Shabbat Shalom, everyone. We are studying in the Gospel of Mark, and we are in the eighth chapter of the Gospel of Mark. B'Sorat Mark, chapter 8, and today we are going to look into verses 10 to verse 26, and really the theme, you might say, of this passage is the request for a sign and Yeshua's warning. And so please follow me as I'm reading Mark chapter 8, beginning with verse 10. And straightway he entered into a ship with his disciples and came into the parts of Dalmanuta. "And the Pharisees came forth and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign?

Verily I say unto you, there shall no sign be given unto this generation." And he left them. And entering into a ship, again departed to the other side. "Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread; neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf." And he charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod." And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread." And when Yeshua knew it, he saith unto them, "Why reason ye because ye have no bread? Perceive ye not yet, neither understand? Have ye your heart yet hardened?

Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not? Do ye not remember? When I break the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up?" They say unto him, "Twelve." And when the seven among the four thousand, "How many baskets full of fragments took ye up?" And they said, "Seven." "And he said unto them, "How is it that ye do not understand?" And he cometh to bait Sida. And they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand, and he led 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 ought. And he looked up and he said, "I see men as trees walking." After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and he made him look up, and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. And he sent him away to his house, saying, "Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in that town." And with this I'm stopping with the reading of the passage we have read together, beloved brothers and sisters, in Mark 8:10-26, in which really the topic here is the request for a sign by the Pharisees, the people, the spiritual leaders of Israel, and the warning that Yeshua gave to the Talmidim, that is to his disciples.

On the one hand, you can just imagine, from among all the people of Israel, we have here two groups. The one group is those that follow after the Purushim, the Tzedukim, the Herodians, you might say the religious leaders of Israel, and those who follow them. On the other hand, you have the disciples, the Talmidim, and others that have followed Yeshua, the Messiah, and to them, another group from among the nation of Israel who have come to know that Yeshua is the Messiah. Now this is very interesting, this passage, and why it is so interesting, because this passage, he is following exactly after the last verses of chapter 7, and the earlier verses of chapter 8, where Yeshua departed, if you remember, from the Galil, and he went up to Tzor and Sidon, he went beyond the borders of Israel to minister the word of God to the Goyim, to the Gentile world.

And if you remember, he went all the way to Tyre, which was about 20 kilometers north of Israel, and he went even beyond further to Sidon, Sidon, which is an additional 40 kilometers from Tyre, and he was preaching there and ministering to the Gentile nations. Today, Tyre and Sidon is in present-day Lebanon. Then when he finished with Tyre and Sidon, he crossed, and he went to the other side, and he came to the Decapolis. The Decapolis was where the 10 cities of the Gentiles, beyond the Jordan River on the other side, and you have those 10 cities of the Decapolis. The only one that is on the western side is this town called Scytopolis, which is present-day Beit She'an in the land of Israel.

And as I mentioned before, this is one of the cities that we go to visit when we are back home in the land of Israel. Now, all these Tyre, Sidon, the Decapolis, were a location that the Goyim, the Gentiles, lived. And Yeshua went to minister to them. And if you remember, he healed the daughter of the Canaanite woman who had the daughter who was sick, and the Lord had taken from her the demon. He ministered to the people there. He fed the multitude. Four thousand individuals were fed by Yeshua, the Messiah, because after all, beloved brothers and sisters, when the Mashiach came, he came unto his own, the nation of Israel, but he wanted to reach out beyond Israel to all the nations of the world.

Well, you see, Israel, of course, in his first coming, didn't accept him. So the door was open to the nations of the world. Today, you and I, Jewish and non-Jewish individuals are part of that one body of Messiah, waiting the day when the company that you and I belong to will be taken to glory. Then, Israel eventually will be restored and blessing on the floor to all the nations of the world who will say in a future day, according to Isaiah chapter 2, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways." This is still future.

And even though today, you and I are believers, we are part of what we call the congregation, the assembly, the ecclesia, still you have to admit that we are a little minority of the total population of the world. Because the rest of the world did not yet accept that Jesus, that Yeshua indeed is Lord and Messiah. And we are waiting also for a future day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Yeshua the Messiah is Lord to the glory of God the Father. But until this future day comes, there are lessons that we see that the Lord is teaching his disciples.

So now he is back. You see, he left Tyre and Sidon, he moved to the Decapolis, and now he is back into this, of course, the Sea of Galilee, which is a lake. And you notice the first verse we read today, in verse 10 of Mark chapter 8, "And straightway he entered into a ship with his disciples, and he came into the parts of Dalmanuta." Dalmanuta is an area called Magdan, around the Sea of Galilee. It is really a town on the west side of the Sea of Galilee. He now came out from the Decapolis, went back into the land of Israel. Now he continues to minister to the Jewish people.

I want you to just go with me to a verse in Romans for a moment, Romans chapter 15. And I want you to notice that the Apostle Paul make a note there, in Romans chapter 15, in verse 8, and he is mentioning to the Romans Christians, to the Romans believers, and he said to them, "Now I say that Jesus Christ, that Yeshua HaMashiach, was a minister of the circumcision, for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto our fathers." In other words, it was rather unusual for Yeshua to leave the land of Israel for a while, because he was a minister or a servant of the circumcision, the people of Israel.

And why? Because he came to fulfill all what the prophets of all have spoken about. But still, we learn a great lesson, that the aim of the Lord Jesus, to serve the people of Israel, was that Israel will become a light to the nations of the world. Or Lagoim. Israel was never, ever, ever called to keep the truth of the living God for the nation itself. Israel is called to be a light to the nations of the world. Or Lagoim. So he's giving us a preview. He has gone to the north. He has gone to the east. And now he's coming back to continue to minister to the people of Israel, and to challenge them and say, "I am the Messiah.

I came to redeem the nation. You need to realize who I am and to accept him." But, as you know very well, Israel, as a nation, did not recognize that he was the Messiah. So now, when he got inside into the land, notice what the first thing that happened there. The first thing that happened there, is that the Pharisees approached him, and actually, according to verse 11, they were tempting him. They were testing him, in order to cause him to stumble. So they come to him. You notice verse 11, the arrival of the spiritual leaders of Israel. It's mentioned here, the Pharisees, the Purushim. It says in verse 11, "The Pharisees came forth, and they began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven." And notice it's underlined here, in the end of verse 11, "Tempting him." See, what happened?

It's one thing to come to Yeshua and to say, "Lord, show me a sign, so I will believe." But they really were saying, "Let's see if you can show us a sign, because we want to prove that you are wrong." This is completely two different things. Some remember Gideon, years ago asked, "Show me a sign from the Lord." And the Lord showed him a sign. But Gideon wanted to believe in the God of Israel. He wanted to trust the God of Israel. And yet he asked for a sign. Here it's completely the opposite. The request for a sign was not in order that they will trust in him.

The request for a sign was in order that he will stumble, that he will be tempted and come up with a wrong answer, you might say, so they can say, "Ah, you see, you are not the Messiah whom you claim to be." And so you notice they come to him and they ask him for a sign. Let me pause here with you for a moment. It is a very Jewish thing to do to request a sign from God. Why I'm saying this? Because look at our history. Look at the history of our people Israel. When God requested from Israel to obey his word, to come out of the land of Egypt and to be delivered and going to the promised land of Canaan, he said to them, "I want you to have a sign upon the doorpost on your lintel, the blood of a lamb.

It will be a sign unto you." Later on, if you remember, in Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14, God said to Israel, "Behold, I show you a sign." And I'm just going to read that before I will misquote it. Isaiah 7 and verse 14, he said, "For the Lord himself shall give you a sign." "Ot" in Hebrew. "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel, God with us." Throughout the whole history of our people Israel, a sign was a common thing in the history of our people. You remember even when Noah, long before Abraham was even chosen, God said to Noah that he will put a sign in the sky.

The colorful rainbow in the sky. In Hebrew we call it Kesher. That will be a sign of the faithfulness of God who will not bring the judgment of a flood again any more upon the whole world. Signs were given throughout the history of Israel to our forefathers from generation to generation. And so when they came to him and they asked for him to show them a sign, in a sense it was not so much abnormal. meaning that their request for a sign was not for a right and a proper reason. The Apostle Paul once again said in 1 Corinthians 1, listen to this verse, very interesting verse, he said when he was speaking to the believers at Corinth, he said to them that Jews seek for a sign.

Jews, the Jewish people, are looking for a sign, he said to them in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 22 and on. Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach the Messiah crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness. So it's very common. Paul knew that. Yeshua knew that. The Pharisees were not abnormal in asking a sign, an ot from Yeshua the Messiah, but the problem was that their desire was to cause Yeshua to stumble and to fall because they were actually tempting him, desiring him that he will not be able to prove that he was the Messiah, the Son of God.

If you remember from what had happened already earlier, he had already healed the sick in the past. He had already fed the multitude, the 5,000 men, women and children over above 5,000. He had already shown so many signs and wonders that he was the Messiah. But as far as they were concerned, they wanted an additional sign. And you notice what it says here in Mark chapter 8, in the verse 11, "Show us a sign from heaven." "Show us a sign from heaven." That expression, "Min ha-shamayim." They wanted something miraculous to happen like when Israel, our people of old came out of the land of Egypt, that God brought down the manna, the manna, straight from heaven.

Or maybe they wanted something to happen like what Eliyahu, Elijah have done, that Elijah have prayed and the heavens were shut for three and a half years. He prayed again and the rain came again. They wanted something spectacular. They did not want to accept that he was the Messiah and were trying to find fault in him, tempting him, desiring that he will stumble, that he will not be able to prove that he was God the Son who became a man, who was born to the virgin Miriam, who lived a perfect life and now he's going to give himself as a ransom for many. So they didn't want to.

And that's why this verse 11 is very, very, very important. Jewish people require a sign. But it's one thing to require a sign in order to follow God in God's way. It's another thing to require a sign in order to cause the one that they knew that he came from heaven to reject him and to find fault in him. So now I want you to notice that it's very interesting because in verse 12 it says here, in verse 12, he sighed. He was like, you know, in Hebrew we say, he was kind of, you might say, he could see the hardness of their hearts. breathing heavy, he sighed deeply in his spirit.

He was so disappointed in the manner whereby the religious leaders of Israel who knew the word, who knew the scripture, who knew the promises of God, who had all that in their hands, in their history, should have accepted him, but did not accept him. It was a generation that simply have hardened their hearts. And that's why you notice it says in the same verse 12, beloved brothers and sisters, it says, sighed deeply in his spirit and he said, why does this generation seek after a sign? Verily I say unto you, there shall no sign be given unto this generation. Now do you know that the word in Hebrew, this generation is mentioned twice here in this text.

because it was the generation, the door, as we say in Hebrew, not D-O-O-R, in Hebrew it's a different spelling, the door, door in Hebrew means generation. This was a very privileged generation. In the midst of this generation, some 2000 years ago, about 2000 years ago, they were so privileged. They were the generation that have experienced, you might say, in the days where the Messiah was born. Generation before that, we're waiting for the Mashiach. When the Mashiach will come. Our forefathers have promised that the Messiah will come. Moses said the prophet like unto me. Isaiah said the virgin shall conceive and bear a son. And all the prophets of Israel have spoken about the Messiah will come, the Mashiach will come, the Messiah will come.

And finally when he came, it was that generation who did not accept him. And that's why, here he's very strong. He says, why does this generation, notice he doesn't say, why do people don't accept me? But notice he said, why does this generation, this particular privileged generation, why do they seek for a sign? Verily I say unto you, there will no sign be given unto this generation. Ador hazeh in Hebrew. Now it is interesting, because the Gospel of Matthew add another line or two to this very verse that we are reading here in Mark chapter 8, in verse 12. And I would like you for a moment to turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew.

And I want you to see what Matthew recorded, which Mark does not record here in Mark chapter 8. So if you go with me please to the Gospel of Matthew. First of all, I want you to read with me Matthew chapter 16. And in verses 1 to 4, notice the same scene, there it says in verse 1, then the Pharisees also, and then it add with the Sadducees, came and tempting, desired of him that he would show them a sign from heaven. Same situation, Matthew presented, especially because Matthew was written specifically for our Jewish people. from the mindset of the Jewish reader. And so he continued, and he says in verse 2, he answered and he said unto them, when it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red.

And in the morning, it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs of the times, he said to them. And then notice what he says in verse 4, a wicked and an adulterous generation, seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet. And he left them, and he departed. You see, Matityahu, Matai, had the word, not only there will no sign be given unto you, but he said, but only the sign of Jonah the prophet.

Now we just read the story, the passage that speaks about Jonah the prophet, and if you remember, Jonah the prophet was a disobedient Israeli prophet. Instead of listening to the word of God, when God told to Yonah, Yonah, I want you to go to Nineveh, and to preach to Nineveh, what did you not do? He didn't follow the Lord's instruction. He went down to Yaffo, and he went down into a boat, into a ship, and he went, and instead of going all the way to Nineveh, he went to another location, to Tarshish. And lo and behold, as he was inside that boat, that ship, the Lord sent a strong wind, and there was chaos there on that ship.

The ship was tossed to and fro, the sailors were in a chaotic situation, what shall we do? They went to Yonah, the prophet, and he was sleeping there, in the bottom of the boat. And they said to him, rise, what are you sleeping? Tell us, where are you from, and what are you doing? What is your occupation? And Yonah said, oh, I'm a Hebrew. And I fear the God of Heaven. And he says, I am simply fleeing from my God. And God, have allowed him to experience this, on that sea. And these sailors were wondering what to do. He says, you know what? Cast me into the sea, and it will calm down.

They didn't want to throw him to the sea. But finally, they obeyed him. And they cast him into the sea. And when they cast him into the sea, the sea come. And you know what God did, beloved brothers and sisters? He, in a supernatural way, as a creator God, prepared a fish, a dog in Hebrew. And that fish swallowed Jonah, and kept him in his belly, three days and three nights. Imagine, what an amazing. Now I know in the pictures, some people showed Jonah with the candles, reading his Bible, inside the belly of the fish. But beloved brothers and sisters, Jonah literally died. He didn't read the Bible with a candle, inside the belly of the fish.

He literally died, even though immediately, initially, he prayed, and he cried to God, as we read it in chapter 2, of the book of Jonah. But Jonah, Hanavi, became a picture of death. But not only of death. Because God, who controlled all this world, he said to the fish, "Fish, I want you to spew up Jonah into the shore." And lo and behold, he spewed, obeying God. The servant didn't obey God, but the fish obeyed God. And he cast him into the shore. And Jonah was three days, and three nights, in a fish's belly. And Jonah became a picture of death, burial, and resurrection. And that's why in Matthew chapter 16, Yeshua said to the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, a wicked and an adulterous generation, verse 4 of Matthew chapter 16, "Seeketh after a sign, but there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah." And then he left them, and he went away.

Now, just to add to that, and I don't want to miss that, go back to Matthew chapter 12, and you get additional information about that. In Matthew chapter 12, verse 38, 39, and 40, we learn that the Lord uses Yonah Hanaviz as a type of his death, burial, and resurrection. The Lord Yeshua using it himself. And so we read in Matthew chapter 12, and verse 38, "Then certain of the scribes and the Pharisees answered, saying, "Master, we would see a sign from you." "But he answered and said unto them, "An evil and an adulterous generation, seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Yonah." And notice that, verse 40, "For as Yonah was three days and three nights in the fish's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." You see, brothers and sisters, the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, clearly teach us the lesson that the experience of Jonah became a picture of the experience that he, the Mashiach, will experience in death, burial, and resurrection.

And so now we read, we are back into Mark chapter 8, and you notice now from the next verses on, verse 13, "After he left them and he gave them this instruction to this generation who should have accepted that he was the Messiah, but rejected his Messiahship." He says, "The only sign that I'm going to give to you, not some supernatural sign, but I'm going to give you the fact I will die, I will be buried, and I will rise again, and I am the Mashiach, the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world." The truth of the resurrection is being really taught here. And we have to be so thankful that we don't have a dead Mashiach, but we have a living Messiah who is now sitting at God's right hand and interceding on behalf of his own people.

He had been risen, he had been ascended, and he had been sitting at God's right hand. We know that today. But in the context where we are right now, he's still alive. He hasn't died yet. But he gave the sign of Yonah Hanavi. He gave the sign of Jonah the prophet. And so we read in verse 13, He said, "And he left them, and he entered into a ship, and again, and he went to the other side." You notice every time he's going from one side to another. He's going from one place to another, ministering around the Sea of Galilee to the people of Israel. So he crossed, he was right here on the western side there, and now he's crossing to the other side, but it's all within the Sea of Galilee, ministering to the Jewish people in the Galil.

So now we are entering into another interesting portion of Scripture. From verse 14 to verse 21, you can see that he warns his disciples who really were partially blinded. The Pharisees were totally blinded. But now his Talmidim, his disciples, who should have been already aware of the fact that he was the Messiah and understand the truth, but they also have a problem. Perhaps like you and I. We believe in Yeshua. We have accepted him as our Savior and our Lord. We have trusted that he is the Mashiach, that he is our Savior and Lord. But you know what? We don't always spiritually grow and appreciate who he is, what he has done, and trust him, and follow after him.

At times we have very limited understanding, because we are not often in fellowship with him, and all of us are to be blamed, because we all find ourselves a time in this condition. Well, here we can see the disciples are now being warned by the Messiah, and he specifically shows them how important it is to adhere to the truth of God. While the Pharisees rejected the truth of God, the disciples, it is essential for them to adhere to the truth of God. So we read from verse 14, it says there, "Now the disciples forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them any more than one loaf." Now, here we are, they are crossing to the other side, they are in the ship, in the boat, and they had only one loaf of bread, we call it Lechem in Hebrew.

They took it with them, and they are crossing to the other side. You notice what we read in verse 15, not even speaking about the bread, Yeshua himself now saying to them, he charged them, and he said unto those disciples, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod." And notice what he said in verse 16, they answered among themselves saying, "It is because we have no bread that he said this to us." You see, the disciples did not quite understand what Yeshua really meant when he said to them, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and the leaven of Herod." Now, beloved brothers and sisters, leaven in the Bible, or leaven in the history of our people Israel, always speaks of evil.

Leaven, if you know it, chametz, it's yeast, and when you put a yeast into a dough, the dough would rise. And it speaks of that which is evil, that which is wrong, that which is not right. In the Bible, we have many times, we find out that leaven sometimes represents false teaching, sometimes leaven represents moral sin, and sometimes leaven represents hypocrisy. You read it throughout Scripture. Leaven, spiritually speaking, we speak about false doctrine, false lifestyle, and hypocrisy that rises up among God's people. It can very well rise up in our own life. And Yeshua is now instructing his disciples, and he said to them, "You be careful." Notice he used twice the word here in verse 15.

"Take heed." Number one. Secondly, "Beware." And what he said, "Beware of the leaven," and he immediately direct them to the Pharisees, on the one hand, or the leaven of Herod. Why? Because the Pharisees represented legality, the Pharisees represented that which is doctrinally error and wrong, and Herod with the Herodian represented liberalism, looseness. It takes the whole two sides, you might say, of the equation. Be careful for false teaching, but also be careful for false practices. Be careful not to be religious without reality. And on the other hand, be careful don't be liberal and do anything you wish. Be careful. And you notice, by the way, he was mentioning here in that verse 15, the leaven of the Pharisees, but also the leaven of Herod.

Who was Herod? We just read in one of our studies earlier, Herod was the one, if you remember, that he took his half-brother's wife, Herodian, and then he allowed her daughter to dance before him. And then he was influenced by the daughter's dancing, and he says, "Ask for me, and I'll give you half of my kingdom." And Herodias asked her daughter to request from him that he will take John Yohanan, John the baptizer's head, and bring him in a platter. And Herod, you know what he did? He sent and he beheaded Yohanan HaMadbil, and he brought it to his wife that he took, the wife of his brother, and to her daughter.

He was a wicked man. And many followed after him and after his own way. He speaks of the worldliness and carnality, while the Pharisees speaks of religious devotion, such a thing per se, and they will really have a different type of living. And you know, I want to mention that how we, every one of us, need to always be aware of the two extremes. On the one hand, the leaven of the false doctrine and teaching that may rise up among the people of God today. And then on the other hand, the false liberalism that we are being influenced by everything go, you are saved by grace, we can carry on in our own life, we are free, we can do what we want.

After all, God loves us and the Messiah died for us. In fact, I would like to read a verse for you in the epistle of John. First, John, chapter 4, and verse 1. The apostle Yohanan said, "Beloved," verse 1, "Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God, many false prophets have gone out into the world." He is warning the disciples, the brothers and sisters, the apostle John, in 1 John, chapter 4. Notice in 2 John, and then in verse 7, it says, "For many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Yeshua the Messiah is come in the flesh." This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

"Look to yourself," Yohanan is saying, "that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresses abides not in the doctrine of the Messiah has not God. But he that abides in the doctrine of the Messiah, he has both the Father and the Son." You know, the Bible is filled with warning that God had given to us, to Israel in the past, to the body of Messiah today, and to every individual in the world in the company of those that believe on the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Be careful of the doctrine of the Pharisees, be careful of the teaching of Herod, be careful, beware, because this is leaven.

Leaven is evil. Evil is scattered and spread like seeds among God's people. Therefore, he says, beware of that. And you see, there was already, as far as he was concerned, leaven, even at the time that he was on earth before he died. And of course, we know very well what happened over the generation of the church age. How much leaven, you might say. False doctrine that had been introduced among God's people and false practices that cause the people of God to sway and not to be balanced and healthy, growing spiritually and serving the Lord. And we are all at fault. Because we know our hearts, how at times it's reaching us and when we are not watching it.

That's why the word beware, be careful. It's like a mother saying to her daughter or to her son, don't cross the road without looking left and right and left because something's going to happen. And Yeshua is teaching the disciples, he says, be careful. Do not allow the leaven of the Pharisees of Herod to come into your lives. Well, he continued, beloved brothers and sisters. And he says in verse 16 that they reasoned among themselves. You see, the disciples, though they believed in Yeshua, but they still lacked in understanding. And so they reasoned among themselves and they said, is it because that we have not brought bread with us?

They said, you remember, we just read earlier that they only brought one loaf of bread. And now that Yeshua said to them, be careful from the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod, they were assuming that he's saying, wow, wow, you should have brought more bread on the boat. He didn't bring bread enough. He was thinking spiritually, they were thinking physically. They were thinking of the leaven of the evil doctrine of the Pharisees and the evil practices of the Herodian, while they were thinking of simply a loaf of bread. So Yeshua said to them, and here he's answering to them in verse 17 and 18. He gave them six-fold statements that he said to his really blinded disciples.

Notice this six-fold statement in verse 17 and 18. When Yeshua knew it, he saith unto them, number one, number one, why do you reason because you have no bread? Number two, perceive ye not yet, neither do you understand? Number three, have ye your heart yet hardened? Number four, verse 18, having eyes, do you not see? Verse 18b, this is number five, have ye ears and yet you do not hear? And finally in verse 18 at the end, number six, and do ye not remember? You see, he told them these six statements to awaken their conscience. He wanted to awaken, he said, why do you reason among yourselves? Don't you yet understand?

How come that your heart is so hardened? That was his disciples. He is training them, he is teaching them, he is taking them with him. They saw the 5,000 fed with five loaves of bread. He saw the 4,000 being fed with seven loaves of bread. He says, I don't understand why is it that you are so hardened? And you see, brothers and sisters, there are two types of blindness that we might have here in this world. There is the natural blindness that we all have because we were born in sin. 1 Corinthians 2 says, the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God because there are foolishness unto him.

He is not a believer, he cannot even receive it, neither can he. The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. But there is another type of blindness, it's still kind of natural you might say, not out of simply lack of entering into the relationship that one had been brought into. See, it's one thing to become a believer and say hallelujah, praise the Lord, I am saved, I am going to heaven. But it is another thing to be a believer who walks in fellowship with the Lord. Who enjoys fellowship with the Lord. Don't you feel sometimes that we are saved, yes, our saints have been forgiven. But there is no spiritual energy, there is no growth in our life.

And we wonder, why is it happening? It's not because God is not willing to bless us and to give us and to minister to us. Because we are so carnal, lacking spiritual energy, lacking the importance of having fellowship with the Lord. We can apply this to our hearts. I am speaking for myself. We know that, we know that. And Satan desires to cause us to be blind in a sense that we don't enjoy our relationship with the Lord. Even though we have truly have accepted Yeshua as the Messiah. Apparently these disciples followed him. He has already sent them. They have performed miracles among the nation of Israel.

They were his own. He chose them. But he said to them, why do you reason among yourself? Because there is no bread. Why you don't perceive? Why you don't understand? Have ye your heart yet so hardened? Having eyes to see you see not? Having ears but you don't hear? Don't you remember what we have done already in the past? How is it true that when we look at our life back and we see how God was so faithful to us. But when we look in the future ahead of us, we get so disappointed we don't trust the Lord for the future. We read verses. We know the verses.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding in all thy way. Acknowledge him and he will direct our path. And yet when the test is coming and the trial is coming and the challenge is coming, we just don't trust the Lord. And so the Lord is challenging his own disciples. He told them earlier, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And now when they didn't understand that he means be careful how to walk. Don't allow false teaching into your life. Don't allow false practices into your life. Seek to live for me. In other words, seek to follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

And here, apparently they didn't grasp what happened here. Those are the disciples of the Lord. But brothers and sisters, he asked them now two questions to help them. You know, it's nice that the Lord doesn't throw away his people whom he saves. That's so beautiful. Yesterday, I enjoyed those of us that were here in the Bible class. We talked about Isaiah chapter 43. And how God said to our forefathers in Israel, he says, you know what? I'm going to punish you. I'm going to send you to Babel. But I'm going to restore you back to myself. And I'm not doing it for your sake. I do it for my sake.

Because he loved the people whom he have chosen. He loves you and me whom he have chosen. He does things for his own sake, even though we don't deserve it. That's the kind of God we have. And so in verses 19 and 20, he asked a two-fold question. Notice verse 19. When I break the five loaves among the 5,000, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up? And they said to him, 12. Then he said, and when the seven among the 4,000, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up? And they said seven. He reminded them of the past. And it's so interesting because when he fed the 5,000, there were 5,000 Jewish men.

When he fed the 4,000, there were 4,000 goyim, Gentile individuals. And he reminded them how he blessed the multitude and he met their need. 5,000 and 4,000 and there was even left over. There was much more than a blessing. There were 12 baskets left when he fed the Jewish multitude earlier. And there were seven baskets left when he fed the Gentile multitude. In other words, what he's really teaching them, I'm able to meet your need. I'm able to feed the multitude and there is even left over that you can use for yourself. And you know, there's a great lesson that we learned from the number 12 and the number 7 in these two occasions.

There were 12 baskets left when he fed the multitude in the land of Israel. And there were seven baskets left when he fed the multitude among the nations. Which really represent of the faithfulness of God, both to the nation of Israel, to the 12 tribes of our people Israel. And the nations of the world, the number 7, speak of full number, complete number, the fullness of God. And his intention is to bring a blessing to all the world, the nation of Israel and the nations of the world. He's faithful to his own word. His plan will surely come to pass as we learn here from this passage. And now quickly, beloved brothers and sisters, in verse 21, he said unto them, How is it that you do not understand?

You should have understand. Look back, we met 5,000 men, 12 baskets left, 4,000 individuals, 7 baskets left. You should understand when I tell you, be careful from the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod and the Herodian. I'm simply speaking, watch and don't allow yourself to be influenced by false doctrine and false practices, which we are capable if we are not careful and watching ourselves and getting the help from the Lord himself. Now, to summarize all this, verses 22 of Mark chapter 8 to verse 26, it illustrates the lack of spiritual discernment that they had. And he illustrates that in the situation that happened here with the blind man. This occasion of Mark 8, verse 22 to 26, the healing of the blind man, I believe it is one of the only occasions where healing happened gradually rather than immediately.

But here in this occasion, verses 22 to 26, there is a healing that didn't happen in an instant way. There was a gradual healing. And I believe that that serves to teach us the gradual alertness and spiritual understanding that we and that the disciples would have, those that follow him. It doesn't come in an instant way. There is a gradual growth and appreciation of the things of the Lord. And so, just notice that in verses 22 to 26, the healing of the blind man, which illustrates the gradual understanding of the disciples. It says in verse 22 and verse 23, we find out the doing of Yeshua to this man that was blind.

We read, he cometh unto Beit Tzayda, and they bring a blind man unto him, and they besought him to touch him. So what Yeshua is doing, in verse 23, he took the blind man by the hand, he led him out of the town, this is the town of Beit Tzayda, and when he took him out, he spit on his eyes, and he put hands upon him, and he asked him what he saw. Interesting, he take the blind man that they brought to him, he removing out of the town, this is the town of Beit Tzayda, he spit straight to his face. And then he touched him, and he asked him, what do you see, what do you see?

And you know what we read here in verse 24? He looked up, this blind man, and he said, I see men as trees walking. He doesn't see clear. Oh yeah, he sees men, but they appear like vaguely, like trees, and these men are walking. But he doesn't see clear. He doesn't see 100%, you might say. And this illustrates the fact that he did not immediately came to see clearly. He doesn't see clearly, there's like a veil still, but he sees a movement, but the movement of people looks like movement of trees walking. And then notice that, beloved brothers and sisters, we said that this healing didn't happen immediately, it happened gradually.

In the next verse, verse 25, we see that he put his hand again upon his eyes, and he made him look up, and notice what happened to this man. He was restored. And he saw, notice, every man clearly. Interesting, isn't it? You know what we really learned here from this passage, is that we, even though we are spiritually alert, we are not blind, like the unbelieving world, that we read in Scripture the God of this world, that blinded the mind of them that believe not, lest their glorious gospel should shine unto them. This is the world. But we were enlightened, we received the Messiah, the disciples have accepted the Messiah, but they need to grow spiritually.

And it takes some time. And we need so much time with each other, because we don't all know all things. Some of us know more than others. Some of us are more in their spiritual walk with the Lord, have better understanding than others. And we need to help each other. And here we can see what happened to this man is exactly what illustrates that which has happened to the disciples. They already believed in Yeshua the Messiah. They have already followed him. They have left their families and so on. They paid a price, you might say. But they still were blinded by unbelief, by lack of understanding and lack of nearness to the Lord.

And so, there in the beginning, I see men walking as trees, vaguely. Then he touched him again, verse 25. Oh, I see every man clearly. I think it's so precious. When you see things clearer, as you grow spiritually in your walk with the Lord, as we grow spiritually in our walk with the Lord. What we could not understand earlier become more precious to our hearts. And we are able now to understand, yes, Lord, I understand why this is so necessary to happen. You see, brothers and sisters, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the rest of the Herodians did not believe that Yeshua is the Messiah. But they would not even believe that he had to come, to die, to be buried, and to rise again in order to be the Redeemer, the Savior of Israel and the Savior of this world.

They needed to understand it, but they rejected it. They were blinded. They were naturally blinded, but eventually they were judicially blinded. But the disciples, the shlichim, the talmidim, they already belonged to the Messiah. You and I, we already belong to the Messiah. We have accepted him. I trust that all of us have accepted him here in this room. And we will gradually grow and appreciate, see things clearer and clearer as we are occupied with the person of Yeshua, the Messiah. That is why we are coming to a Bible classes. This is why we need to be under the sound of the word in ministry meeting.

This is why we need a time of prayer and fellowship with believers so we can grow spiritually to see clearly, to see clearly the things of the Lord. And so look at the conclusion of this. In verse 26, Yeshua said to this man, notice he said, "Do not tell it to anyone what happened to you." I mean, can you imagine? The fellow was blind. And now you are telling him in verse 26, he sent him to his own house and he said, "Neither go into the town nor tell it to any in the town." Now how can you go to a house and not tell it to anyone?

John 9 says, "Once I was blind, now I see." And many times he said, "Don't tell anybody, don't tell anybody, don't tell anybody." The reason that Yeshua said it, it's not because he didn't want anyone to understand that he was the Mashiach, the Messiah, the Savior. No, of course he wanted. But he does not want people to come to him only on the ground of a healer, fix my body, fix my pain, fix my this and my that. He wanted people to come to him on the ground of the fact that he is indeed the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior, the Redeemer, who loved us and came for the express purpose that sinners can be saved and have forgiveness of sins and have eternal relationship with the Lord.

That's the reason why he told him, "Neither go into the town nor tell it to anyone in the town." And I want to close with that. The town of Bethsaida was a very, very privileged town. And the problem with Bethsaida is Bethsaida did not acknowledge that Yeshua was the Messiah. And perhaps one of the reasons why he said, "Don't tell it to the town," is because the judgment was ready to come on a town that rejected his Messiahship. In Matthew 11 and verse 21 we read, "Woe unto you Korazin, and woe unto you Bethsaida." "For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and in ashes.

But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you." You see, when someone hears about the Messiahship and refuses and refuses and refuses and refuses and refuses to accept him, a judgment has to come. Because God, through the Messiahship, God, through the Mashiach, had pronounced judgment on Bethsaida because they had the privilege of having the Mashiach in their midst. And you might say the vast majority did not accept him and rejected him. But a day of judgment will come. As it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment.

And so the warning is for us all. One who rejects the offer of God through Yeshua the Messiah will have to face the consequence. Sin has to be judged. And God is holy. He must judge sin. And if someone refuses to accept him as the Mashiach, this person, unfortunately, we have to experience the judgment of God. So our prayer is, first of all, that all of us here are believers. Secondly, that all of us will grow spiritually. We can help each other to mature and to grow spiritually. That we will be like this man. I see other people like trees walking first. But now I see men clearly.

I see clearly 20-20 vision. May the Lord, brothers and sisters, help us to grasp the truth that Yeshua the Messiah is teaching us here in this chapter. Can we say amen to that?