She had no idea what to expect and he walked her into the dining hall of the orphanage.

24:57

And all the children there, if you can picture this with me, were standing in this dining hall, this long table that ran the length of the hall.

25:06

The table had been set with plates and with cutlery and with cups for the children to eat.

25:11

And all the children stood there awaiting breakfast to be served. George Muller brought little

25:17

Abigail into the hall and he gave thanks to God for the meal. He thanked

25:25

God not only for what God had provided, but for what God would provide. And then the children sat down in their places.

25:33

Now what little Abigail didn't know and what the children in the orphanage did not know was that the orphanage had run out of food and there was not even a scrap in the kitchen to feed the children.

25:46

And so George Muller led the group in prayer, the children sat down and almost immediately thereafter there was a knock at the door.

25:55

And so he went to the door to answer it and there was the town baker, the baker of Bristol at the door and he said this, he said,

26:03

I have been up all night thinking about the orphanage. It's as if God put it in my mind.

26:09

And so I woke up at two in the morning and I had been baking bread and here I have enough for all of the orphans.

26:17

So George Muller brought in the bread, they rejoiced, they gave thanks to God and he said to the children, not only do we get bread to eat today but we get fresh bread to boot.

26:27

And then as they divvied out the bread there was another knock on the door. This time it was the town's milkman and the milkman said, my cart has broken down in front of the orphanage.

26:38

In order for me to repair it I must unload all of the milk but it'll spoil so I might as well give it to the orphans.

26:46

And so there God provided for the need of the orphans bread and milk just as they needed based on George Muller and the staff, the volunteers, the workers at that orphanage making their needs known to God.

27:03

Now sometimes God's providence is going to come to us as a sanctifying affliction.

27:10

Contrary providences that are not what we would hope for ourselves or even for our enemies but that God intends for our good.

27:19

And we see this in the scriptures all over the place. One prime example is the life of Joseph.

27:25

In the life of Joseph he was sold into slavery by his brothers. He was falsely accused and imprisoned.

27:32

He suffered a great deal in prison in Egypt. He was forgotten even when he did seek his own freedom.

27:41

But God intended this for a purpose. So much so that later Joseph said to his brothers in Genesis 50 -20

27:47

As for you, you meant evil against me but God meant it for good.

27:54

Paul said this that even when our bodies are allowed to be buffeted even when the devil comes after us even when we are afflicted with hunger and with disease and with suffering he says to the

28:07

Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 4 .17 for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory.

28:16

Sometimes God is going to provide in exactly the way that we think he should. And other times in completely opposite ways.

28:25

But scripture promises both are for our good. There was once a small devotional manual that first appeared in Europe about 500 years ago.

28:35

It was entitled The Imitation of Christ. And this little manual read like this.

28:41

It said, Oh Lord, greater is your anxiety for me than all the cares that I can take upon myself.

28:49

For he stands totteringly who does not cast all his anxieties upon you.

28:55

Oh Lord, if only my will may remain right and firm towards you do with me whatsoever it shall please you for it cannot be anything but good.

29:07

Whatsoever you shall do with me if you willest me to be in darkness be thou blessed.

29:13

If you willest me to be in light be thou blessed again. If you comfort me be thou blessed.

29:19

If you willest me to be afflicted be thou ever equally blessed.

29:25

It was this kind of heart that allowed men like Horatio Spafford. We sang

29:30

It is Well with Our Soul this week at our prayer meeting. Horatio Spafford when he was a younger man married, he had four children.

29:39

His children were ages 12, 7, 4 and 18 months. He went on ahead of them across the

29:44

Atlantic Ocean with his wife and his children a week behind on the next boat. When he got to the other side of the ocean he learned that his wife the ship had gone down in the icy waters of the

29:57

Atlantic Ocean. All four children had died. He lost his precious little girls.

30:03

Only his wife had survived. Now he could have done like Satan was to tempt

30:09

Job to curse God and die. But what did he do? He picked up his pen and he wrote when peace like a river attendeth my way when sorrows like sea billows roll whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say it is well it is well with my soul.

30:29

Brothers and sisters Christ loves you and he is sovereign over all of your circumstances.

30:37

And so whether all goes good or everything goes poorly by your estimation all in the end is for you and for your good and for his glory.

30:47

And so my exhortation to you is cast off anxiety and put off put on satisfaction in Christ.

30:55

Now that was a massive point and I apologize. Our next points are going to be faster.

31:02

That bears the foundation for the rest of our passage. Verses 11 through 13

31:07

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.

31:16

And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said why does this generation seek a sign?

31:21

Truly I say to you no sign will be given to this generation. And he left them got into the boat again and went to the other side.

31:31

As we look at the second paragraph I want to exhort you to this put off the insistency on signs.

31:40

Signs and wonders and be satisfied in God's testimony concerning Christ.

31:47

So after this miraculous feeding of the 4 ,000 Christ again crossed the sea this time to Dalmanutha.

31:54

Now this was located somewhere between Magdala and Capernaum which is now on the total opposite side of the

31:59

Sea of Galilee on the western shore northwestern shore of the sea back in the nation of Israel.

32:06

And here Christ was confronted by the Pharisees this time. Who in stark contrast to that crowd that was in the

32:12

Decapolis refused to believe in Christ without a sign. Verse 11 tells us that the

32:19

Pharisees demanded a sign from heaven. Now this was more than a mere miracle that they were asking for.

32:24

They wanted a sign that would be visible above in the sky to testify to affirm to Christ and his divine identity.

32:34

And it's really interesting that word there that they brought this to test him. It can be translated in other places as to tempt.

32:41

In fact when we look at Christ's temptation in the wilderness under Satan when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights it's that exact same word.

32:49

And so these Pharisees with a devilish heart with devilish intent come to test or to tempt

32:57

Christ. In verse 12 we're told that Christ sighed that he literally groaned in his spirit and he asserted to them that there would be no sign given to this generation.

33:15

Matthew recounts this in his own gospel in Matthew 16 .4 he says an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

33:27

Except for the sign of what has already been written in the word of God and what will take place at his resurrection.

33:35

So Jesus got back into his boat and departed with them. Now one commentator writes this he says faith that depends on proof is not faith.

33:46

Are you here today and you say to yourself in your own heart I will only believe in Christ if he shows himself to me.

33:54

If he proves his existence. Read this. Faith that depends on proof is not faith but only veiled doubt.

34:03

Faith can only be demonstrated by trust and active commitment. Another commentator writes faith comes when one steps into the boat with Jesus and does not prefer to remain safely on the shore with the

34:16

Pharisees. And so when we look at this interaction in its totality I want to summarize this quickly but this is what we see.

34:25

If the Pharisees wanted a sign to prove that Christ was in fact the son of God they wanted a sign they were to rely on the testimony of God's word in the

34:40

Old Testament. Jonah. The account of Jonah and the validation of Christ's life and ministry through his bodily resurrection.

34:50

So to put it another way in order for the Pharisees all the Pharisees had to do to be satisfied with the truthfulness of Christ's claims was to look at Christ and to measure him against the standard of God's word and to believe what had been written about him.

35:08

It was to see how Christ measured up even including up to and including his resurrection.

35:15

They were insistent on signs and they would not believe. Now I want to say this even today there is this same insistence on signs even amongst the unreligious.

35:28

I would argue it's just as prevalent today. Now how often have you if you think about any time when you have sat down and tried to share the gospel maybe with the most antagonistic atheists in your life.

35:40

I can think of countless times where they've come to me and said if God is real why doesn't he just show himself.

35:48

I remember being on White Avenue one time and talking to a young man and said if God is real why is he not just in the sky literally the heart of a

35:57

Pharisee wanting a sign in the heavens why isn't he just in the sky for everyone to see they can see him they can believe him they can worship him.

36:08

There's this same insistence on signs and Jesus would say to that man he would say

36:16

I will give you no such sign except that which has been written in my word.

36:23

Faith does not come by seeing it does not come by signs and wonders faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

36:32

We see this in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man if you remember that account when the rich man was being tormented he pleaded with Abraham he said

36:41

I beg you father he's talking to the wrong father he's begging Abraham to send

36:47

Lazarus to my father's house he says for I have five brothers so that they may warn them lest they also come into this place of torment but Abraham said this listen to this they have

36:59

Moses and the prophets let them hear them and he said no father

37:04

Abraham but if someone goes to them from the dead they will repent he said to them if they do not hear

37:12

Moses and the prophets neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.

37:21

We see this insistence on signs in the world maybe you are an unbeliever here today and you're saying

37:27

I will believe in God when he shows himself to me dear brother and sister friend, unbelieving friend if you want to see

37:36

God God has shown you to himself shown himself to you excuse me in his word by general revelation in the world that he has made and specifically in the word that he has given but let me say this we can pick on the unbelievers but we see the same preoccupation with signs and wonders amongst

37:58

Christians today now we can pick on those who require signs and wonders as a sign that they have been baptized as believers or baptized, excuse me in the

38:08

Holy Spirit some of the biggest churches in Edmonton believe that that you are not baptized in the spirit unless you demonstrate signs and wonders there are many churches in Edmonton as well that believe that you are not even a believer if you have not spoken in tongues another sign to prove to confirm outside of your faith in the word of God that you are right with him we can even pick on those in the most extreme camps who manufacture signs and wonders like gold dust coming from the ceiling and angel feathers but we know brothers and sisters that all of these views are heretical or in error altogether so let's turn our attention to ourselves how many of us kids,

38:53

I want to pick on you a little bit but adults as well how many of us if God were to come into this room even now if you were to appear in the sky as a sign in heaven how many of us would take the words that he speaks more seriously than we would what is written in the

39:14

Bible and the way I'll say it is this imagine that God were to come here today and say pray without ceasing we see him we see the sign how many of us would go home with the commitment that I saw

39:28

God today I must pray without ceasing or if he said go, make disciples preach the gospel to all nations how many of us would make it our life's mission

39:39

I am going to go God appeared to me he gave me this order I will obey him well dear brothers and sisters do you not realize that what

39:50

God has written in his word is just as important and authoritative as if he were here even now how many of us believe as if God were here right now that he says believe on the

40:04

Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved certainly if God were here in the flesh we would believe him when he said it well friends he has said it in his word it is just as true as if he were in this room behind this pulpit speaking it to you or this there is now no condemnation for those of you who are in Christ Jesus it is true it is authoritative

40:32

I recently read an account of a young girl who was born blind she was raised in New York City in Harlem so I think just below upper

40:45

Manhattan if I know my geography of New York City correctly and there was a fire in the apartment building and because she was blind she could not make her way out of the building to safety and so as this fire raged on eventually she had to move to the window there was a window and a little ledge the only thing that separated her from the apartment building and the street below and the firefighters were unable to reach her because of the heat of the fire and because of the way the adjacent buildings were they could not get a ladder truck up high enough to reach her and so what they did was the firefighters went below the window they pulled out one of those rescue nets that we sometimes see in cartoons and the firefighters stood below the window and held it out and one of the firemen called out and said if you can jump from the window we will catch you below we have a net laid out you will be safe you will not be harmed but she would not believe the firefighters and then she heard her father's voice he had arrived on the scene they gave him one of those bull horns and he said to her honey you need to jump out of the window the firemen will catch you at my command let go and fall into the net and upon hearing her father's voice she trusted him and when he gave the order she fell from the window she was in fact so relaxed that she didn't have so much as a scrape or a bruise on her dear friends how many of us have that kind of trust in our father's voice in God's word as he speaks to us through the scriptures put off this idea that signs and wonders will accomplish anything or that you would obey

42:37

God if he were here in the present speaking to you God has spoken to us in his inerrant in his sufficient clear, authoritative and necessary word when you open this book on its pages are the living word of God sharper than any two -edged sword every word you read is the word of God spoken directly to you as ordinary as it may seem this is

43:08

God's appointed means to bless you and to bring the gospel to your soul and to equip you for every good work

43:17

Paul wrote to the Corinthians he said for Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom but we preach

43:24

Christ crucified the word of God a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the

43:31

Gentiles but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God and then lastly we'll look at this last paragraph the leaven of the

43:45

Pharisees it's very similar to what we've already read so I'm just going to highlight a few verses here but I want to exhort you as we look at this put off conformity to the world and be satisfied by faith in Christ put off the leaven of this world and be satisfied by faith in Christ so the disciples got their bread together they'd forgotten excuse me to bring bread they'd only one loaf with them in the boat and as they sat there probably anxious that they didn't have enough food even after seeing all these miracles

44:25

Christ cautioned them it's a Greek word diastolein it means to order or command

44:32

Christ ordered them he commanded them saying watch out verse 15 beware of the leaven of the

44:40

Pharisees and the leaven of Herod verse 16 and they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread dear friends this is this same hardened heart that we see in the disciples is the same hardened heart that we're inclined to lean towards forgetful forgetful of God's grace forgetful of Christ's compassion forgetful of Christ's power but what did

45:07

Jesus mean here when he told his disciples beware of the leaven of the Pharisees beware of the leaven of Herod oftentimes leaven was used in a negative way in scripture we see that for instance in Israel's exodus that they were to leave the leaven behind that when they baked their loaves it was to be without leaven as if to be without the influence of their former life in Egypt leaven often is seen in that way in scripture as a corrupting influence

45:38

Paul for instance says in Galatians 5 .9 a little leaven leavens the whole lump he says in 1

45:44

Corinthians 5 .7 and 8 cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you really are unleavened for Christ our

45:53

Passover lamb has been sacrificed for us let us therefore celebrate the festival not with the old leaven the leaven of malice and evil but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth and so what was this corrupting influence from the

46:09

Herodians and from the Pharisees I would suggest it's this in the Pharisees case it was the corrupting influence of false teaching we see that in Matthew 16 verse 12 it was the leaven of hypocrisy

46:23

Matthew 23 and verse 13 it was the leaven of self -righteousness for the

46:32

Herodians it was or for Herod Antipas it was the leaven of immorality of moral corruption of insistence on signs you'll remember that when

46:43

Christ went before Herod what did Herod want from him but a sign dear brothers and sisters if we are to put off conformity to this world and be satisfied with faith in Christ what does it mean to be opposite of these things but is to believe that which is true to teach that which is true to not be a hypocrite but to be consistent to be faithful to obey

47:10

Christ to put away moral corruption to put away insistence on signs and if I can say perhaps the most important save that for last in the

47:21

Pharisees case it is to put away self -righteousness why did the

47:27

Pharisees reject Christ but because they were self -righteous and they wanted to promote themselves and their own authority brothers and sisters

47:39

I want you to see in order to be satisfied with Christ you need to not only see

47:44

Him as all -loving and as all -sovereign as working all things together for your good as speaking to you in your word but of believing in the gospel of being satisfied in Christ that He is our merit and our righteousness

48:00

He must be our only hope there is no other hope there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved other than the name of Christ Jesus earlier we heard about George Mueller how

48:16

God provided for him and the orphans in his care over and over and over again and the process of relying on God for everything he learned what it was to put away the leaven of this world to put away the corrupting influences of this world he said there was a day he was speaking to someone who asked him how it was that he served

48:40

God so consistently so faithfully he said there was a day when I died utterly died died to George Mueller his opinions his preferences tastes and wills died to the world its approval or censure died to the approval or blame of every or even my brethren and friends and since then

49:03

I have studied to show myself approved unto God he later told another brother

49:08

I must be occupied in the service of God to glorify him is the object of my life to put away the leaven of Herod and to put away the leaven of the

49:22

Pharisees is to give your all to Christ to look to him by faith to trust in him for your salvation that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ and then to serve him with all of your heart just a year before Mueller's death when he was 95 years old he preached a sermon to a crowd of people who had braved the cold winter weather and come to the

49:46

Old Market Street Chapel in Bristol, England and he said this he said while all things change here below see this in reference to our text today the most hardened sinner though you have sinned again and again against him and against light and knowledge if you now trust in Christ you will for his sake be forgiven for there is power in the blood of Christ to take away the greatest sins

50:16

Christ alone gives real true happiness oh the blessedness of being a disciple of the

50:24

Lord Jesus Christ and then he spoke just to his own experience as an old man he said

50:31

I am a happy old man yes indeed I am a happy old man

50:38

I walk about my room and I say Lord Jesus I am not alone you are with me

50:46

I have buried my wives and my children but you are left

50:53

I am never lonely or desolate with you and with your smile which is better than life itself oh dear saints of God is your

51:08

Jesus better than life itself do you find yourself frequently saying with Paul to live is

51:15

Christ and to die is gain strip me of everything take the fleeting pleasures of this world take my wealth take my job take my health take my family take every faculty from me leave me desolate but as long as I have you my

51:35

Jesus I have all that I need to be satisfied in this life or is the leaven of this world crowded

51:45

Christ out so that he is no longer your treasure is your heart flirting with another love as Christ says in this last verse he says do you not yet understand dear ones