Bread and Leaven Part 2

Last week. We're going look at the 11 this week. We read the first nine verses of Mark chapter eight last week. Part of those verses are about the feeding of the 4,000. Jesus fed over 5,000 with five loaves and two fish.

He fed here over 4,000 with seven loaves and a few fish. The Bible says in it, it says, in Philippians four nineteen, but my God shall what? Supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ God says, but seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. God is a god of provision. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and if he promises to take care of his own, he'll do that.

It is our prerogative, our our privilege to serve him and to seek first his righteousness and his glory in our and he he's going to help us out with those things and he showed his disciples over and over again as he performed these miracles. How he was able to provide but not only able to provide for their physical needs but even more so to provide for their spiritual needs and he's going to address that in the passage of this morning. It's not just about the physical, it's also about the spiritual. Matter of fact, the most important need that we have. The greatest need that we have is not physical.

It is spiritual. And Jesus Christ is the only one. Who can rectify that problem, who can bring forgiveness for sins, who can change our life, and give us eternal life in him. Look if you would in Mark chapter eight, we'll continue today starting in verse 10. After he had fed the 4,000, it says in straightway, he went, he entered into a ship with his disciples and came on into 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. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear heavenly father, we thank you Lord for your word. We thank you Lord for the privilege of worshiping you here today and looking into it.

Lord, we pray that as we look into your word and into the righteous example of our savior, Lord, that we would be convicted of our sin, that we might be challenged in our service. Lord, that you might help us to see those areas in which we might be more like you. We pray Lord that you would encourage our hearts and most of all, Lord, we pray if there's one here today that's never received Jesus Christ as the Lord and savior of their lives. We pray that you'd help them. Lord, today, to see their need, to see your love, and to embrace Jesus Christ who gave his life for them.

In Jesus precious name, we do pray. Amen. Amen. He he goes on in verse 14 and he says, 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 reason among themselves saying, is it because we have no bread? And when Jesus knew it, he say it unto them, why reason you because you have no bread? Perceive you not, neither understand, have you your heart, have you your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear you not, and do you not remember when I break the five loaves among the 5,000?

How many baskets full? Fragments he took up? They say unto him, 12 and when the seven among the 4,000, how many baskets full of fragments took you up? And they said, seven. He said unto them, how is it that you do not understand?

He goes on in Matthew to say that he's not talking about physical bread or leaven. He's talking about the false teaching of the Pharisees that would bring them spiritual harm that they needed to avoid. It wasn't yeast that they needed. It was the to avoid. It was the false doctrine of the Pharisees.

So, in this morning's message, we're talking about the leaven part here of the bread and leaven and what Christ means by this and what we need to learn from it this morning. He speaks of the leaven of the Pharisees. The leaven of the Pharisees. Well, who were the Pharisees? Well, they were the the highly educated among the Jews.

They had more education for the most part than most everybody else. Especially when it came to religious matters. They had studied the scriptures and had spent possibly more time in studying the rabbis and their opinions than indeed they had the word of God but they they were the ones who were the seminarians who had spent all of that time studying, being highly educated in religious matters and they thought that they knew better than everybody else. They saw themselves as the judges of everybody else. They saw themselves as superior to everybody else.

They were the elitists of Christ day in Judaism. Everybody just, if they would just listen to the Pharisees, they would be alright. There are certainly those out there today that say, well, you know, we're we're the elite. If you just listen to us, we'd fix everything. That's not going to happen.

Praise God. Jesus can fix everything. One day, Jesus is coming back and guess what? Jesus will fix. Everything.

These Pharisees had a request of Jesus. They had come from Judea up to Galilee. There were they were more congregated down in the southern part than the northern part and they came up there testing Christ asking him a question. Will you give us a sign? We want what?

What do the critics say? We want proof. We want proof. Give us a sign. Prove that you are who you say you are.

Give us proof. Now did they really want proof? Sadly no. They didn't want proof and often the critics don't want proof. Their question is insincere.

They just want to put you off your game. They just want to keep you off balance telling you that you have to prove what you already know in your heart to be true which if they would just open up their heart, they would also find what? To be true. But they want proof. So, the Pharisees came to Jesus quite insincerely saying, Jesus, give us proof.

We want a sign but what had Jesus been doing for the past two years of his ministry? He gave them sign after sign after sign after sign. The problem wasn't that there weren't signs. The problem was they weren't what? They weren't willing to see them.

They were blinded by their own pride. They were blinded by their own self righteousness. They were blinded by their own ambition. They're blinded by their unwillingness to deal with their own sin. And so, he gave them sign after sign after sign but they refused them.

Because they didn't want to accept the truth They were not seeking a sign. They were seeking a reason to accuse him falsely and he knew it. So, he says here in Mark that there shall no sign be given this generation. Again, it's not that he hadn't given them signs. He had given the many.

In Matthew, he will go on to say as we'll read in a minute, that there is one last sign he will give them and we'll see that in a second. He had given them signs. Isaiah chapter 35, five, and six. Isaiah said, then the eyes of the blind shall be open. Did Jesus open the eyes of the blind?

Yes, he did. And the years of the death shall be unstopped. Did Jesus unstopped the years of the death? Yes, he did. Very publicly by the way.

Then, shall the lame man leap as in heart? Do we read about those in scripture? Over and over again. He not only the specific miracles but when he went to these cities in Galilee, people came to him in the hundreds and the thousands to be healed and it says, he healed them what? All.

There was nothing that Jesus could not heal. Because the kingdom of God in the king was present. Just as Isaiah had said, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing. Jesus did that too and we could go on. Isaiah speaks of many other signs which Jesus demonstrated in his ministry from the power over demonic host to the power over the nature over nature to to calm the sea.

The power over the character and nature of men. The truth shall set what? Set you free. Truth is Jesus. Jesus is the truth.

Jesus sets men free. And time after time, you can see the difference that Jesus made. Just in Matthew who wrote the preceding gospel. Who was Matthew? Well, he was Levi.

Who was Levi? He was a tax collector until he met who? Until he met Jesus. Until he met Jesus. Jesus even brought people back from the dead.

Had he given them signs? Oh yes, he had. He had given them many. John chapter 20 verses thirty and thirty one. John references this into the reason that he wrote his gospel.

He says, in many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book. In other words, I didn't record it all. I just gave you a few samples but these these signs that I have record are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing might have life to his name. Why did John record the miracles of Jesus? He recorded them for the same reason that Jesus did them.

Yes, Jesus loved people and he hated to see them hurting. Yes, Jesus had compassion for the sick and he healed them but Jesus also did these miracles to demonstrate that he was the chosen one, that he was the Messiah of Israel, the savior of the world, and the son of the living God as we'll get to next Sunday morning. That's why he did these things and yes, he did give them signs. He gave them many many signs but yet, they still demanded what? They still demanded more.

Praise God. God has delivered, recorded, preserved for us. The word of God that we can hold in our very hands. What a sign that is in itself of the love and mercy of God. God has given us his spirit.

That speaks to our spirit and cries out in our hearts, Abba, father. As a reminder that he is here I serve a what? Serve a risen savior. He's in the world today and he's in my heart and God gives many other signs, the transformation of lives, answers to prayer and yet, man who looks at creation and can see the wonders of what God created. Sadly, often still looks at God and says, I want proof.

Well, we have proof. We have proof and God says that they are what? They are without excuse. So, to the Pharisees that came to Jesus, they had seen these proofs. So, Jesus responded by castigating them for their unbelief and refusing to play their game.

For he knew their intentions. You know, sometimes we don't know people's intentions because we're not God but Jesus did. And he knew what they were about and he wasn't going down that road but in Matthew, he did say this, Matthew twelve thirty nine and forty. It's Matthew's record of the same event but Matthew adds something that Mark left off. He says, but he answered and said unto them, Jesus answered and said unto the Pharisees, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonas or Jonah.

For as Jonas was three day and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. What is Jesus speaking of there? Somebody help me out. He's speaking of his resurrection. He's speaking of his resurrection.

As Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly that swallowed him after three days and three nights, what did the whale do? Spitting back up on land. And then Jonah went back to finishing the ministry that God had called him to. Jesus said, no more signs, no more signs. I'm not playing your game but remember this, when I rise from the dead, that's the sign.

The last sign I will give you. It is unclear if they understood what he meant but it's very clear to us that he was speaking of his resurrection. The ultimate proof of his true identity is God as the say as the Messiahs as predicted in the Old Testament scriptures. Isaiah 53, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Speaking prophetically of Christ, he hath put him to grief.

He did that on the cross. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, that Jesus did for us. He shall see his seed, that's us. He shall what? Prolong his days.

What does that mean? Well, that mean that Jesus Christ which says in the previous verse in Isaiah was cut off or died or crucified, executed for our sins. He would prolong his days. That means he must be what? Must come back to life.

That's Isaiah's prophecy. Psalm sixteen ten, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither will thou suffer thine holy one to see what? Corruption. Now, in Acts chapter two, Peter refers to this passage and he said, you can go to David's tomb. You can visit it and David's body has seen what?

Has seen the corruption and decay and you don't want to open it. But not who? But not Jesus. Because this wasn't talking about David. This was talking about who?

That last part, this is talking about Jesus. Because his body didn't decay. He who was without sin died on the cross for our sins. He was buried in a tomb for three days. Then, he rose again bodily from the grave.

So, he did have one more sign to give them and one more sign that he has also given to who? He's given to us. Jesus Christ didn't just say he was God. Jesus Christ demonstrated his power over sin, his power over disease, his power over the world he created, and his even his power over death. When he rose again from the dead.

How could he do that? Because Jesus Christ was no mere man. Yes, he was a man but he was the God man. He was God in human form. And so Jesus is very brief here with the Pharisees.

In Matthew seven, he told his disciples, be careful not to cast your pearls before before swine. Though Jesus didn't give up on the Pharisees and Jesus spoke to them with God's word when given the chance, he chose to spend his time with his disciples. And not arguing with his critics. He let the word of God stand and do the arguing itself when he simply left the word of God in their minds. And Jesus went on to turn in verse 14 to his disciples and in verse 15, he says and he charged them saying, take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, Jesus told them, warning them of the danger of their doctrine. The danger of their teaching. The danger of their example which was corrupt and corrupting to those who listen to it. For was a doctrine of self righteousness and not salvation by grace through faith. And there are two different things.

Ephesians two eight and nine. What did Paul say? For by what? For by what? Grace.

Grace are you saved through what? Faith. Faith and that not of yourselves. Not of your ability. Not of your power.

It is the gift of who? God. Salvation is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Paul wrote to the Ephesians and he said, you're not saved by works. You're not saved by your merit, by your power, by your goodness, by anything you can do, we are saved solely by the grace and power of a loving and merciful God.

When we come to him in what? In faith. And cast ourselves in faith upon his mercy and upon his grace and upon his goodness but sad to see to say the Pharisees couldn't see that. The majority of them had placed their faith in their righteousness and not in the righteousness of God. Jesus said, I've come not to call the righteous.

By that, he means self righteous but what? Sinners to repentance. You can't be saved from your sin until you're willing to acknowledge your what? Your sin. He said, you don't call the doctor to come help you if you think you're well.

You come to doctor, doctor to come help you if you think you're what? If you think you're sick. If something's wrong. So, like a physician, he said, comes to help the sick and not the well. He said, I've come.

Not to call the righteous, the proud, the unbelieving but those who are willing to admit their sin and their need, to repent, and be saved. Sadly, that was not the message of the Pharisees. They thought because they were good Jews, they were okay. They thought because they were religious, they were okay. They thought because they were educated, they knew better than everybody else.

But sad to say, professing themselves wise, they became what? They became fools. Leaven in the Bible is often used to depict the pervasive nature of sin. Just as a little yeast permeates the entire lump of dough. Leaving it, leavening it all.

So, sin does also. It permeates. If I took a dropper, I dropped a few droplets of cyanide or hemlock in this glass right here. Would you drink it? Well, what if you drink the part that's not touched by it?

Okay. What happens when you drop the poison in there? It spreads. What happens with sin? Spreads.

We need a savior because we are lost in sin. Because it says in Isaiah sixty four six, even our good works, our righteousness are as filthy rags. We need to be cleansed in the blood of Jesus Christ. False teaching and false doctrine. Are the same way.

It only takes just a drop. To change it, to leaven the whole lump. And so Jesus Christ warns his disciple here, disciples to be careful. He warns them to watch out for the false doctrine, the fear, a doctrine of self righteousness. That could permeate their teaching and make it ineffective and powerless.

The heart and life of man is permeated by sin. Thus, we need a savior. The church can also and Christian can also be permeated by false teaching and false doctrine. Which can take that which is true and good and righteous and powerful to save men from sin, the gospel. Paul said, what?

Romans one sixteen, I am not ashamed of the what? The gospel. For it is the power. To save men. The Greek, the Jew, and the Greek.

To bring salvation to them. But be careful. Jude says, contend for the faith because the gospel is no longer the gospel if you add what? If you add works and self righteousness to it. It's no longer the gospel if you're putting your faith in an idol or if you're putting your faith in yourself or you're putting your faith in the church.

Our faith is to be in who? Is to be in Jesus, is to be in Jesus Christ. And this doctrine of the Pharisees, a doctrine of false humility and proud self righteousness could corrupt the teaching of their gospel resulting in a powerless and a dead religion which could save no one. But would give people a false sense of security in their own goodness and not in the goodness of the Lord. That has been true in Jesus's day.

That is true. In our day, sad to say how many people think that they're okay with God because they go to church once a week. Are they okay with God because they put money in the offering plate? Are they okay with God because they are nice to their neighbor. Well, praise God.

I hope you come to church. It's good to put money in the offering plate and you should be nice to your neighbor. But none of those can erase your what? Sins. Only blood of Christ.

Only blood of Christ can do that. And there are very many people very comfortable today. Who have not come to the God of comfort. Because leaven has got into their doctrine, their teaching, and their faith. First Corinthians five, five, and six six, Paul says this, to deliver such and one to Satan under the destruction of the flesh, this is somebody in the church that was doing something terribly wrong and teaching others to do the same that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Your glorifying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven what? Leaveneth the whole lump. The church at Corinth wasn't dealing with a problem in the church and Paul said, this problem not only affects them but this problem also affects who? Affects the whole church and you need to deal with it.

A warning. Paul battled this very thing throughout his ministry as Jews tried to bring this doctrine, this self righteous doctrine, this Judaism into the churches. He had planted telling people that they were not securing Christ apart from becoming Jews and following the Old Testament laws. Paul planted the church, churches in Galatia. He planted them in Ephesus.

He planted in Colossi. He planted in Philippi and behind him came the Judaizers and they were like the Pharisees and they told the people, yes, Christ is great. Yes, you have to put your faith in Christ but you have to become a what? You have to become a Jew and you have to follow the Old Testament law or you are not secure. Was that the message of Paul?

Is that the message of the gospel? No. That's a false message. Paul says in Galatians, Galatians two sixteen, I'll read it for you. He says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the what?

Works of the law. But by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. How many people will be justified before God by doing the works of law? How many? One, ten, zero.

Zero. The fact is the law does not save us. The law condemns us. Jesus Christ saves us. From sin.

And by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Paul called this in Galatians one eight and nine. He called it another gospel. And he said, avoid it, stay away from it, have nothing to do with it. We are saved by God's grace through faith by throwing ourselves in contrition upon his mercy and his grace alone to save us from our otherwise hopeless faith.

We are also kept by his power and grace not by works of righteousness that we perform. But by the power of God The inclusion of works of the law or the works of the church as a means of receiving or keeping salvation is another gospel. And there's a lot of that other gospel out there to be found The works of the Catholic Church the works of whatever denomination you want to throw in there. They cannot save you. Only Jesus Christ.

Can save you from sin. You can get dunked up here 100 times. And you're just going to get what? You're just going to get wet. If you do not put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you'll just be a soggy person and not a safe one.

But sad to say, that leaven has permeated many areas of Christianity today and many people are comfortable and yet lost in their sin and so Jesus warned his disciples, do not adopt their attitude. Do not adopt their self righteousness. Do not allow their doctrine to seep into what you teach. As we are told in Jude, we must contend for the faith found in this book. Do these type of people exist in Christianity today?

Does this type of doctrine Does leaven and false teaching? I believe it does. In today's Christendom, they that would be the priest and the bishops, the mega church pastors, the professors in seminary sometimes and the TV evangelist feel as they know more. Than you do. Their faith is more sophisticated than yours is.

You know, maybe their faith is more sophisticated. But I would prefer to side with Jesus who says, we just need faith as a what? As a child, to put our trust in the right person. That's Jesus. To listen to his word.

They might scoff at our simple faith in the word of God as inspired and inerrant and mostly literal in its teaching. You know, something I still believe that Jonah was actually swallowed by a what? Well, a whale or a big fish. Could be a whale shark. Ever seen a whale shark?

I'm not sure what fish it was that swallowed Jonah but you know something? I believe Jonah was swallowed by a fish. Why? Because God says so. That book of Jonah that he wrote isn't presented as a fable.

It's presented as a what? As a true story And if God's word is God's word and inspired, you know something? I believe it happened just like God said it did. Now, many of the educated people even in seminaries might disagree with me. They can disagree.

Who will they have to answer to? Not me. We all have to answer to who? To the God who wrote this book. I still believe that David killed Goliath with a stone and a sling and a sword.

And a god standing by his side. I still believe in a worldwide flood Why? Because that's what the Bible what? Says. That may not sound sophisticated but that's called what?

That's called faith. That's called faith. I still believe that God created the world in six what? Days. Not six billion years.

But six days. Why? Because that's what God's word says. You take those pages and you rip them out of the Bible and you've taken the foundation out from underneath everything because I'm accountable to God because God what? Made me and he made me in his image.

And he placed Adam and Eve in the garden of a real place that existed and they rebelled against him and disobeyed him and we all became what? Sinners who need a savior. You take those things out of the word of God. You say that they're simply a metaphor, an allegory, and you've kicked the the legs out from the table because that's the whole reason I need a savior. That's the first part of the story.

There are those that would say, well, Christ really wasn't born of a virgin, that he didn't really rise from the dead, that he didn't abodily ascend up into heaven. I asked them, what Bible are you reading? Or do you just choose not to believe it? And if you don't choose to believe it, then what is your, what's your faith based upon? Your own thoughts and reasoning?

We all know that doesn't work. We all disagree on just about everything, it seems like. When I was in Macon, Macon, Georgia, there is a a college a baptist college in Macon. President of the Baptist College claimed that Jesus wasn't born of a virgin. The Georgia convention got together to decide whether he should remain president of the Baptist College.

They couldn't get enough votes to cast him out. What were they not listening to? God's word. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Of those who think they know better than who?

Of those that think they know better than the God who has given us his word. I've said it before and I'll say it again. We must learn to conform our lives to God's word and not try to conform God's word to our lives or our opinion. We need to be renewed in our mind and thereby transformed in our spirit and we do that by looking into God's word and accepting it. As his word over the words of man.

There are those that scoff at Christ's imminent return, the rapture, and an actual millennial kingdom. There are those who scoff at Jesus Christ being the only way. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me. Is that true?

Either it is or it isn't. You can't have it both ways. And yet I listened to video clips several of them last night of a prominent mega church preacher whose initials happen to be J O. Who cannot bring himself to say that Christ is the only way. I dare say, I don't know what gospel he's preaching but it's not the one found in that book and sad to say, there are millions and millions of people listening to him.

And they're not inside these walls The leaven is out there and the leaven is always popular but it doesn't lead people to heaven because there's only one way to heaven and that is Jesus Christ And as Christ warned his Pharisees about the leaven of their day, we must also beware of the leaven of our day. The leaven of salvation by the works of the church or by the works of the law. The leaven of casting doubt on the inspiration and the infallibility and authority of the scriptures. The leaven casting doubt upon the miracles of Christ. I told you about the man who came and showed us his pictures.

Of Israel and he showed us a picture where Jesus supposedly the place. We don't know for sure some of these places but they take you to him in Israel. They say, this is where this happened. Well, they don't know. But he showed a picture of the hill where Jesus fed the 5,000 and he said, the real miracle here was that when this boy came forward with his lunch and was willing to share, that everybody else shared their lunches and so everybody was filled.

Did he forget about the 12 baskets full that were taken up after everybody was filled? And what do you do with the rest of the passage that clearly says that Jesus broke the seven loaves. He gave them to his disciples and they took them and they fed what? And they fed the multitudes. What is he casting doubt upon?

The power of God and the person of Jesus Christ. What is that? That's leaven. That's leaven. We must contend for the faith.

We must stick by the word. And we must watch out. I was appalled as I was talking to my brother and he pointed me to dialogue article by a Southern Baptist president in which he took another prominent Southern Baptist to task. For making light of the Bible and its importance and how vital it is to our faith. This other Southern Baptist, he took the task claimed that Peter, James, and Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from the Jewish scriptures.

Unhitch the Christian faith from the Jewish scriptures? You take the Hebrew Old Testament out of the New Testament and guess what you have? You have a few disjointed pages. Because the New Testament writers constantly refer to the what? To the Old Testament scriptures.

He said, if the Bible is the foundation of your faith, here's the problem. If the Bible is the foundation of your faith, here's your, is that a problem? Since when does that become a problem? It's only a problem to the critics. It's only a problem to those who think they're more educated.

If the Bible is the foundation of your faith, here's the problem. It's all or nothing. That's right. But that's not a problem. It's not a problem that my faith is in the Bible and in the God of the Bible and in Jesus Christ, my savior, the Bible tells me about.

He says, if the Bible is the foundation of your faith here is the problem. It's all or nothing and here what he says, Christianity becomes a fragile house of cards religion. In other words, he believes your faith needs to be founded in something else. Than in the record that God has given us of his son. Like John stated, up there earlier.

You want to know who he is? Come see me after the service. I'll tell you. But this isn't about personalities. It's about one person.

Jesus and it's about his word. And it's about our need to be discerning. It's about our need to stick with the truth of God's word and it's about our need not only to be concerned with the physical but also to be concerned with the what? The spiritual as we come back around to our main point here. When Jesus told his disciples, watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees, they thought he was talking about what?

They thought he was talking about bread. Oh, we forgot to bring food with us. And Jesus said, are you so thick headed? Didn't you see me feed the 5,000? Didn't you see me feed the, why do you think we're going to starve because you forgot to bring bread?

Don't you understand? I'm not talking about bread. I'm talking about the corrupting doctrine of the pharisees and our spiritual need and that's what people need that only we have to give. You know something a Hindu and a Buddhist and a Muslim and any good person in that anybody that cares and has and has the ability can feed people who are starving. And as Christians, we should be concerned about people who are starving too.

But you know the Hindu and the Buddhist and the Muslim and the unbeliever can't give them something that they need more than food. They can't give them Jesus. They can't give them the gospel and we can. We can. They can't save their soul but Jesus can.

Jesus didn't come just to heal blind people from blindness. He didn't come just to heal people that were sick. He just didn't come to heal the lame. He came to heal the sinner. That's why when the man brought this man who was lame to Jesus and they lowered him down, Jesus didn't immediately say, take up your bed and walk.

He did that by the way but what did he say first? He said, your sins what? Your sins be forgiven. And you and I have a greater need and so do they. That our sins be forgiven.

That we live and walk in faith. Jesus pointed out I that thing messed up so I can't go back back there. But he said in Matthew, he said, when Satan tempted him to turn the stone into what? Ready said, man shall not live by what? Bread alone.

But by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Every word that's in this book that proceedeth out of the mouth of God beginning with you're a sinner who needs a savior There's a god who loves you. He commended or demonstrated his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ did what? He died for us. He died for me.

He died for you. He can change your life. He can wash away your sins. He can give you eternal life but only if you come to him. For as Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man comes to the father but by me. And as it says in Romans ten nine, that thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Who was he talking to? He was talking to you. But we must be willing to let go of our self righteousness.

We must be willing to let go of our doubt. We must be willing to turn from our faith in anything else. To save our soul. And put it in Jesus Christ alone. Have you done that?

If you have, then Jesus said, you are saved. But if you haven't, you are yet in your sins. But that can change today. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord for your word.

Thank you, Lord. For the example that you've given us in your word You gave to your disciples of your power not only to make men whole from physical problems not only to feed them with physical food but Lord, to make them whole from sin, to save them from eternal condemnation, to give to them the bread of life, who is Jesus Christ. He is our bread of life. Lord, we thank you for what you did for us on Calvary. We thank you, Lord, that you rose again from the dead, that you are who you said, who you claim to be.

And Lord, not only that but you've given us your word, you've given us your gospel that we might be saved, and you've come. You dwelled in our hearts. Lord, we have all the proof we will ever need. Lord, open the eyes but maybe someone is here today to help them see their need. Open the eyes of our friends and our neighbors and help us to take the opportunity to show them.

What Jesus did for them. To show them what Jesus has done for us. Help us to walk by faith and not by sight. Help us Lord to not be affected by the false teaching around us. Help us to have eyes and ears of discernment to know the truth.

To stand upon the word of God, to contend for the faith, and to help others to do the same. In Jesus precious name, we do pray.