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Introduction
The Differences in Misbelief, Disbelief, and Unbelief
We will start this study today by looking at three different types of belief.
Let’s start with some definitions.
Misbelief - a wrong or false belief.
Disbelief - refusal to accept that something is true or real.
Unbelief - an absence of faith.
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Misbelief is sometimes easy to identify.
If someone believes the sky is green and the grass is blue we would say that they are crazy.
Like last week as I shared about this man that I was sharing the Gospel with and helping.
When the man began to tell me that he was a prophet and an angel I knew that he had some misbeliefs about himself.
I knew that even more so when he said he was born a virgin like Jesus.
He had some clear misbeliefs.
Unbelief is all around us.
If you go out and proclaim the Gospel at all then this is a very real statement to you.
There are a lot of ideas that people don’t have faith in.
I have faith that Big Foot is real.
Albeit for me it is more hopeful than actual belief.
I would be very excited to find out Big Foot does exist and sometimes I playfully argue his existence.
But this belief is considered unbelievable to most.
Flat Earth theory is considered unbelievable by most sane people.
We can see unbelief in a variety of different ideas, events, and things.
Disbelief may be one of the more divisive beliefs because you are refusing to accept that something is true or real.
The Pharisees would be in this category I believe.
The facts are in front of their faces.
They have witnessed the power of Jesus Christ up close.
The Pharisees have heard His claims and have witnessed the proof of His ministry.
In Mark 2:8-12 “And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’?
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”
And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!””
Jesus tells them that He has authority on earth to forgive sins.
He forgives the paralytic man of all his sins because he had faith in Christ.
Jesus demonstrates the spiritual healing with a physical one and the Pharisees refuse to believe.
They remain as enemies of Jesus.
The Disbelief of the Pharisees (8:11-13)
We pick up this week where we left off last week.
The Pharisees had come to Jesus to argue with Him.
They were seeking for signs or proofs of Jesus’s claims.
There eyes were closed and having ears they don’t hear.
They continue to disbelieve and fall into the category of spiritual blindness which is found in Isa 6:9-10.
“And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.””
The cause of spiritual blindness is our own sin.
We are broken.
That means our hearts are deceptive, our minds are unreasonable, and our natural will is to defy the living God.
The problem for the Pharisees is that they did not have faith.
Like the people of Israel in Isaiah who had great claims of piety they put themselves on display for self exaltation.
All the while they were exploiting the poor of the land and so focused on their religiosity that they missed the mark.
As God says in Isaiah 29:13:
And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,”
They had taught men to do religious acts, but none of them had faith.
Faith is the only qualifier for righteousness for God.
He counts us righteous freely because of faith in Him.
They must have misunderstood their Father Abraham.
When reading the Scriptures and you will find as early as Genesis 15:6, “And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”
The Lord counts us righteous on His behalf, not by our religious acts.
The Pharisees had no faith and so the result is to be spiritually blind.
Having eyes but not seeing, having ears but not hearing, and hardened hearts that don’t understand.
We might be tempted to think that people like the Pharisees are the only ones who could respond this way.
We will come to find out that even the closest people to Jesus struggle with spiritual hardness.
The Wrong Focus (8:14-16)
Let’s read the passage of text for today:
Mark 8:14-21 “Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread.
And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread?
Do you not yet perceive or understand?
Are your hearts hardened?
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 did you take up?”
They said to him, “Twelve.”
“And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?”
And they said to him, “Seven.”
And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?””
We are seeing the following scene after Jesus and His disciples leaving the disbelieving Pharisees on a boat.
The disciples are concerned over a lack of bread when they had just witnessed Jesus feed the 5000 men and then again feed the 4000 people.
You would think that they wouldn’t be concerned at all, but this concern leads Jesus to confront their disbelieving hearts.
Jesus categorizes them in the same boat as the Pharisees.
The disciples had surely fallen under the scope of judgment in Isa 6:9-10.
They had eyes but didn’t see; ears, but didn’t hear; and hearts but they were hardened to be able to understand.
The disciples had the wrong focus.
They weren’t focused on the object of their faith, Jesus Christ.
Focused on the Physical (v.14,16)
The disciples were caught up on the physical.
It is common for us to do the same.
We go from day to day on the same schedule.
We show up to work at the same time every day and go home about the same time.
We eat around the same times every day.
We all have a bedtime that we try for.
If we have anything that interrupts the pattern of our life it distracts us.
The disciples had something interrupt their focus.
They clearly disbelieved what happened when Jesus fed all of those people because they were worried about bread.
They had forgotten to get bread and there was no way they could turn around to get more.
There have been times in my life where I wasn’t turning around to get something.
I think it was last year we were almost to the Davis exit heading to Tulsa.
We noticed that we forgot to bring the key lime bars that Torie had made for Christmas at her parents.
As soon as we realized I made the statement that I wasn’t turning around because we were already too far away.
The boat wasn’t turning around for the disciples.
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