QUESTIONS THAT JESUS ASKED

Mark Chapter Eight

Sermon of the Week #200608—February 24, 2006

Ladies and Gentlemen, in the eighth chapter of the gospel according to Mark the Lord Jesus taught the people, both then and now, by asking questions. So here are some of the questions. The first one is when He asked the Apostles, “How many loaves have ye?”

HOW MANY LOAVES HAVE YE?

Now that is a very simple question. It needs a very simple answer, and a simple answer is what they gave. They said, “Seven loaves and a few small fishes.” Jesus looked at the four thousand people and gave thanks to God for the seven loaves and the few small fishes. Why would He give thanks to God for such a small amount, when four thousand hungry people needed to be fed? What can be done with such a small amount? The answer is very simple. When Jesus needs something to be done, He is always willing to use what He has on hand. When David went out to fight Goliath, he did not have an elephant gun or a bazooka. All he had was a sling, and God said, “I think I can work with that.” In the hands of Jesus any unlikely instrument can be used to work a miracle.

When Jesus asked, “How many loaves have ye?” they said that they had seven and a few small fishes. Jesus no doubt thought, “If that is all you have, I think I can work with that.” Now what does this question mean to us today? We are faced with the challenge of the Great Commission. How can you, as an individual, or how can your congregation respond to that challenge?

Considering the population of billions in the world it may seem hopeless. Remember the Apostles on the Mount of Olives when Jesus ascended, leaving them with orders for worldwide conquest? Any eleven of us at this moment has on our persons more money than they had when Jesus gave them these orders for worldwide conquest. Yet they never asked, “Where are the resources coming from?” They knew they were talking to the risen Lord, and if He could raise the dead, raising the money was a minor problem. How many loaves do you have? A definition of a modern-day miracle in four words is MAN’S BEST, GOD BLEST. How many loaves have Ye?

There is one suggestive statement at the end of this episode. Mark says that Jesus did something at the close of this miracle that makes me wonder if there was a hidden meaning. He said, “When Jesus fed the multitudes, He sent them away.” Now I understand that, but was he not also speaking to us as Christians as we eat of the loaf and drink of the cup, and feed on the bread of life in the preaching of the Word? Does He not also send us forth; send us forth into the mission field of our school or the mission field of the work place? Every person who has heard the gospel is either a missionary or a mission field.

WHY DOTH THIS GENERATION SEEK A SIGN?

Now here is question number two, “Why doth this generation seek a sign?” That is another good question; people are always looking for signs. These people in Mark chapter eight had seen many signs and yet they were not satisfied. They wanted more. They had seen the dead raised, the multitudes had been fed, the demons had been cast out, the lepers had been cleansed, and yet they ask for a sign.

There are many signs today about Jesus but the signs are not what people desire to see. There is the sign of the existence of the Church. The Lord’s Supper is a sign of the death of Christ on the cross. If that feast does not remind us of the death of Christ, it is a meaningless practice. Sunday continually reminds us that Jesus arose from the dead. The scripture reminds us of the meeting of the saints on Sunday. In Acts twenty we read, “And upon the first day of the week we were gathered together to break bread.” In First Corinthians sixteen, Paul reminds the church about a special offering that was to be collected on the first day of the week. John in Revelation one says, “He was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.”

The calendar is a witness for Jesus. Everything that happens is BC (before Christ) or AD (in the year of our Lord).  I wonder why we do not make a new calendar? The one we now have discriminates against the atheists who don’t believe in God.

Paul reminds us in Romans one, the creation itself is a witness for God when he says, “For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived by the things that are made, even His everlasting power and divinity that they may be without excuse.”

A few verses later Paul gives the reason for unbelief when he says, “Professing themselves to be wise they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the glory of man and beasts and creeping things.” These are real signs that tell us all we need to know about the signs of the times. Why doth this generation seek a sign?

DO YE NOT YET REMEMBER?

Another question Jesus asked was when He said to the Apostles on a boat trip across the Sea of Galilee, “And do ye not remember?” They had forgotten to take bread. They did have one loaf and that was not enough to feed twelve hungry men, plus the Lord. They had seen Jesus feed the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes. They had seen Jesus feed four thousand with seven loaves and a few fishes. Now here they are, only thirteen altogether with one loaf of bread and it never occurred to them that the Lord could do it again. Think of it! He could feed thousands but they could not see how He could feed thirteen. That is why Jesus asked that question, “And do ye not yet remember?”

That is a good question we can ponder regarding our progress in the ongoing of the Kingdom of God. Sometimes I think we won’t be able to pay the bills on this broadcast. The Lord asks, “Do ye not yet remember? I have supplied your needs for over forty years. Do you think that all of a sudden, I am unable to do it?” “Yes, Lord, I know you did it twenty years ago and ten years ago, but I am worried. I am not sure you can keep it up.” My lack of faith says that He used to do it, but sometimes I doubt that He can do it again.

Do ye not yet remember? Have you forgotten the confession that you made when you said that Jesus was the Christ the Son of the living God? How come you can miss the Lord’s Supper any time without any qualms at all? Do ye not yet remember?

Do you not yet remember that you were ordained to the office of elder? In a recent revival at a Church they had five elders. Four of them were faithful to their ordination. A fifth had a perfect attendance record, I was told, of about twenty years for Sunday school, but he never attends the Church services. I was told he misses the Lord’s Supper week after week. Has he forgotten that he was ordained to shepherd the flock? Elders, do ye not yet remember? Deacons, do ye not yet remember? Preachers, do ye not yet remember?

Lord, I know that you told us, “Give and it should be given us pressed down and running over shall men give unto your bosom.” But Lord, in this day of inflation when a family has to have two jobs to stay afloat, are you sure you can still do it?” Do ye not yet remember?

SEEST THOU OUGHT?

The next question on the docket is when Jesus asked a blind man brought to Him, “Seest thou ought?” They had brought to Jesus a man that was blind and asked him to heal him. He took him by the hand and led him out of the village and when He spit in his eyes, Jesus asked the blind man that question, “Seest thou ought?” He said, “I see men as trees walking.” He touched him again, and this time he had twenty-twenty vision.

This is the only miracle that the Lord worked in stages. Most of the time, today when the Lord answers our prayers regarding sickness, the healing is done the same way. A person may be sick unto death and to everyone’s amazement the sick person recovers. Generally the recovery is by a gradual process.

Then think too of how many ways the Lord works in our lives by a gradual process. When a person is born he knows nothing. His learning is by a gradual process. He does not come to know it all, until he is about fifteen years old.

God also worked with the human race in stages. God did not give a leather-bound completed copy of the Bible to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Paul tells us in the first chapter of Hebrews that God spoke to the fathers in divers portions, and in divers manners.

Sometimes God spoke to men through dreams; once He spoke by the handwriting on the wall; one time He even spoke to a disobedient preacher in a very appropriate manner, through the mouth of a donkey-Heehaw, Heehaw, Heehaw. That looks like a good device the Lord might use regarding preachers who reject His Word today, “Heehaw, Heehaw, Heehaw.” However, when Jesus came and made purification for sins, His revelation was complete and the man of God was furnished completely unto every good work.

Many of you listening to this broadcast are like this man. Your vision is distorted. You have a distorted view of the Bible. To you, it looks like something less than the actual Word of God. Read it again; perhaps you need a second touch. “Seest thou ought?”  Many today have a distorted vision. They do not see men as trees walking; they see men as animals walking. Sounds like evolution. I don't know how to answer a person who believes in evolution, and says he descended from monkeys. If evolution has made a monkey out of him, I won’t argue with him.

Others do not see men as trees walking, but they see men as gods walking. The humanist thinks men are gods. Man makes his own rules. This is the twenty-first century; we make our own rules of morality. This is the same thing the Devil said to Eve at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “Ye shall be as gods.” Seest thou ought?

WHOM DO MEN SAY THAT I AM?

BUT WHO SAY YE THAT I AM?

The next questions came as a pair, “Whom do men say that I am?” and, “Whom say ye that I am?” In answer to the first question, they said, “Some say that you are John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” That is what men said. Jesus then asked, “But what do you say? Simon Peter answered and said Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God.” In Matthew, Jesus told him that he had not received this statement from flesh and blood, but from the Father who is in Heaven. Jesus said to Peter, “Blessed art thou.”

When men were saying who Jesus was, they said that He was someone who had left the earth and was raised from the dead. Actually the only way to explain Jesus today is by the resurrection.

Then Jesus began to show unto the disciples that He must go unto Jerusalem and be crucified. Peter said, “Be it far from thee Lord, This shall never be unto Thee.” Think about that! Peter rebuked Jesus. Peter not only rebuked the Lord, but both Matthew and Mark say, “Peter took Him and rebuked Him.” It appears that Peter took hold of Jesus bodily; he took hold of Him. Not only did he take hold of Jesus, but also it looks as though he turned Him around and sternly said, “Lord, you cannot do this”. Mark says that Jesus then turned and said to the disciples, as He gave Peter a withering rebuke, “Get thee behind Me Satan, thou art a stumbling block unto Me.” Peter had given Jesus the same temptation that the Devil gave when he said on the mountain of temptation, “All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Jesus said the same thing to Peter that Paul told Bar-Jesus, the sorcerer, who withstood the gospel on Paul’s first missionary tour. Saul who is also called Paul said, “Thou son of the Devil, how long wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord.” Peter had done the same thing to Jesus as the Devil did at the crucifixion when they taunted Him saying, “If Thou art the Christ come down from the cross and we will believe on Thee.”

Peter at that time, like natural man today, tries to evade the cross, the blood of Christ, and the brutal reality of the price that was paid for our redemption. Jesus said, “The Son of man MUST be crucified. The Son of man MUST be raised up from the dead.” God the Father is not a doting Grandfather who looks lightly on our misbehavior and says, “Now just do the best you can, and I won’t hold anything against you.” Many people think God will tolerate anything, even the worst life-style. God will reward us, even for the worst behavior. Jesus said, “The Son of man MUST go to the cross. He MUST die for the sins of the world, He MUST arise from the dead.” For many, to think of the cross as an emblem of shame and suffering is repulsive. The cross is viewed only as an emblem of love, not of sin and shame. And do not forget Jesus said, “You MUST be born again of water and the Spirit.” Ladies and Gentlemen, the best way to explain that statement is in the words of Peter on the Day of Pentecost, the day the church was born, “Repent ye and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Many today are more concerned about flesh and blood answers than they are about Heavenly answers. What do men say a person must do to be saved? Some say that to be saved he must believe and be saved and then be baptized. That is a flesh and blood answer. The Heavenly answer is, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Some prefer the flesh and blood answer. But if you prefer the Heavenly answer, I am confident that the Lord will tell you on that day, “Blessed art thou, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but My inspired word which came down to you from heaven.” Here are the last two questions.

WHAT DOTH IT PROFIT A MAN TO GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD?

WHAT SHOULD A MAN GIVE IN EXCHANGE FOR HIS LIFE?

The last two questions come together also. So we answer them together. These questions were brought on when Jesus made the first prediction in Mark about His coming sacrifice on the cross, “If you come after Me deny yourself, take up your cross, follow Me.” Faithfulness to Christ is the most important thing in life. What does it profit, if you have all else and lose your own soul?

The world adopts the philosophy that the man who has the most toys when he dies, wins. Think of your clothes. Most of them are hanging most of the time in the closet. You can only wear one suit at a time. How about that new car with all the latest gadgets? Most of the time, it sits in the driveway. How about all that electric power which makes life so easy? Most of the time, the power is turned off. What about all that popularity we seek and enjoy? I take a sadistic pleasure in asking younger preachers if they remember so and so. I mention the name of a famous preacher, a short time ago in my life, whose name was a household word in the brotherhood. He spoke on all the programs of the conventions, he was much in demand, he was quoted by many for the marvelous wisdom he had and the books he had written. I have to laugh when that young preacher says, “Never heard of him.” All the gadgets and fame any of us possess is soon forgotten. The only thing that matters after we leave planet earth is what God remembers, when the only thing left is eternity.

There’s a line that is drawn by rejecting our Lord,

Where the call of His Spirit is lost

As you hurry along with the pleasure mad throng

Have you counted, have you counted the cost?

You may barter your hope for eternity’s morn,

For a moment of joy at the most

For the glitter of sin and the things it will win

Have you counted, have you counted the cost?

While the door of His mercy is open to you

E’er the depth of His love you exhaust

Won’t you come and be healed, won’t you whisper I yield

Have you counted, have you counted the cost?