Sermon Tone Analysis

*Do You have a hardened heart?*

This morning I would like share a passage from my morning Quiet Time: it is found in Mark chapter 8 *[P]*.

I am going to read a fairly lengthy passage so that we have the context of what took place.

Jesus had a discussion with His disciples – and we are His disciples, aren’t we? – but it was related to some things that had gone on before: *[Mark 8:1-21*/ In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them, “I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.

“If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.”

And His disciples answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” /(thinking on the material the tangible level)/ And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?”

And they said, “Seven.”

And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the people.

They also had a few small fish; and after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well.

And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces.

About four thousand were there; and He sent them away./

(*[P]* so there is one part of the context: the feeding of the 4,000)/ And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of Dalmanutha.

The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, to test Him.

Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, “Why does this generation seek for a sign?” /(thinking on the material tangible level *[P]* there is another part of the context: the unbelief and cynicism of the Pharisees – they wanted proof, to see a sign – they walked by sight and not by faith) /Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

Leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side./

/And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them/.

(thinking on the material tangible level *[P]* And there is the third bit of context: they had forgotten to take bread.

So, now we get to the passage.)/

And He was giving orders to them, saying, “Watch out!

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”

They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread./(thinking

on the material tangible level)/ And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread?

Do you not yet see or understand?

/*/Do you have a hardened heart/*/?/

*[P]*/ “Having eyes, do you not see?

And having ears, do you not hear?

And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?”

They said to Him, “Twelve.”

“When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?”

And they said to Him, “Seven.”

And He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand?”/]

Out of the blue, Jesus makes this rather enigmatic remark: "/Watch out!

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod/" (v.15).

Here are the disciples, they are followers of Jesus, He is their Rabbi, their Teacher and Master – they hang on His every word.

What He says is important, has great significance.

“/Watch out!

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod/” – What on earth was He talking about?

What did He mean?

What was He referring to?

They didn’t understand!

And so they  discussed with one another – it says they “dialogued” – the word means they reasoned or argued – they all put in their two-bob’s-worth; canvassed people’s opinions and ideas, brainstormed – they discussed the possibilities and came to the conclusion that Jesus was referring to the fact that they had no bread (v.16).

They had forgotten to bring any bread and their supplies were very low (v.14); now Jesus was talking about leaven.

They needed to make more bread and so would need yeast – when Jesus spoke about “yeast~/leaven” that must be what He was referring to.

Jesus had just had a run-in with the Pharisees – He was retaliating with an economic boycott: “Don’t get your yeast from them!”

It says that they were discussing “/among themselves/” – “/with one another/” – Jesus was not included in their discussion and their thinking.

How often we leave Jesus out of our thinking – we go on using our own reasoning and do not consult Him.

If they had discussed with Jesus they would not have been so way off beam.

Jesus was not included but He was aware of their discussion and what they were thinking – it says: "/He knew/".

He knows!

He knows what we are thinking.

They had discussed among themselves, used their rational minds to analyze what Jesus said, fitted it with the situation and the context – AND COME UP WITH COMPLETELY THE WRONG IDEA! *[P] *Jesus rebukes them: “/Why do you discuss the fact/ /that you have no bread?

Do you not yet see or understand?

Do you have a hardened heart/?”

He was utterly astounded that they could have taken His words so literally.

Yet isn’t this how we interpret Scripture?! Discuss rationally what it says, applying it to the context and background situation?

We read the commentaries, find out what other people think about what it means.

We are applying human reasoning to what is of essence spiritual!

Why were they discussing that they had no bread?

He wasn't talking about literal bread, how come they did not perceive that He was speaking about spiritual things?

They did not see or understand!

Yet these were His chosen ones, His followers, those closest to Him, who had heard all His teaching.

It was to them that He had opened up the meaning behind the plain words that He was speaking.

Earlier, Jesus had been speaking to the people in parables – the meaning was kept hidden from them, but not to His disciples: [cf.

*Mark 4:10-13*/ As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables.

And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, otherwise they might return and be forgiven.”

And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable?

How will you understand all the parables?/]

They had been given insight into the mystery, yet they still didn’t understand – still they were not /seeing/ and /understanding/ ("οὔπω νοεῖτε – understand, perceive; οὐδὲ συνίετε" – bring together, comprehend) – both words have the concept of “/mind/” in them.

They were no different from all the rest who did not perceive a parable and its meaning.

He was talking about UNDERSTANDING – applying the mind, but not the fleshly mind but the mind renewed by the Holy Spirit [Romans 12:2/ And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect./]

A mind renewed by the Spirit: [Ephesians 4:23/ and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,/ Titus 3:5 /He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,/].

Our natural rational mind is not going to come up with the right answer, it cannot understand because it has no spiritual perception.

But it was not just a mental, rational process – it was a /perceiving with the heart/, a /comprehending with the heart/.

The problem was a heart problem!

The reason that they did not perceive or comprehend was because of the state of their heart.

Their heart was hardened ("πεπωρωμένην" – it is in the perfect tense, indicating the abiding state of hardness.

Hardening flows on from the heart to the sight, the hearing and the mind).

*You need a soft heart* in order to understand what the LORD is saying.

Jesus softened His remarks by stating them as questions – He didn’t accuse them, it was not a condemnation but a challenge for them to examine the state of their heart.

And it is salutatory for us to look at the state of our own heart.

We understand with our heart, not with our intellect and our human reasoning.

If we are not understanding what the LORD is saying, we need to look to the state of our hearts.

Is my heart hardened or is it soft?

A hard heart resists what God is saying, a soft heart is receptive.

What is a "hardened heart"?

*[P]* It is unwilling to learn and accept new information – it is fixed, dogmatic, prejudiced, it has already formed its opinion, thinks it knows and so is unreceptive to new information – it is a closed mind.

I am going to look at quite a few Scriptures – to save you hunting around, I’ve looked them up for you.

*[P]* A hardened heart is unwilling to listen *[P]* [Ezekiel 3:7/ yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me. Surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate./]

*[P]*/ / [Zechariah 7:12 /“They made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which יְהוָה of armies had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from יְהוָה of armies./]

*[P]* It is a heart that is stubborn, *[P]* insistent on its own way [*[P]* Matthew 19:8 /He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way/]/.

/God intended that one man be joined to one man for life – that is how it was at the beginning; but they wanted to go their own stubborn way, to break their covenant with their wife and have a different one.

It was not God’s will but He allowed a system of divorce because of their hard stubborn hearts: [Mark 10:5 /But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment./]

*[P]* A hard heart is one that is unrepentant *[P]* [Romans 2:5/ /*[P]* /But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God/].

*[P]* It is a heart that is resistant to God and His work *[P]* There was a man with a deformed hand, God’s will was to make him whole but, because it was the Sabbath, their rigid heart was not willing to bend to let this man be healed: *[P]* [Mark 3:5 /After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”

And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored./]

Their hard heart resisted the work that God wanted to do.

*[P]* A hard heart turns from Him to its own way – it is rebellious *[P]* [2 Chronicles 36:13/ /*[P]* (referring to king Zedekiah) /He also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear allegiance by God.

But he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to יְהוָהGod of Israel./]

– he was determined, he was not going to turn to God. *[P]* A hard heart is one that does not believe *[P]* This is the disciples, those closest to Jesus, after He had risen from the dead: [Mark 16:14/ /*[P]* /Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen./]

The nation of Israel sought to be saved by doing what the Law required, relied on deeds instead of by faith in Jesus *[P]* [Romans 11:7 /What then?