I remember as a much younger
man, seems like yesterday, only as a man grows older can you
understand what the psalmist meant when he said that life
is as a vapor. It vanishes away. It's as the
grass, which is grown up and then when the noonday sun comes,
it withers. And we are all passing away. Some say that's a morbid thought.
And to a young person, the last thing on earth they want to think
about is the mortality that they have. And as men get older, they
try to put it out of their mind. But the reality is that every
breath that we take brings us one step closer to that last
breath that the Lord will give us. And we shall take our flight
from this realm into his very presence. I started off by saying I remember
as a younger man listening to a radio broadcast that came on
on Sunday evenings about 11 o'clock at night. It was on a clear channel
station. It was on an AEM station out
of Cincinnati, Ohio. And I heard things preached on
that that I'd never heard in my life. And it was a blessing
to me. And every Sunday evening when
I could, I would turn that on and listen. A lot of times you
couldn't pick it up real good, but most of the time you could.
And they advertised a record, I can tell you how long ago that
was, that had some singing on it. And that song we just sung
there, Dark and Thorny is the Desert, was one of the songs
on that record. I'd never heard a song like that
in my life. And it has remained to me a great
blessing and I believe a strength as we think on those things that
are set forth in it. I don't even know who wrote it.
I've tried to find out over the years, but it seems to be lost
in time. You know, oftentimes men think
that they will set forth memorials and they'll be remembered, but
what difference does it make who actually wrote that? Because God was the one that
gave that to someone, gave those thoughts, and they wrote them
down, And he didn't give it to them so they might be remembered,
but he gave it to them so that the Savior might be exalted. And may that be our desire this
day, as we come together, that we have no other desire. I cringe when I go places And
somebody comes up to me and asks me, am I the preacher? And I don't know how to answer
that. Some might say I'm a preacher,
and sometimes I feel like I'm a preacher. But that word is
fraught with so many things in people's minds, like somebody
that's a preacher, that they're something special. Preaching
is a gift from God. man can't preach unless he's
sent. And because a man has preached one time doesn't mean he's going
to preach again. And so that's why I'm reluctant
to say I'm a preacher because I don't know if I'll ever preach
again. I believe I have preached. I believe I've been sent to preach
from time to time. But only as the Lord enables
a man can he preach the Word of God. Now I can get up here
and talk to you for long as you want me to talk. You know, that's
not a problem. I mean, I can talk about a lot
of stuff, but preaching's different than talking. Preaching's different
than teaching. Teaching's good. Gotta have it.
Need it. But only as the Lord, in his
mercy and kindness, is pleased to send forth his message through
the lips of a preacher can we hear the Word of God. And may
He do so this day. We're looking here in Chapter
8 of Mark. Chapter 8 of Mark. It says, In
those days, the multitude, being very great, having nothing to
eat, Jesus called His disciples unto Him, and saith unto them,
I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with
me three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away
fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way, for
divers of them came from far. And his disciples answered him,
From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in
the wilderness? And he asked them, how many loaves
have you? And they said seven. And he commanded
the people to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven
loaves and gave thanks and break and gave to his disciples to
sit before them. And they did set them before
the people. And they had a few small fishes
and he blessed and commanded to set them also before them.
So they did eat and were filled. And they took up of the broken
meat that was left seven baskets. And they that had eaten were
about 4,000 and he sent them away. And straightway he entered
into a ship with his disciples and came to the parts of Dalmanutha. 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 said, 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 the 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 Jesus 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? And do ye not remember? When
I break the five loaves among five thousand, How many baskets
full of fragments took ye up? They said unto him, Twelve. And
when the seven among 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 Bethsaida, and they bring a blind man to him, and
he besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by
the hand, led him out of the town, and when he had spit upon
his eyes and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw anything,
if he saw all or anything. And he looked up and said, I
see men as trees walking. After that he put his hands again
upon his eyes and 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 the town. And Jesus went out and his disciples
into the towns of Caesarea Philippi, and by the way he asked his disciples,
saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And they answered,
John the Baptist. But some say Elias, and others
one of the prophets. And he saith unto them, But whom
say ye that I am? And Peter answered, And saith
unto him, Thou art the Christ. And he charged them that they
should tell no man of him. And he began to teach them that
the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected of the
elders and of the chief priests and scribes and be killed and
after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly,
and Peter took him and began to rebuke him. And when he had
turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter,
saying, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savest not the things
that be of God, but the things that be of men. And when he had
called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto
them, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and
take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his
life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake
and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit
a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be
ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful
generation, of him also shall the son of man be ashamed when
he cometh in the glory of his father with the holy angels. Now in this, chapter we see somewhat
of a continuation of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ as he
walked among men and the fact that he went about teaching and
gathering great crowds unto himself. Now that's the goal of preachers
today by and large is to get great crowds. I mean a man thinks
he's really done something if he's got him a great crowd. The
Lord Jesus Christ didn't really care to gather great crowds. In fact, He often tried to avoid
them. He went off into desert places,
but the people followed unto Him. He wasn't trying to gain
a following as He walked among men. What He came to do was to
do His Father's will and to declare the truth of God to all who would
listen. And so he was often beset or
gathered around by these crowds. And he had compassion on them.
He says, I had compassion on the multitude. They've been with
me now for three days. Think about that. They had been
sitting under the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ for three
days. They've been there in his midst.
I don't know what all went on. I get in my mind a picture. You
know, isn't it amazing how we get to squirming and worrying
about, we've been here, oh man, we've been here for 30 minutes.
Or we've been here for an hour. I mean, it's just ridiculous.
You know, when the Lord gives men a desire to hear the Word
of God, time doesn't mean anything to them. You know that's true
in any of the pursuits that you have in this world. When you're
doing something that you really like, time doesn't mean anything
to you. You know, I've heard of people
sitting down and watching a TV program and getting so involved
in it that they just watch for six, seven hours watching TV. You know, because they just get
caught up in it. If you sit down and watch a ball
game, I mean, you're gonna sit there and you're gonna just be
enraptured by that thing for whatever time, because that's
what a man seeks after, is the thing that will satisfy him.
And so it is that these people had been with the Lord Jesus
for three days, hearing him teach. And the Lord had compassion on
them. And he said they don't have anything to eat. Now, probably
some of them took some stuff with them, but I mean, you know,
after three days, it's hard to carry enough stuff with you to
eat for three days, especially if you're just out in the middle
of nowhere. And so they didn't have anything to eat. Probably
a lot of them had been without something to eat for quite some
time. And he says, if I send them away fasting to their own
houses, they will faint by the way. He said, they've gone as
far as they can go. And the Lord will never bring a man farther
than he can go. because he'll undergird him with
strength. You remember when Moses, when the nice children of Israel
were in a battle, I forget who it was, they were fighting. But
as long as Moses' arms were held up, the children of Israel prevailed.
And when they started to flag down, they would start being
defeated. And so I think Joshua, and I
forget who else, Aaron maybe, held up the arms of Moses. And so that demonstrates the
weakness of men. I mean, you can't hold your arms
up but so long. And the Lord knows your weakness.
He knows that you are flesh. And he will not lead you or demand
of you that more than you can bear. That's what Paul said,
that he will not bring upon us more than we can bear, but he
will with the temptation make a way that you might escape.
But anyway, the Lord had compassion on these people and he asked
the disciples, now why did the Lord, there's a lot of reasons
why the Lord did a lot of the things that he did, but the primary
reason that he did the things that he did was to teach his
disciples. So he did all these things in
order to bring his disciples. Because while he taught the multitudes,
it was to those whom he chose out from the multitude that he
specifically would instruct with his word. He taught them things
that he didn't give to others. And so he asked the disciples,
or he said, you know, we need to feed these people. And his
disciples said, well, where are we gonna get the food? Now, this
is an amazing thing because not too long before this, he had
fed 5,000 men, not including the women and children, with
five loaves and two fishes. Now, you would think, would you
not, that the disciples would have thought, well, nothing to
it. I mean, here, just feed these people. You can do it, Lord.
But you see, men, the Lord said, if you have faith as a grain
of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, be removed
and cast into the sea. Now a lot of people look at that
and they think, oh, well, we need to get us some of that faith,
buddy. We're gonna get up this faith. And a lot of people think
they have that kind of faith. But what the Lord was teaching
was that men don't have faith. Because if you had faith, you
could do that, but you don't. And that's what the Lord was
teaching was not how you could get faith or what you could do
if you got faith, but he was teaching men that they don't
have faith. And he's teaching his disciples
a valuable lesson here as we will see. And his disciples answered,
what are we going to do? He said, well, how many loaves
do you have? It's almost as if he said, He shook his head. Here you had
five loaves and two fishes. I fed the people. Well, how many
loaves do you have? I know he didn't say it like
that, no doubt, but he asked them this question. They said seven. Now that was
more than they had the first time. So they should have, should
they not? I mean, you know, people say,
oh man, if I'd have been there with the Lord, I'd have believed.
No, you wouldn't. You'd have been just like them.
You'd have been dull of hearing and the Lord would have said,
can you feel? And you'd have said, Lord, I don't know what we're
gonna do. Because every time we face some obstacle in our
life, it's not the first thing that we do say, oh no, what can
we do? Oh, we're in, oh my. Look, the
Lord is the one who's gonna solve the problem here. He brought
them there so He could solve that problem, so He could demonstrate
to them that He could solve the problem. And so it is, that doesn't
make any difference what obstacle is in our way. May the Lord,
by His grace, give us minds to understand that He alone can
solve this problem. And He's brought these things
upon us that not so that we might learn how to solve the problem,
but that we might learn to wait upon the Lord, that He might
solve the problem. Now He may, He will no doubt,
in many cases, in most cases, use natural things to bring these
things to pass. But our first place of refuge
is always to look unto him for guidance and help. And so he
commanded them to sit down and they had a few fishes as well.
And he blessed it, he gave it to them, same way he did with
the 5,000 and they were filled. And they picked up what was left
and had seven baskets full. And they that had eaten were
about 4,000. He sent them away. And he entered into a ship with
his disciples, and they came to the parts of Dalmanutha. Now,
this is a different scenario. And the Pharisees when he got
to Dalmanutha, parts of Dalmanutha, which is a region of that country. And the Pharisees came forth,
began to question him, seeking from him a sign from heaven,
tempting him. Isn't that the way men are by
nature? We want to see something. See,
men want to see things. And so it is, religion, is a
place that men like to see things. And of course, there's no shortage
of miracle workers in the land. They go about, if you listen
to them, they'll tell you that they can perform miracles and
do all sorts of things. And they do signs and wonders.
I've been in some meetings before in my lifetime when these supposed
miracles took place and people's legs was lengthened and people's
backs got better and all this kind of stuff. And the amazing
thing is, next time you saw them, their back was hurting. You know,
look, when the Lord does something, he does something. And we'll
see him heal a blind man. Now, I guarantee if you'd come
back next week after he healed that blind man, that blind man
was still being able to see. He wasn't temporarily healed,
but he was healed. And so, men come looking for
signs. They want to see things. They
want to have dreams and visions. And you're all happy, well, the
Lord told me this. Well, I can't say the Lord didn't
tell you something. I can't tell anybody that the
Lord didn't tell you, because I wasn't there. And I don't know
what the Lord may do or how He may appear unto you. But I'm
telling you this, if you go about in your life seeking a sign,
you are going to be greatly disappointed. Because signs, even if you get
one, you're going to be wondering 20 minutes later, well, was that
really a sign from the Lord? You remember Gideon? I mean,
he said, Lord, if you really want me to go do this, I'm going
to put this fleece out here, and if you'll cause it to have
dew everywhere on the ground, but no dew on the fleece, then
I'll know that you sent me. Well, that happened. And what'd
he do? He said, well, Lord, you know,
I saw that, but you know, it could have been that that just
happened that way. He said, this time, he said,
what I want you to do is I want you to put dew on the fleas and
let the ground be dry. And that happened. I still think
probably in Gideon's mind he was a little bit doubtful. Why?
Because men doubt. I mean, seeing a sign is a thing.
I mean, I've seen some things I couldn't explain in my life,
things that have taken place, but they don't have any lasting
use to you. I mean, they're here and they're
gone. You forgot about it. See, people don't believe because
of signs and miracles. The Lord used signs and miracles
to bring attention to what He said, not so that men might say,
oh, He's a great miracle worker. Now, in the flesh, you see, men
followed Him for the loaves and fishes. They followed Him because
they saw these miracles. Because this evil generation,
as He said, that you seek for a sign, you want to see something.
But He said, what you need to do is listen. Now he told in
another place when they asked this same thing, and perhaps
even the same instance, he said there will be a sign given. He
said it will be the sign of the prophet Jonah. As Jonah was three
days and three nights in the grave, or in the belly of the
earth, or in the whale's belly, he said, so shall the son of
man be in the earth. That is the sign. If you want
a sign, if you really want to seek a sign, go to look at that
empty tomb, and that tells you all you need to know that Jesus
Christ is risen from the dead, that He is the Savior, and that
He will come and receive those whom He has purchased unto Himself. But He said to them, this evil
generation seeks a sign, And the disciples, and he left them. He didn't spend a lot of time
with them. The Lord didn't waste his time with the Pharisees. He pretty much shut them up and
went on his way. He didn't spend a lot of time
sitting around reasoning with them. And he said to his disciples,
don't cast your pearls before swine. You know, don't waste
your time. I mean, if men are not desirous
of hearing the word of God, you can't put it down their throat.
As a younger man, I used to think, buddy, if I can get in here and
I can just have this argument with this guy and I can show
him what the truth is, he'll just melt down and say, man,
that's right. I'm still waiting for that to
happen. You see, that doesn't happen.
It's because men are hard-hearted by nature, and except the Lord
open the heart, they cannot see, and they don't have any desire
to. And so he left them and the disciples, and they got into
a ship again and were going, they often traveled by ship,
even though they were maybe just up the coast, they would go by
ship because it was easier to get in the ship and go than it
was to walk. They could go quicker by that
way. But anyway, so they were in the
ship and the Lord said to them, or the disciples said, we don't
have any bread. And they were reasoning among
themselves, well what are we going to do? And the Lord said,
take heed, beware the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven
of Herod. And they thinking, as men will
think, carnally, They said, well, he's warning us about going and
buying bread from the Pharisees or Herod. And the Lord said,
look, so why are you worrying about having no bread? Don't
you know that I can make bread out of nothing? I can multiply
bread in a moment. That's nothing to that. How is it that you do not understand? Why is that? because he said
you have hardened your hearts. Men, you don't have to do anything
to harden your heart. See, the scripture says Pharaoh
hardened his heart because that was the natural state that he
was in. See, he hardened his heart because that was what Pharaoh
was. But the scripture also says that
the Lord hardened his heart. And which was it? Well, it was
both. You see, the Lord hardened Pharaoh's
heart in the hardness of Pharaoh's heart. The Lord doesn't harden
a man's heart who's seeking to know the way of God. The Lord
hardens the hearts of those that will not seek after God. Because
if a man, by the grace of God, has been given a tender heart
to seek after Him, the Lord will not turn around then and harden
man's heart where he can't know the Lord, will He? I mean, if
the Lord awakens a man to seek after Him and gives him a hunger
and a thirst for the things of God, will the Lord then turn
His back on him? No, a thousand times no. He's
a God of mercy and kindness. And those in whom He begins a
work of grace, He will finish it. He which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Now we're coming to, I'm going
to stop right here. because we're coming to kind
of a break in things. He's gonna restore the sight
to a blind man, but we've kind of run out of time and I don't
want to overstay my welcome. But may the Lord give us minds and
hearts when we recount the things that we have seen. and heard
from the lips of the Lord through His Word and be as those who desire for
the Lord to lead them, not go about trying to figure out the
way on our own to go about what we need to do. brother al touched on it there
a minute ago you know it's uh... it's just a natural thing to
react to the way other people that's just natural and it's
natural for us to think that we are justified in reacting
the way we do to other people if we're in the right especially only as the lord gives a man
an understanding can he learn As the Lord said, if a man smites
you on the right cheek, turn to him the left. Now that's the
thing totally contrary to the reasoning of men, is it not?
I can't think of anything that is more contrary to the natural
thought of man than that. I've heard many people say, well,
the Lord, He just didn't understand, you know what? Well, no, the
Lord did understand. That's why He taught men that,
because He knew that men could not and would not do that by
nature. But that's what He told us to
do, is it not? I mean, did He not demonstrate the same? When
He was reviled, He reviled not again. When He was persecuted,
He prayed for those that despitefully used Him. Oh, that the Lord might
give us such a mind and heart that we might be the followers
of Christ, not just those that say we are, but say that we might
demonstrate that we are the children of God by the grace of God. Only He can bring such things
to pass in us.