Hardness Of Heart Mark 8:15-18 And he cautioned them, saying, Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.

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1 Hardness Of Heart Mark 8:15-18 And he cautioned them, saying, Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. [16] 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? [18] Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 2 Matthew s Gospel explains What Jesus Meant By Leaven. In Mathew He said How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?--but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 12 Then they understood that He [meant] the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Mat 16:11-12). Leaven is doctrine, and doctrine is teaching. If you put a little leaven in a lump of dough it will swell up and fill the whole lump. The little lump then becomes a whole loaf. Jesus said the kingdom of God is like that. Put a little kingdom doctrine in the world and it will eventually fill the whole world and change the culture. But you have to put it in the world, and not just within the four walls of the church. The natural effect of kingdom leaven is Christendom. Christendom is the dominion of God s word in the cultures of the world. The Christendom of medieval Europe resulted in Western culture. Now Western Culture dominates the entire world. 3 Jesus says we should beware of Two Kinds Of Leaven The leaven of the Pharisees was legalistic conservatism. The leaven of Herod and the Sadducees was extreme liberalism. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection and the Herodians (the Sadducees) did not. But they did agree on one 1

2 thing. They plotted together on how to destroy Jesus. Liberals and conservatives still work together to stop the leaven of God s Kingdom. 4 Pharisee And Sadducee Leaven is still around. Today s Pharisees don t get involved in the culture or politics because, among other reasons, they think it s worldly. They leave that to modern Sadducees like Jesse Jackson and Jeremiah Wright. The Sadducees were the political leaders and the Pharisees were the fundamentalists. So the leaven of each has filled their disciples to the point that they dominate their separate fields. The Sadducees fill the political positions and the Pharisees fill their sub-culture waiting for the antichrist and escape in the rapture. Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. 5 Jesus said, Are your hearts hardened? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Do you not remember? Not understanding, not perceiving, and not remembering the figurative language of Scripture (of Jesus) is not caused by a lack of intelligence or a bad memory. The cause is a hardened heart. He said, Are your hearts hardened? A hardened heart causes spiritual blindness and deafness. 6 Why Did Jesus Say, Leaven? Why didn t He just say, Doctrine? Why did He always speak in code language and parables? Mark 4:34 says, without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples. The disciples came and said to him, Why do you speak to them in parables? [11] And he answered them, To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given (Matthew 13:10-11 ESV). 2

3 Why can t the world understand the Bible and Jesus? Jesus hints that hardness of heart is the cause. God hides His truth from hard hearts. Isaiah said, Truly, you are a God who hides himself (Isaiah 45:15 ESV). The Bible says God Himself sends a strong delusion to those who reject the truth that they should believe the lie (2 Thess 2:11). Isaiah says, I will wait on the LORD, Who hides His face from the house of Jacob; And I will hope in Him (Isaiah 8:17). Hardness of heart causes a lack of reasonable spiritual exercise. And lack of exercise is the cause of not understanding Scripture. Even to His disciples He says, 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 remember? 7 I know preachers who take pride in Mental Laziness They won t read heavy books, they won t read history, they are ignorant of the great cloud of witnesses and never study the Puritans or the great revivals. The cause is hardness of heart. Some even wear ignorance as a badge. They use the excuse that mental discipline is too cerebral. (That s code for not spiritual and not pragmatic like they are.) Instead of bringing the people up to a higher level of understanding, they bring themselves down to their level. The long term result is that the people get more and more ignorant and proud of it. 8 As an excuse they quote out of context the verse that says, Knowledge puffs up. How Does Knowledge Puff Up? Let s look at that verse in context. Paul says, Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies (1Cor 8:1). Paul is talking about foods offered to idols. He is saying that those who understood that it was okay to eat meat had knowledge and those 3

4 who thought it was a sin were ignorant. But we should still not eat it if it causes the weak brother to stumble. If he thinks it s wrong and still eats, he sins because he violates his conscience. But if we disregard his conscience because of our knowledge that it is okay to eat meat, that knowledge puffs up. 9 Ignorance Can Also Puff Up Actually, ignorance can puff up more than knowledge some times. The man that thinks he knows enough is proud. His heart is not soft. The un-teachable man has a hard heart. The Christian that does not have a child-like passion to understand is a proud person. The man that speaks evil of what he does not understand or know has a hardened heart. He is ignorant and proud of it. Proverbs one says, A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, To understand a proverb and an enigma, The words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:5-7). Their heart is hard. Because they did not understand Jesus said, Are your hearts hardened? 10 Constant Practice Helps Hebrews 5:12-14 says, by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, [13] for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. [14] But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. 11 Hard Hearts Refuse To Answer God s Questions (Mark 3:4-5 ESV) One time Jesus asked Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill? [a no-brainer] But they 4

5 were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart... A woman asked her husband, Do believe you are going to heaven or hell? He was silent. Do you think God looked at him with anger, grieved at his hardness of heart? 12 Hard Hearts Reject Sound Logic Mark 6:49-52 After Jesus had fed the 5000, the disciples saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. [Is it logical to be afraid of ghosts?] But immediately he spoke to them and said, Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid. And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. Neither that miracle nor the appearance of Jesus on the water could open their hearts to the logical conclusion. Their hard hearts made them fearful because hardened hearts have their own logic. 13 How Can We Get A Soft Heart? I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:25-26 ESV). God hardens hearts and God softens hearts. Only God can do it. He says, If you seek me and search for me with all your heart, then you will find Me. 5

6 The Message Pastor Ron Smith Hardness of Heart Mark 8:15-18 Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?

7 What Jesus Meant by Leaven. Leaven is doctrine, and doctrine is teaching.

8 Two Kinds of Leaven The leaven of the Pharisees was legalistic conservatism. The leaven of Herod was extreme liberalism.

9 Pharisee and Sadducee Leaven The Sadducees fill the political positions. The Pharisees fill their sub-culture.

10 Are your hearts hardened? A hardened heart causes spiritual blindness and deafness.

11 Why Did Jesus Say, Leaven? Truly, you are a God who hides himself

12 Mental Laziness Some even wear ignorance as a badge.

13 How Does Knowledge Puff Up? Knowledge that it is okay to eat meat can puff up.

14 Ignorance Can Also Puff Up The un-teachable man has a hard heart.

15 Constant Practice Helps powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil (Hebrews 5:12-14).

16 Hard Hearts Refuse to Answer God s Questions But they were silent. And he looked with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart (Mark 3:4-5 ESV).

17 Hard Hearts Reject Sound Logic They did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened (Mark 6:49-52).

18 How Can We Get a Soft Heart? And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:25-26 ESV).

19 The Message Pastor Ron Smith Hardness of Heart Mark 8:15-18 Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?