Judged In The Light Of The Son

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. I hope you've enjoyed this series. There has been so much that I've gained from it over the months that we've been in it, and more appreciation for the Gospel of Mark than ever before. It's simple, and yet it's profound and deep. And Jesus is one radical dude. I mean, he really takes it on in this book. I'm not sure, Mark Krieger here, one of our members, after the Gospel of Mark, right? Mark has said, and I think he's right, you know, if I was back at the time of Jesus, would I have actually followed him? Or would I have been in the groups that opposed him? And honestly, even those who followed him didn't really. As we find out in the Gospels. And today we're going to find out much the same thing. It's really fascinating. We get more controversy here in Mark chapter 8. After all the miracles, after all the things that Jesus has done, now we get to a point where the disciples are warned by Jesus about some of the opposition Jesus has faced. So we're going to be studying now Mark chapter 8, verses 11 through 21. You can follow along in the You version of the Bible app. The event is there, and it's up and ready to go. But here we go. Mark 8, verse 11. The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, Why does this generation seek a sign? 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. Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, Watch out. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not understand? When I broke the five loaves with the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? They said to him, Twelve. And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? And they said to him, Seven. And he said to them, Do you not yet understand? So we're seeing some hardened opposition, some unbelief and some issues going on with all the people around him. You could almost say this text is really about Jesus saying, Beware. Beware of who? Pharisees and Herod. In other words, do you know who that is? Religion and politics. Your two best friends, right? The things that we're told time and again not to discuss in polite company. But here we go. Jesus says, Beware of the yeast or the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod. So today we're going to be looking at these three points. First of all, the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod. What in the world that is? Then the hardness of the disciples. And finally, the work of Jesus. So Jesus warns about the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod. Odd, bad fellows, by the way. The Pharisees and Herod did not get along with each other. So what is it that Jesus is actually getting at? And right before this text, and you always have to take things in context. So the Pharisees came up to Jesus and asked for a sign to prove who Jesus was. Show us a sign. And Jesus is like, Oh, come on. At this point in time, you're asking me for a sign? I've already given you millions of signs. I've healed, I've taught, I've spoken, I've cast out demons, and you're wanting a sign now? Yeah, Jesus wouldn't give them. They would have dismissed anything he did. They already had done it. And we had seen already in the Gospel of Mark. We had one where they basically said, Oh, yeah, yeah, he does miracles. But he doesn't buy Beelzebul, the prince of demons. So they had already seen and they hardened themselves against believing anything that he said or did. There is no sign he could have given them. It's exactly what actually comes up in one of the Psalms, Psalm 95. Moses and the children of Israel out in the wilderness. And it's just like of old. God has faced this hardness and this obstinacy and this unwilling to listen for millennia. And so in Psalm 95, the psalmist says today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. As at Meribah, as on the day of Masa in the wilderness, when your fathers look at this, put me to a test and put me to proof. Basically, show us a sign, God, that they had seen my work. Show us a sign, even though we've seen you already done miracle after miracle. I mean, the miracle they had seen, right? They were alive. That would be a miracle in itself. They were in the wilderness. They had escaped Egypt and the Egyptian army had been destroyed in the Red Sea. Isn't that enough of a sign to believe? For 40 years, God s...