Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Book: Mark

David’s Son, David’s Lord

About this sermon

Jesus asks how the scribes can call the Christ the son of David when David, speaking by the Holy Spirit, calls him ‘my Lord’ in Psalm 110. The Messiah is David’s descendant in his humanity and David’s Lord in his deity, and he had to be both to save us. Jesus affirms that the Holy Spirit inspired the Old Testament, and it speaks of him. Everyone must answer who Jesus is, and one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

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Sermon transcript

Almighty God, your word is cast like seed into the ground. Now let the dew of heavenly scent and righteous fruits abound. Amen. Please remain standing for the reading of God’s word. This morning, my sermon text as we continue our consideration of the gospel of Mark is Mark chapter 12, verses 35 through 37. I’m gonna read verses 35 through 40 to offer you a little bit more of the context, but our focus today will be on these three brief verses, verses 35 through 37 of Mark chapter 12. So friends, let us hear God’s holy word. Remember the setting, this is during Passion Week, the last week of our Lord’s life, and he is in the temple, and it says this. And Jesus began to say as he taught in the temple, how is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?

David himself said in the Holy Spirit, the Lord said to my Lord, sit in my right hand, until I put your enemies beneath your feet. David himself calls him Lord, so in what sense is he his son? and the large crowd enjoyed listening to him. In his teaching he was saying, beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and like respectful greetings in the marketplaces and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets who devour widows’ houses and for appearance sake offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation. Dear friends, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Please join me in a word of prayer. Well, Heavenly Father, we do thank you for the seed of your Word, your life-giving Word, your Word that has been breathed out, inspired by the Holy Spirit, We pray, O God, that as we receive these truths from your word this day, that your spirit would be active and at work in our hearts, that you would indeed prepare our hearts that they might be good soil to receive the seed of your word, that your word would bear much spiritual fruit in our lives.

We ask that you would help us to understand these truths, to embrace them, to live out their implications in our lives. And we ask, Lord, that you would grant unto me, sinful man though I be, the grace to declare your word with clarity and power. We pray that the glory of Jesus would be revealed to us this day as we consider this portion of your inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said. Amen. Congregation, you may be seated. The title of my sermon this morning is David’s Son, David’s Lord. And there are six key words you can be listening for today. The words Scripture, Messiah, Inspiration, Identity, Lord, and Salvation. My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it seems that many Christians today struggle to see the relevance of the Old Testament.

Many Christians today have trouble relating to the Old Testament Scriptures. Not only are the Old Testament Scriptures difficult for many to understand and relate to today, especially as a collection of ancient documents written in a very different cultural and historical setting from our own, but the Old Testament contains teachings and values that are, quite frankly, offensive to the secular worldview and values that are held by many folks today and which are heavily promoted in today’s culture. Perhaps this struggle helps to explain why at least one prominent Christian leader, namely the megachurch pastor Andy Stanley, a number of years ago, Pastor Stanley, in one of his sermons, had advised Christians to, quote, unhitch their faith from the Old Testament. Now, it’s important that I’m not intending to misrepresent Pastor Stanley. In all fairness to him, he made it clear that he was not rejecting the divine inspiration of the Old Testament scriptures.

But if I understand him correctly, the point he was trying to make is that in our sharing of our faith with unbelievers, we Christians, he was saying, should point to the person of Jesus and focus especially on evidences for Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, and not appeal to the Scriptures, and especially to avoid appealing to the Old Testament Scriptures, since so many today find the Old Testament Scriptures to be offensive. Now, I sort of get what he’s trying to drive at, that when you’re sharing the gospel with unbelievers, we want to get the unbeliever to consider the claims of Christ as quickly as possible. But the idea that you can unhitch the claims of Christ and the evidences for Christ’s resurrection, which are compelling and powerful, the idea that you can unhitch those things from the scriptures, and even from the Old Testament scriptures, I believe is a foolish and ignorant statement.

This is not a personal attack against Pastor Stanley, but a recognition that while his statement was probably well-intentioned, it was nonetheless off-base, to say the least. Why is this the case? Well, it’s the case because, friends, the New Testament is built upon the foundation of the Old Testament scriptures. The New Testament Scriptures are saturated with allusions to, references to, and quotes from the Old Testament Scriptures. Consider that responsive reading that we read this morning in our worship service from Hebrews 1. In that chapter, indeed in the whole book of Hebrews, there are multiple quotes from the Old Testament scriptures, and those quotes are brought together by the author of Hebrews to prove the identity of Christ as the divine Son of God, as fully divine. The New Testament is built upon the foundation of the Old Testament.

You can’t gain a clear understanding, a clear and full-bodied understanding of the New Testament if you don’t have at least a knowledge of the basic truths, the basic storyline revealed in the Old Testament scriptures. Regarding focusing on the claims of Christ, the person of Christ, and evidences for His resurrection, well, you can’t consider those claims of Christ and those evidences apart from the scriptures, including even the Old Testament scriptures. Well friends, our passage for this Lord’s Day morning is one of many New Testament passages that prove the value of the Old Testament. As our Lord Jesus quotes from an Old Testament passage to make a vitally important point about His identity as the promised Messiah. Dear ones, the Old Testament Scriptures are ultimately a preparation for and an anticipation of something better, something eternal, something more permanent.

God’s revelation to His people in the Old Testament Scriptures was intended to prepare God’s people and indeed to prepare the world for the coming of God’s chosen and anointed King, namely, Jesus the Messiah. The word Messiah in the Greek, it’s Christ, means anointed one. God’s promised, chosen, anointed King. But sadly, the Jews of Jesus’s time, and especially the Jewish religious authorities at that time, had grossly misinterpreted their own scriptures when it came to what those scriptures actually teach about the promised Messiah. Their misreading of the scriptures had led them to expect a merely human Messiah, a Messiah who would conquer foreign oppressors and fulfill their nationalistic hopes and set up a physical throne of David in the earthly city of Jerusalem. That’s the kind of Messiah they were hoping for. That’s the kind of Messiah they were looking for.

They were expecting. but rather Jesus presents himself as a spiritual divine Messiah, a Messiah who would come not to save his people from the Romans, not to save his people from political oppression, but to save his people from the greatest enemy of all, namely to save his people from their sins. As the angel tells Joseph in Matthew 1, verse 21, the angel instructed Joseph to call the child’s name Jesus, Yeshua, which means the Lord is salvation. And why was he to be named Jesus? Call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. Many of our Lord’s contemporaries came to associate the Old Testament messianic title, Son of David, with these kinds of earthly, nationalistic, carnal ideas about a merely human Messiah. And therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ in our passage for today now challenges their understanding of this Son of David title.

Now, in terms of the setting of this passage, I think the great Bible commentator and preacher J.C. Ryle, Bishop J.C. Ryle, puts it well in his commentary as he introduces this passage. He says, and I quote, we have seen in the former part of this chapter how the enemies of our Lord endeavored to, quote, catch him in his words. We have seen how the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the scribes successively propounded to him hard questions, questions we can hardly fail to observe, more likely to minister strife than edification. The passage before us begins with a question of a very different character. Our Lord propounds it. He asks his enemies about Christ and the meaning of Holy Scripture. Such questions are always truly profitable. And I pray, brothers and sisters, that our consideration of this passage today will be profitable for our spiritual instruction and edification.

So what do we find in our short passage for this Lord’s Day morning? Well, if you’re following along in your sermon outline, here’s the first point. Let’s first consider a probing question about the identity of the Messiah. What we have here in verse 35 is a probing question about the identity of the Messiah. It says this, Verse 35, Jesus began to say, as He taught in the temple, Jesus is there. And again, this is just a few days before His crucifixion. What is Jesus doing? He is there. He’s doing what He’s always done. He’s instructing the people. Jesus began to say, as He taught in the temple, how is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David? For us today, those of us especially who’ve grown up in the church and are familiar with the basic storyline of the Bible, this is not really for us perhaps a profound question, but it was a very probing question for this original audience of our Lord’s hearers.

And by the way, isn’t it amazing? No, Jesus knew what kind of death he was gonna face. Jesus knew that in a few short days, he was going to die an awful, agonizing death. Isn’t it amazing how our Lord Jesus continues to teach even toward the very end of his life and even knowing the unimaginable suffering that lay ahead of him in the very near future. It would seem that, I mean, imagine if you were in his shoes. Imagine if you knew that imminently you were to suffer a horrible death by crucifixion. And there are few methods of torture and death more agonizing and awful than crucifixion. It would be almost psychologically unbearable, I would imagine, to hold yourself up and to keep living out your normal day-to-day life knowing that that was just around the corner.

But Jesus continued in his mission. He continued in his service in his office as the great prophet, priest, and king of God’s people. And here he is exercising his office of prophet as he instructs the people of God. In the immediately preceding context of this passage, the passages that lead up to our Lord’s questions in this chapter, Jesus, remember, Jesus had been subjected to intense questioning by his enemies, by the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, and the Scribes, and so forth. But now Jesus turns the tables and He begins questioning them. They have been silenced. His answers have silenced them. But now Jesus turns the table and He begins to inquire of them. He puts them on the hot seat. He begins to question them. The parallel passage In the Gospel of Matthew, in Matthew 22, 41 to 46, indicates that these questions of our Lord were directed particularly to the Pharisees.

But unlike his enemies, Jesus asks this question not as a gotcha question that is designed to trap his opponents and humiliate them, but rather as a challenge for them to rethink some of their fundamental ideas and assumptions about the identity of the Messiah. Sometimes the best way to instruct is to ask probing questions, to get people to think. And that’s precisely what our Lord Jesus is doing here. And he asks them in particular, how is it that the scribes, I think some of your versions say the lawyers, and that doesn’t mean lawyers in the modern sense of that term, but rather experts in God’s law. These were basically the Bible scholars of the day. Jesus says, how is it that the Bible scholars, the scribes, say that the Christ is the son of David? Dr.

William Hendrickson, in his commentary, I think puts it well in explaining this question. He says, quote, the time has arrived to prepare the audience for the idea that the title, quote, Son of David, means more than was generally realized. Pharisees and scribes must learn that David’s son is also David’s Lord. David’s son is God’s son. Accordingly, when Jesus now says, how can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? He means, how can they say that the Christ is merely the son of David? After all, not only is he man, He is also God. And so Jesus is seeking to lead them to the point where they recognize that the scriptures predict a Messiah who will not only be son of David with respect to his human nature, but who will also be God and Lord incarnate.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it’s important for us to understand that it was necessary for Jesus the Messiah to be both man and God, both Son of David and Son of God, the living Lord incarnate, in order to be qualified to serve as our Savior. It is only as the God-man that Jesus the Messiah was qualified to serve as the Savior of sinners like me. and like you. I appreciate what our larger catechism has to say about this, and I would invite you to turn in the back of your psalter hymnal to the larger catechism. I’m going to go over quickly question and answers 38 through 40. That begins on page 943 in the back of your psalter hymnal, page 943. Our instructors, the Westminster Divines here, write the following in question 38. The question is, why was it requisite or necessary that the mediator should be God?

The Bible-based answer to that question is as follows. It says, it was requisite that the mediator should be God, that he might sustain and keep the human nature from sinking under the infinite wrath of God and the power of death, give worth and efficacy to his sufferings, obedience, and intercession, and to satisfy God’s justice, procure his favor, purchase a peculiar people, give his spirit to them, conquer all their enemies, and bring them to everlasting. There’s a lot packed into that answer. And all of these things that are said here can be proven by scriptural references. It was necessary for our mediator, our savior, to be God because only God has the power to rescue us, to save us from our sins. But then question 39 asks, why was it requisite or necessary that the mediator should be man?

The Bible-based answer, it was requisite that the mediator should be man, that he might advance our nature, perform obedience to the law, suffer, and make intercession for us in our nature, have a fellow feeling of our infirmities, that we might receive the adoption of sons, and have comfort and access with boldness unto the throne of grace. It was only as a man that Jesus, the Messiah, could represent us and could intercede for us and atone for our sins. And then finally, on the next page, question 40 asks, why was it requisite that the mediator should be God and man in one person? Jesus is a divine person. He is one person with two natures, a human nature and a divine nature. Again, Our instructors give a Bible-based answer. They say it was requisite that the mediator who was to reconcile God and man should himself be both God and man.

And this in one person that the proper works of each nature might be accepted of God for us and relied on by us as the works of the whole person. Jesus as the God-man brings God and man back together for he atones for our sins. He is our mediator, our advocate. And not only did he die for us and rise for us, he also ascended for us and he reigns at the Father’s right hand where he even now intercedes for us. And this is the point that Jesus is driving at when he asks this probing question. My dear listener, let me ask you, do you accept Jesus as the God-man? Many folks today accept Jesus as a great religious teacher. They say he was like a You know, he was like a wise sage, or he was a revolutionary, or he was just a great, insightful teacher.

Well, he certainly was a great teacher, but he was much more than that. He was and is the eternal Son of God incarnate, the Word made flesh, Emmanuel, God with us. And it is only as the God-Man that He can serve as your Savior and mine. Do you, dear listener, accept Jesus as the God-Man? the mediator between God and sinful humanity? Do you look to him as your only hope of salvation, as your only way back into a right relationship with God the Father? Jesus himself said of himself in John 14, verse six, he says, I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me. He is the only one. who is qualified to serve as the Savior because He is the God-Man. But as we move on in our passage for today, in verse 36, next, notice our Lord’s affirmation of the Old Testament’s divine inspiration by the Holy Spirit.

Notice our Lord’s affirmation of the Old Testament’s divine inspiration by the Holy Spirit. In verse 36, after Jesus has asked this probing question, in verse 35, Jesus goes on to explain and to drive at what he’s getting at. He says, David himself said in or by the Holy Spirit, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet. David himself said in the Holy Spirit, or as the New International Version translates it, David himself speaking by the Holy Spirit said, and so forth. Friends, this is profoundly significant. This gives us insight into how Jesus himself viewed what we would call the Old Testament. The only Bible that was around in Jesus’ day was the Old Testament. the Old Testament. That was the Holy Scriptures back then.

And Jesus is here quoting from the Old Testament. And this quotation and the statement that Jesus makes about David speaking in or by the Holy Spirit gives us insight into Christ’s view of Scripture. In these words we get a glimpse of Christ’s high view of the inspiration and authority of Holy Scripture. Jesus viewed Holy Scripture as God’s Word coming to us through the written words of chosen men of God who were carried along, inspired by the Holy Spirit to write precisely what they wrote. In this case, King David. For what is Jesus quoting from here in this passage in verse 36? Well, here are Lord Jesus’ quotes from Psalm 110, verse one. Psalm 110, which we sang earlier in the service, is a messianic psalm that was penned by King David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, and it was penned in or by the Holy Spirit.

Now, I want you to notice a couple of things about our Lord’s statement here in verse 36. Notice, first of all, that Jesus assumes King David’s authorship of Psalm 110. And this is important. Now, of course, if you read Psalm 110, the superscription or title to that psalm ascribes it to King David, but many rationalistic and skeptical Bible scholars question these superscriptions, these ascriptions of authorship to the various psalms and other parts of the Bible, and they like to introduce doubt and question and probe these kinds of things. And let me just say, there’s no good intellectual academic reason to reject the Davidic authorship of this psalm, but most important of all, Jesus, the Son of God, affirms the Davidic authorship of Psalm 110. And I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather believe what Jesus says about the authorship of this psalm than what the Bible critics say.

So Jesus assumes and asserts the Davidic authorship of Psalm 110, contrary to the hyper-skepticism that is found in so much of modern biblical criticism. Notice also that these words which David penned, though David penned them, they were at one level his words. Notice they were written, we are told, in the Holy Spirit. That could also be translated by the Holy Spirit. In other words, these words were written under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And this reminds me of what the Apostle Peter says about how the Holy Spirit mysteriously and sovereignly and supernaturally inspired the biblical authors. I’d invite you to turn to 2 Peter 1, 2 Peter 1, as we compare Scripture with Scripture, 2 Peter 1, verses 20 and 21. You might wonder, well, how is it that these words penned by King David can at the same time be the very Word of God?

I think I’ve shared with you before, but I had a Muslim friend in college from Pakistan my senior year of college. I lived in the international dormitory and developed a friendship with a fellow student from Pakistan who was a Muslim. And one time I gave him a New Testament. And I remember his comment after he perused it and started to read it. He said, you know, I’m reading this book you gave me and I’m noticing all of these books claim to be written by various men. The Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Luke, Paul’s letter to the Romans. So how can it be the word of God if it was written by men? Well, this is where passages like this are helpful. Look at 2 Peter 1, beginning at verse 20. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation.

For no prophecy, prophecy is a word from God, a direct revelatory word from God. No prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. These holy men who the Spirit inspired to write the scriptures, they wrote, yes, and it’s not like the Holy Spirit grabbed hold of their hands and made them write against their will. They wrote what they wanted to write, but the Holy Spirit was supernaturally, miraculously and mysteriously moving them along, guiding them, directing them supernaturally so that they wrote precisely what? He wanted them to write so that indeed this is the word of God. As Jesus says, David himself said in the Holy Spirit or by the Holy Spirit. And what did David say? Well, he quotes again, as I said, from Psalm 110, verse 1.

David says, the Lord said to my Lord. The Lord said to my Lord. In the Hebrew, there’s two different names for God mentioned in that sentence. Yahweh said to my Adonai. Yahweh is the covenantal name for God. It has in view God’s special redemptive covenantal relationship with His people Israel, whereas other biblical names like Elohim, for example, is a more generic Hebrew name for God, which depicts God as the great creator. of heaven and earth. And here, the other name for God that is used is Adonai. Yahweh said to my Adonai, the Lord said to my Lord. Adonai, I believe, emphasizes the sovereignty of God. And what does this imply? Again, think about it. The Lord Jesus is quoting from an Old Testament passage, but this Old Testament passage assumes a distinction of persons within the one Godhead.

You see, While the doctrine of the triunity of God is not explicitly or clearly revealed in the Old Testament, passages like Psalm 110 verse one and other Old Testament passages hint at and point to a distinction of divine persons within the one true God. And so Jesus is getting them to realize, hey, the Messiah predicted by this messianic Psalm, Psalm 110, is going to be one whom David addresses as Adonai, as Lord. What is the basic confession of our faith? Jesus is what? Jesus is Lord. We’re told in Romans 10, verse nine, that if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, in other words, that He’s God, divine, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. So again, this points to the deity of the Messiah, as well as hinting at the plurality of persons within the one Godhead.

And the Lord said to my Lord, what? Sit at my right hand. In the ancient world, the right hand of a king represented what? If you were invited in the ancient world to sit at the king’s right hand, the right hand of the king, that is the place of highest honor and highest authority. So again, this language from Psalm 110 indicates that the Messiah would be exalted to the place of highest honor and authority. Indeed, he would be exalted to the place of divine honors, divine authority, because he himself is divine. And sit at my right hand, so this seems clearly to point to the enthronement of the Messiah. Sit at my right hand until what? Until I put your enemies beneath your feet. That’s interesting imagery, isn’t it? Beneath your feet? What does it mean to have enemies put beneath your feet?

Well, again, in the ancient world, when a conquering army, when an army would conquer an enemy army, the king and the captains, the leaders of the defeated army would often be made to lie prostrate on the ground as the conquerors would come and put their feet on the necks of the conquered enemy. This is what is being pictured here. Jesus Christ would conquer all of his and our enemies. This points to the Messiah’s conquest of all of his and our enemies. And what are our greatest enemies? the enemies of sin, death, hell, and the devil. Jesus has conquered them by his life, death, and resurrection, and all as he reigns at the Father’s right hand, having been exalted to the Father’s right hand, he reigns over all, and he has put all of his enemies, at least in principle, all of his enemies are put under his feet.

Beloved, Let us embrace and affirm all of Scripture as God-breathed, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and therefore as the ultimate standard for faith and life. Let us embrace the view of Scripture that Jesus, our Savior, himself embraced. You know, I would assert to you, dear friends, and while it is possible for for a true Christian to be misinformed or misled about various doctrines and concepts from the Scripture. I don’t believe that you can be a faithful disciple of Jesus if you don’t share Jesus’ own view of the authority and inspiration of Holy Scripture. Consider what the Apostle Paul writes of Scripture in 2 Timothy, this very familiar passage of 2 Timothy 3, verses 14 through 17, where Paul is reminding Pastor Timothy of how he learned the faith. And notice what this passage says about the scriptures.

You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings. Parents, this is why it’s so important to teach our children the Bible and Bible truth. You’ve known from the sacred writings from your childhood, which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. And then notice these familiar verses, verses 16 and 17. All scripture, not some scripture, all scripture is inspired by God. In the Greek it’s theopneustos, God-breathed. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate equipped for every good work. The Scriptures are able to equip us for every good work.

They’re adequate. They’re sufficient. They are all that we need for life and godliness. So in conclusion, beloved, what is the heart of the matter? Well, the heart of the matter, which we find in verse 37, and this is my final point, the heart of the matter is that David’s son is David’s Lord. David’s son is David’s Lord. Verse 37, Jesus explains what he’s getting at. He says, David himself calls him Lord, so in what sense is he his son? And there’s an interesting comment here at the end of this verse. It says, and the large crowd, there was a large crowd around him that heard him teach this. The large crowd enjoyed listening to him. We’re not told why they enjoyed listening to Him. Perhaps they enjoyed seeing Jesus stump these intellectuals, these religious leaders.

And some have suggested that this last sentence here in verse 37 more properly goes with what follows it. I think it probably is better understood as a comment on what has just been said. But in asking this question, our Lord Jesus, of course, he’s not intending to deny his descent from King David with respect to his human nature. Some Bible critics have suggested that. But again, that’s just another instance of the Bible critics getting it wrong. Instead, Jesus is seeking to encourage and stimulate his audience to think more deeply about just what kind of a person he is, and to realize that the promised Messiah was not merely human, not merely the son of David, but was also much more than that. Namely, he was and he is David’s divine Lord, just as the scriptures taught in places like Psalm 110, verse 1.

Jesus’s question here implies that a merely human Messiah was not enough. Jesus was indeed the son of David. He was a descendant of King David with respect to his humanity, but a human Messiah is not merely enough. We need a Messiah who is also divine, also God, also Lord. Dear ones, Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Man and Son of God, David’s Son and David’s Lord, Emmanuel, God with us, the Word made flesh who came to dwell in our midst, Jesus of Nazareth is just such a Messiah. And that is why he is proclaimed in the gospel as the all-sufficient and only Savior of sinners. Beloved, when it comes to our eternal salvation, there are few questions that are more important to answer correctly than the question, what do you make of Jesus Christ? In other words, who do you say Jesus is?

This is the basic issue, the heart of the matter that our Lord Jesus is getting at in this line of questioning. He knew that his time was short. He knew that he was soon to go to the cross. And before he did, he wanted to leave them to ponder this vitally important question about his identity as the messianic son of David. He wanted them to ponder the truth that he’s not merely a descendant of David as to his human nature, though certainly he is that. But beyond that, he is also the divine Lord incarnate. The promised Messiah was indeed to be David’s son, as the scriptures predicted. But more than that, the Old Testament scriptures, again in places like Psalm 110, taught that the messianic Davidic son was also David’s divine Lord. Indeed, He was and is Lord of all.

He is revealed as King of kings and Lord of lords. And one day, every knee, including yours and mine, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Dear listener, have you embraced Him by faith as your Lord and Savior? Do you trust Him and Him alone as your very own Lord and Savior? Come to Christ today, believe upon Him, rest in Him, receive Him, and then by His grace, out of gratitude for His gift of salvation and forgiveness, live your life for His glory, for He is indeed David’s Lord, a David’s son, and David’s Lord, and He is our Lord as well. Let us pray. Gracious Lord and Father in heaven, we praise you and thank you for Jesus the Messiah, our Savior and King.

We ask that we would take these truths to heart and we pray that your Holy Spirit would impress upon our consciences our duty, our joyful duty, to live under Christ’s Lordship. We pray these things in his name and all of God’s people said, amen. Let’s respond together to what we’ve heard by rising and we’ll sing as our closing hymn, number 270, At the Name of Jesus, 270.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

April 23, 2023
The Foremost Commandment

About this sermon

A scribe asks Jesus which commandment is foremost, and Jesus answers: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. All sin grows from divided loyalty, from idols of the heart. Outward obedience without love for God is Pharisaism, and apart from grace no one loves God as he should. The law shows us our sin so that the gospel of Christ’s perfect righteousness can shine more brightly.

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Sermon transcript

Please remain standing for the reading of God’s word. My sermon text this morning as we continue our consideration of the gospel of Mark is Mark, chapter 12, verses 28 through 34. Mark, chapter 12, beginning at verse 28 and reading through verse 34. Just a reminder of the context here, the setting is Passion Week, the week leading up to our Lord’s crucifixion. And Jesus has had some challenges brought to him by the Pharisees and Herodians and also by the Sadducees. And he has answered their challenges. And that brings us to our passage for today. Let us hear God’s holy word with reverence and awe. One of the scribes came and heard them arguing and recognizing that he had answered them well, asked him, what commandment is the foremost of all? Jesus answered, the foremost is here.

Oh, Israel, the Lord, our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. The scribe said to him, right teacher, you have truly stated that he is one and there is no one else besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one’s neighbor as himself is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. After that, no one would venture to ask him any more questions.

Dear friends, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for the Lord’s blessing upon the proclamation of his word. Our gracious Lord and Father in heaven, how confused we would be, how darkened in our understanding we would be if we did not have access to your word. What a great and awesome privilege to have your holy word. your God-breathed, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. We do pray that by your Holy Spirit, you would help us to hear, not only to hear with the understanding, but to hear with the intention of putting into practice that which we receive today from the scriptures. We ask, Lord God, that you would open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word. And once again, Lord, we ask that you would use me, your unworthy servant, put a guard over my lips that I might speak only that which is faithful in your sight and edifying to your people, glorifying to your name.

We pray these things in Jesus name and all of God’s people said, Amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon today is The Foremost Commandments. And if you’re following along with your sermon outline, there are quite a number of words you can be listening for. I’d like to encourage the children especially to be listening for these four words, the words duty, law, neighbor, and gospel. Well, the tension was mounting. The conflict between our Lord Jesus Christ and the Jewish religious authorities was becoming sharper and more intense. Now, as we’ve been working our way through the Gospel of Mark, we’ve noticed that throughout his earthly ministry, our Lord Jesus Christ had experienced opposition from the religious leaders, especially the Jewish religious leaders stationed in Jerusalem, in and around Jerusalem. But before this particular time in his ministry, our Lord had either tried to avoid or minimize this conflict.

Why? Well, this was because the gospel accounts teach us that the reason that this was was because Jesus knew that his time to go to the cross had not yet arrived. The time of crisis had not yet been upon him earlier on in his earthly ministry. So as a general rule, earlier on in his earthly ministry, Jesus had studiously avoided any words or actions that would have prematurely precipitated his controversy with the religious authorities before the divinely appointed time. Jesus, our Lord, had a deep sense of God’s sovereign decreed timing. when it came to his God given mission. But now we find our Lord in the midst of the last week of his life, the week that is typically referred to as Passion Week, the week leading up to his crucifixion. His time had come.

In these later chapters of Mark’s gospel, the reader will observe Jesus changing his method of dealing with the corrupt and hypocritical religious leaders. Before this time, Jesus had often spoken to them indirectly in parables. But now we find our Lord making some very direct claims, claims to be the promised Messiah. and also engaging in some very blunt words and actions which criticized these leaders and exposed them for who they were, all of which, of course, provoked them to anger and drove them to the conclusion that they must act soon in order to get rid of this pesky fellow, Jesus of Nazareth, this man who threatens their authority and their influence over the people. So why, again, has Jesus changed his method? Why is he now being so direct? Well, the answer is clear. Jesus knew that the time was fast approaching for him to complete the divine mission that God the Father had sent him to complete.

And he would complete that by dying on the cross for the sins of his people. Well, here in Mark chapter 12, we’ve seen attempts by a number of groups of Jewish groups to confront Jesus and trap him in his words. We’ve seen attempts by, for example, the Pharisees and Herodians, as well as the Sadducees to trap our Lord in his talk. Well, in these instances, Jesus had answered their questions with masterful wisdom, exposing them for the fools and hypocrites that they were. Well, that brings us to our passage for today. Our passage for today has something of a different tone than the previous sections in this chapter where Jesus was rather confrontational. When we compare this passage with its parallel passage in the Gospel of Matthew, recorded in Matthew 22, verses 34 to 40, we learn that apparently this particular scribe or Bible scholar who comes to Jesus with this question was acting as a spokesman or representative of the Pharisees.

However, while the Pharisees whom he represented were only interested in trapping Jesus in his words, this particular scribe seems to have been personally very interested to know our Lord’s answer to the very important question which he was about to pose. This scribe, in other words, seems to have sincere motives in asking Jesus this question. As we see in verse 28, it says, one of the scribes, again, when you read about a scribe, Matthew describes him as a lawyer. It’s not the same thing as our modern conception of a lawyer. This would be someone who is an expert, a student of God’s law. a Bible scholar, if you will. One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, heard Jesus arguing with, in the previous context, he had been arguing with the Sadducees. And recognizing that he, that Jesus had answered them well, this scribe asked the Lord Jesus, what commandment is the foremost of all?

This scribe notices that Jesus has answered well, and he’s genuinely, it seems, genuinely interested in knowing the answer to that question. Well, that brings us to our Lord’s answer to this scribe’s question, which is found in verses 29 to 31. And what we have in this passage, beloved, is a summary of our duty to God. Jesus answers this scribe by summarizing our duty to God. That is to say, we are to love God with our entire being and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. If you’re following along with the sermon outline, this is the first main point. We have here a summary of our duty to God. We are to love God with our entire being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Says in verse twenty nine, Jesus answered the foremost is here.

Oh, Israel, the Lord, our God is one Lord. This should be familiar if you were listening to the sermon passage read earlier in the service from Deuteronomy, chapter six, verse 30. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this. Notice the man didn’t ask him to give the two most importance or the two foremost commandments, but the foremost commandment. But Jesus gives him two because these two are interconnected. Jesus says, the second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. According to the great Bible commentator Matthew Henry, when the scribe asked Jesus which commandment is the most important or the first of all, and I quote Henry, he says, he does not mean the first in order, but the first in weight and dignity.

What is the first commandment, the foremost commandment in terms of weight and dignity? In other words, it’s as if the scribe is asking the Lord Jesus, Jesus, What is the most important commandment of all the foremost commandment? In other words, the commandment that serves as the foundation and basis for all of the other commandments of Almighty God. Well, in his answer to this scribe’s question, our Lord Jesus offers, as I mentioned, a summary of the moral law of God. of God’s moral will, and the scriptures indicate that God’s moral will, of course, is summarized in the Ten Commandments, or as our shorter catechism puts it, summarily comprehended, which is an older way of saying summarized in the Ten Commandments. So we have here a summary of the summary of God’s moral law. Here, Jesus gives a summary of the two tables of the Ten Commandments, the first table setting forth our duty to God, which is found, of course, in the first four commandments, and the second table setting forth our duty toward our neighbor, which is found in Commandments 5 through 10.

In these verses, our Lord quotes, as I mentioned, from the Shema of Israel, Deuteronomy 6, verses 4 through 5, which observant Jews even today quote in their prayers as the basis as their basic confession of faith. And in verse 31, our Lord summarizes the second table of the law by quoting from Leviticus 19, verse 18. In this answer, our Lord summarizes our duty to God and our duty to our fellow man. Our Lord’s answer to this scribe’s question is the basis for question and answer number 42 of our Westminster Shorter Catechism. The question is, what is the sum of the Ten Commandments? And the answer, based on passages like this, is the sum of the Ten Commandments is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength and with all our mind and our neighbor as ourselves.

But this raises the question, what does it mean to love God? What does it mean to love God? Let’s consider what it means to love God. First of all, loving God means giving Him your exclusive loyalty, for God is one. This is underscored in verse 29, where Jesus says, the foremost commandment is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Now, it’s interesting. When when that passage from Deuteronomy, which Jesus quotes from here, when Moses addresses the people of Israel, or I should say the Holy Spirit through Moses addresses the people of Israel and he says here, oh, Israel, what does it mean to hear the word of God? Well. The Hebrew conception, the biblical conception of hearing God’s Word is not just, well, you hear it with your ears and it registers in your brain.

You understand it. That’s important. But to hear God’s Word is to hear it with the intention of taking it in and working it out in your life. Obeying. When He says, hear, O Israel, God is saying, Israel, obey. Obey My Word. And that, why is Israel to obey the Word? Again, Moses says, as Jesus quotes from him, the Lord our God is one God. Yahweh, our redeeming, covenant-making, covenant-keeping God, the Lord our God, Yahweh our God, is one Yahweh. In other words, He’s the only true God and He deserves our total, complete, undivided loyalty. It is passages like this that serve as the basis for ethical monotheism. Our Christian faith is a faith of ethical monotheism. We believe in one true and living God, the triune sovereign God of Scripture, who has given us his word, who has told us not only what we are to believe about him, but what duty he requires of us.

And so loving God means that your loyalty to God will surpass every other earthly loyalty, no matter how near no matter how dear. After all, God, our Creator, rightly demands our absolute undivided loyalty. He’s God. Your existence and mine, our very existence depends upon our sovereign triune Creator God. We owe everything that we are, everything that we have to Him. And He is our King. We are His subjects. He is our sovereign. We are his servants and he rightly requires of us our absolute undivided loyalty. In fact, when you think about it, beloved, all sin is ultimately rooted in divided loyalties. Why is it that we sin? Ultimately, we fall into sin. Well, because we have a sin nature, of course, which we inherit from Adam. But what is sin at its root? Sin is ultimately rooted in divided loyalty, in idols of the heart.

And let me focus in on one sin in particular just to illustrate this and kind of flesh this out a little bit. Let’s consider the sin of theft. Let’s consider in particular the habitual compulsive shoplifter. Now, I don’t want you to think of a shoplifter who, for example, steals an apple from a store because, you know, they’re hungry and so forth. That’s an ethical question, an issue in and of itself, and that too would be a sin. But I’m talking about the shoplifter who has their basic material needs already met. They have food in their stomach, clothing on their backs, they have a roof over their head, but they feel compelled to shoplift. And it’s funny, if you ever watch videos on YouTube that highlight security cameras, that highlight shoplifters, sometimes shoplifters can steal or try to steal the funniest kind of stuff.

It’s not like they’re necessarily stealing really expensive stuff, but basic stuff. Why? What is it that compels the habitual shoplifter to shoplift? Well, it is due to covetousness, to greed. And what does the Bible say about covetousness? Covetousness is idolatry. Covetousness is idolatry of the heart. The shoplifter shoplifts because he or she is not content with God and with God’s providential provisions. And why is he or she not content with God or God’s providential provisions? Because he or she is not undivided in loyalty to God. The shoplifter’s loyalties are divided, and thus he or she is an idolater. And that’s just one example God, in calling us to love Him with our entire being, calls us to undivided loyalty. When we sin, and we all do sin, every time we sin, whether in thought, word, and deed, whether by sins of omission or commission, these are sins that result from a heart that is not undivided and absolute in its loyalty and love for God.

Loving God also means obeying his commandments from the heart and not merely externally. We learn this in verse 30 as our Lord Jesus continues to answer this scribe’s question. Verse 30. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The Pharisees, the Sadducees and the scribes who opposed the Lord Jesus They were experts in the minutia of formal external ritual religion. Jesus once criticized them that they tithe mint and cumin and dill, but they neglect the weightier matters of the law, justice, righteousness, mercy, and so forth. See, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the scribes They were very meticulous in following the externals of religion. But sadly, while they purported to honor God with their lips and in the realm of externals, their hearts were far from God.

God commands us and expects us not only to give him our undivided loyalty, but also to love him from the heart with our entire being. I want to make a couple applications here. In John chapter 14, verse 15, our Lord Jesus says this. He says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Now, this is an important truth to focus on because there are many today who would pit the law of God against love for God or who would seek to drive a wedge between loving God and following and obeying the commandments of God. But Jesus teaches that love for him is evidenced by the keeping of his commandments. Contrary to the antinomianism that drives a wedge between the law of God and love for God, that seeks to divorce loving God from the law of God and obedience to that law.

Jesus says, if you love me, you will do what? Children, Jesus says, if you love me, you will what? Keep my commandments. But on the opposite, one of the opposite extremes when it comes to modern misconceptions of love, there’s a lot of misunderstanding about love out there. Many in our culture today follow the Beatles theology, right? All you need is love, right? And you’ve perhaps heard the saying, love is love. But this reflects a modern misconception of love that identifies love as primarily an emotion. But beloved, contrary to modern misconceptions, genuine love is not primarily an emotion, although certainly love will impact our emotions and our emotions will be involved in the act of love. Rather, love is fundamentally a commitment to glorify God and to seek our neighbor’s well-being and best interests. Brothers and sisters in Christ, God requires that we love Him with undivided loyalty.

God requires that we love Him from the heart. And God requires that we seek the well-being of our neighbor. But dear ones, apart from God’s grace, none of us loves God from the heart as we ought, even if we obey Him externally. Even if you order your external life in accordance with the precepts and requirements of God’s law, which is important to do, but even if you do that, it’s possible to do that on the outside, but be far from God in your heart. That kind of external love for God and obedience to God is nothing better than Pharisaic love. And the unregenerate, those not born again by the spirit, are capable of that kind of externalistic obedience. So you’re no better than an unbeliever if you love God and obey him simply in externals.

In our fallen natures, none of us are lovers of God. Instead, all of us are idolaters. But in His amazing grace, God loved us. And how did He love us? Not by feeling all warm and fuzzy about us and saying, oh, I just love these wonderful people. I want to have them around me. No. He loved us in spite of the fact that we were rebel sinners shaking our fists against our Creator, living in rebellion against Him, missing the mark of living up to His holy commandments. He chose voluntarily to set His mercy and grace and love upon us. He loved us by voluntarily committing and binding Himself to us in covenant love to act for our redemption. He demonstrated His love by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins. As it says in Romans 5, verse 8, God demonstrates His love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Rebels against our Creator.

Those who miss the mark of living perfectly in accordance with God’s commandment. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So loving God means loving Him with your undivided loyalty. Loving Him from your heart. Basically, loving God involves your entire being, heart, soul, mind and strength. Again, as Jesus highlights in quoting from the Shema in verse 30, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Now, we could perhaps spend some time dividing these different categories up and considering what they mean, but I like the comments. I appreciate the comment of Joseph Allison Alexander when he writes the following. He says, there is no need of attempting any nice distinction between heart and soul and mind. The obvious design of the accumulated synonyms being to exhaust the one idea of the whole man with all his powers affections.

In other words, Jesus is telling us that loving God involves loving him with our entire being, mind, emotions, affections, and will. This is in sharp contrast. This heart obedience required by the Lord Jesus is in sharp contrast to the external ritual obedience that was found among our Lord’s contemporaries and even among some churches today. Beloved, it is possible to do outwardly good deeds with wrong inner motivations. It is possible to perform externally selfless deeds with selfish motives. Only those regenerated by the sovereign grace of the Holy Spirit can even begin to truly love God from the heart. And in this life, we only make a beginning in the way of new obedience, for we are imperfectly sanctified this side of glory. But what God does when He regenerates a sinner is He writes His law on our hearts.

He not only legally forgives our sins through the merit and sacrifice of Christ, not only are we justified, but we have been given a new heart, a new nature. And as is promised by the Prophet Jeremiah, or in Jeremiah 31, God promises in the New Covenant not only to be merciful to us and forgive our sins, but to write his law, not on tablets of stone again, but to write his law on the tablets of our hearts so that we can say from the heart, oh, how love I thy law. We love God’s law, not because keeping God’s law earns or merits our salvation. No, no, we can’t do that. But we love God’s law because he’s written it on our hearts. And praise God, Jesus Christ has obeyed this law. He’s the only one who has obeyed this law perfectly.

And he has done so in our place, in our stead. Not only are we saved because Jesus died for us, we are saved because Jesus lived for us. He rendered perfect personal and entire obedience to God’s law with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength. And he did so as a public person. He did so as the second Adam, the last Adam. He did that for us so that his perfect obedience is credited to us as we receive him by faith. and faith alone. Dear listener, are you trusting Jesus as your righteousness, your redemption, your sanctification, and your wisdom? Well, what does it mean to love your neighbor? Verse 31. The second is this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. That leads to the question, who is my neighbor?

Well, in the Bible, your neighbor is anyone whom God brings into your life, even your enemies. This is, by the way, one of the reasons why love, genuine love is not necessarily it’s it’s not an emotion. Imagine that you have an enemy, someone who’s trying to destroy your life, someone who’s trying to trying to make your life miserable. Jesus calls us as his disciples to love even such individuals. Does that mean that you have all kinds of warm, fuzzy feelings about that enemy of yours who wants to cancel you, who wants to destroy you? No. It means seeking their repentance, seeking their salvation, seeking that which is in their best interest, their eternal interests, in spite of the fact that they don’t deserve it, as you don’t deserve it either. It means overcoming evil with good, as Jesus did on the cross.

So what does it mean to love my neighbor? Again, love is not primarily about our emotions. Instead, loving your neighbor means seeking that which will best promote your neighbor’s physical, material, emotional and spiritual well-being. You know, our hyper-narcissistic postmodern culture says that it’s all about you, right? It’s all about you. It’s all about your identity, your self-esteem, your pleasures, your life. In fact, we have something today that I never would have imagined this as a child. I grew up before the days of the cell phone and the internet. If you had gotten into a time machine and gone back to me as a teenager and told me that one day, we would be using our phones, that we’d be able to carry our phones around in our pockets, and that we would use our phones not primarily to talk to people, but to take pictures and to search the internet.

And if you had told me that one of the popular practices that would come to be is the practice of taking, what are they called? Selfies. I wouldn’t have been able to conceive that as a kid. Now back in my day, you could sort of take a selfie. You remember the Polaroid cameras? You kind of turn the Polaroid around and take a picture of yourself that way. As long as you position it right, you might get a decent picture from that. We are so focused on ourselves. But again, there’s nothing new under the sun. These modern technologies haven’t made this problem worse. They’ve simply brought them out more into the open. God says it’s not about you. God’s word says it’s all about others. God first and foremost, and then our neighbor. Dear ones, let us repent of the narcissism of our age, the narcissism of our own hearts, And let us seek to align our lives with God’s revealed will revealed in the scriptures.

So Jesus answers this scribe’s question masterfully by quoting from the Shema. And the scribe recognizes this and resonates with our Lord’s answer. He says in verse it says in verse 32, the scribe said to him, right, teacher, you have truly stated that he is one and there is no one else besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one’s neighbor as himself is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. The scribes and the Pharisees, the religious leaders of Jesus’s day, like many of the people of God in Old Testament times, were focused on the ritual, the sacrifices, the stuff, the externals of the temple. And that was important, too. That was part of what God had ordained under the Old Covenant.

But he recognizes what the prophets of old recognized, that you can go through all the externals and miss the heart of the matter. And what does Jesus say in response to this scribe? The scribe doesn’t argue with Jesus. He doesn’t say you’re wrong. He doesn’t walk away mad because he’s been silenced. No, he responds with sincerity. And Jesus says in verse 34, when Jesus saw that he answered intelligently, He said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. After that, no one would venture to ask him any more questions. But notice what he says. You’re not far from the kingdom of God. He doesn’t say, oh, praise God, you’ve entered the kingdom of God. He says, you’re not far from the kingdom of God. This scribe recognized the holy demands of God’s law.

But he had not apparently yet entered into the kingdom. He had not come to salvation yet. Jesus’s statement here was meant as both an encouragement and as a challenge to encourage the man and say, you’re not far from the kingdom of God. In other words, keep on in this direction and keep on recognize to the point where you recognize your need for a sinless savior. But it’s also a warning. By implication, it’s a warning because he’s telling the man you’re not far from the kingdom, but that implies you’re not yet in the kingdom. So it’s meant to spur him on to action. Now, we’re not told what happened to this particular scribe. Maybe he came to Christ later on. Maybe he didn’t. We’re not told. But again, what Jesus says to him indicates that that he is challenging the man and also trying to encourage him in the right direction.

Well, dear ones, Our Lord’s summary of the law reveals just how much we need him as our Savior. And I think that’s the point that Jesus is trying to drive home to this scribe. God’s law requires perfect personal and entire obedience. It requires that we love God with our entire being with undivided absolute loyalty. Raise your hand. If you’ve ever loved God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, in other words, with your entire being, raise your hand if you’ve ever loved your neighbor as you love yourself. And we all love ourselves. None of us lives up to this standard. We all fall short. And so the law of God serves as a mirror to show us our sinfulness, show us how much we fall short of living up to that law.

The law of God shows us our lawlessness and therefore our need for a sinless Savior and a need for a perfect atonement. The great evangelical Anglican Bishop J.C. Ryle writes of this, He says, let us learn from this brief exposition of the true standard of duty. How great is the need in which we all naturally stand of the atonement and mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Where are the men and women who can say with truth that they have perfectly loved God and perfectly loved man? Where is the person on earth who must not plead guilty when tried by such a law as this? No wonder the scripture says there is none righteous. No. Not one. And by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. Quotes there from Romans 3, verses 10 and 20.

Ryle goes on to write, it is only gross ignorance of the requirements of God’s law, which makes people undervalue the gospel. The man who has the clearest view of the moral law will always be the man who has the highest sense of the value of Christ’s atoning blood. When Isaac was a child, I think he was maybe eight or nine years old, he went through a phase, our son Isaac, he went through a phase where he was really into bison. And so for one family vacation, we found a perfect place to go. It was a bison farm that had a bed and breakfast. And it’s actually not located, I forget exactly where it’s located. It’s here in Pennsylvania. I think somewhere out in the boonies, not too far from here. But in any case, we booked a room in that bed-and-breakfast.

So we got to go and see the bison during the day, and then it was a nice overnight, a cabin that they offered, and a great meal the next day. But I remember that evening when we were out there in the boonies at this bison bed-and-breakfast. It was a clear night. The sky was dark and the stars were magnificent. See, there were no city lights, no light pollution blocking out the view of the stars. It was against the black backdrop of the night sky that these stars shone the brightest. And beloved, it is against the black backdrop of our sinfulness, our lawlessness, that the glorious light of the good news of Jesus Christ shines forth most brightly. And so, if you want to deepen your appreciation for the goodness of the Gospel and deepen your appreciation for your Savior, then come and deepen your appreciation for the law of God.

It’s absolute unbending demands. God is a infinitely holy, perfect, righteous God. I like to tell people when I’m trying to share the gospel, when I have opportunity that, look, heaven is a perfect, God is a perfect God. Heaven is a perfect place. And you need a perfect righteousness to get in there. And you and I don’t have it, but there is one who does. His name is Jesus Christ. He died on the cross to pay the penalty for sin as a substitutionary atonement. And he offers not only forgiveness and cleansing through his blood, but the gift of his perfect, everlasting righteousness to all who believe in him. May God, the Holy Spirit, through his law, his word, give you the grace to see the blackness and darkness of your sin, that you might also see the glory and the light of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ as Christ is offered to you in the gospel.

And then come to Jesus, believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. Amen. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, We thank you and praise you, God. We do love you, Lord, not as we ought, not as we should, but we do love you. We love you, O God, because you first loved us in Christ and you sent you demonstrated your love by sending your son Jesus to die for our sins and to rise again for our justification and that we might receive the gift of eternal life. We ask, Lord God, that if there be any here today or any listening online to this sermon who maybe, like the scribe, are close to, near to the kingdom of God and yet have not entered, we pray that by the effectual sovereign work of your Spirit, you would cause them to enter this day into the kingdom of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance unto life.

We pray, Lord, that what we consider today would find a lodging place in our souls and bear much spiritual fruit in our lives. In Jesus name we pray and all of God’s people said. Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

April 16, 2023
God of the Living

About this sermon

The Sadducees deny the resurrection, and they try to ridicule Jesus with the case of a woman married in turn to seven brothers. Jesus answers that they know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God, and that in the resurrection people neither marry nor are given in marriage. God called himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he is the God of the living. The resurrection of the body stands at the heart of the Christian hope, and Christians should read the whole Bible, broadly as well as deeply.

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Sermon transcript

Please remain standing for the reading of God’s word as we continue our investigation and study of the gospel of Mark. My sermon text this morning is from Mark, chapter 18, verses 18 through 27. But before I read that passage, I want to read two verses from Deuteronomy, chapter 25, Deuteronomy 25, verses five and six. This is a background text to what I’ll be preaching from today. Deuteronomy 25, verses 5 and 6. Here, the Word of God. Moses writes, when brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband’s brother shall go into her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.

And then turning to Mark, chapter 12, beginning at verse 18, once again, hear the word of God. Some Sadducees who say that there is no resurrection came to Jesus and began questioning him, saying, Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife and leaves no child, his brother should marry the wife and raise up children to his brother. There were seven brothers and the first took a wife and died leaving no children. The second one married her and died, leaving behind no children. And the third, likewise. And so all seven left no children. Last of all, the woman died also. In the resurrection, when they rise again, which one’s wife will she be? For all seven had married her. Jesus said to them, Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the scriptures or the power of God?

For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him saying, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead. but of the living, you are greatly mistaken. Dear ones, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Please be seated. Once again, join me in prayer as we pray for the Lord’s blessing upon the preaching of his word. Heavenly Father, we ask that by your spirit you would open our hearts and our minds to behold wondrous things from your word Make us open and receptive to that which the Spirit is speaking to us in this portion of Scripture.

And we ask, Lord God, that you would grant unto me, your unworthy servant, the grace to declare your word with clarity and power by your Spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Title of my sermon today is God of the Living. And if you’re following along with your sermon outline, there’s a number of words that the children especially can be listening for. If you find that helpful to follow the sermon, I would especially encourage you children to listen for the words resurrection, life, scripture and covenant. Resurrection, life, scripture and covenant. Well, dear ones, Many of you are familiar, of course, with the Apostles’ Creed. And in the Apostles’ Creed, we confess a number of vital central truths of our historic Christian faith. And one of the truths that we confess together, along with the Universal Church, is, I believe in the resurrection of the body.

When we confess that truth, we not only are talking about our faith in the resurrection of Jesus’s body, we certainly confess that Jesus physically and bodily rose from the dead. But in confessing that truth, we are confessing our belief in what the scriptures teach that at the end of this age, when Jesus returns, he will raise the dead and there will be the general judgment and the ushering in of the eternal state. Well, dear ones, the biblical truth that at the end of this present age, God Almighty is going to raise the bodies of the dead at the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is a central core truth of our Orthodox historic Christian faith. The doctrine of the future bodily resurrection of the dead is a revealed truth. It’s not a truth that you could discover by the use of autonomous reason, but it is a truth that is revealed by God, and it is revealed in the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God.

Not only is this a truth that is revealed in the New Testament Scriptures, but it is also revealed, at least in seed form, in the Old Testament Scriptures as well. Our passage for today demonstrates that fact. However, in Jesus’s time in first century Palestine, there was a Jewish party known as the Sadducees. They were not as numerous as the sect of the Pharisees, but they were still prominent in first century Palestine, especially in Jerusalem and the area around Jerusalem. These Sadducees rejected the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. The reason they rejected it is because they thought it was a doctrine that could not be found in their own scriptures. Well, in our passage for this Lord’s Day morning, we find a group of these Sadducees who were obviously hostile to Jesus. They approach our Lord in an attempt to ridicule and discredit him for his teaching about the resurrection of the dead on the last day.

And they do this by trying to present our Lord Jesus with with a hypothetical scenario, actually a ridiculous hypothetical scenario, which is clearly designed to reduce to absurdity our Lord’s affirmation of the resurrection of the dead. And also, therefore, to expose our Lord to ridicule in the hopes of getting the people to not take Jesus quite so seriously. They want to discredit him in the eyes of the people. Remember, the religious authorities, including the Pharisees, the scribes, and the Sadducees, were threatened by Jesus because of our Lord’s influence over the people, and so they tried to destroy his reputation. Well, in his masterful response to these Sadducean religious leaders, Our Lord does what he often does so masterfully, and he turns the tables on them and he exposes them as being ignorant of their very own scriptures.

As he shows that the truth of the resurrection of the dead is clearly implied in the fact that the God revealed in the Hebrew scriptures in the Old Testament scriptures is indeed the God of the living. The God revealed in the Bible is the omnipotent sovereign God, the God who created life by his powerful creative work, the God who providentially sustains life, and ultimately the God who will bring the dead back to life in the eschatological new creation. Now, what is the historical setting of our passage for today? Well, as is the case of this section of Mark’s gospel, this event, this conversation that Jesus has with the Sadducees took place during what has been called Passion Week. And that’s the week leading up to our Lord’s crucifixion on Good Friday. The tensions, as we’ve been seeing in our consideration of recent texts from this section of Mark’s gospel, the tensions between the Jerusalem religious authorities and our Lord Jesus are escalating.

They’re escalating to a crisis point. Something is going to break very soon. And Jesus knew this. But the tensions were escalating to a crisis point, especially in the aftermath of events such as our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, his cleansing of the temple and our Lord’s not so subtle denunciation of the religious authorities for their unbelief, hardness of heart, impenitence and unfaithfulness. In the immediately preceding section in verses 13 through 17, which we considered on the last Lord’s Day, we read of how the Pharisees and Herodians had conspired together in order to trap Jesus in his words with a question about paying taxes to Caesar, a very sensitive topic back then. But of course, the Pharisees and the Herodians had miserably failed in their attempt to trap the Lord Jesus. Well, now it is the Sadducees turn to try to trap our Lord and to discredit him.

So let’s dive into our passage for today. And we’re going to focus, first of all, on this opening section in verses 18 through 23. And I want you to observe, this is my first point on your sermon outline, if you’re following along. Observe, beloved, an attempt by Christ’s enemies to make belief in the resurrection of the dead look ridiculous. We see here an attempt by Christ’s enemies to make belief in the resurrection of the dead look ridiculous. Let’s look at verse 18. Mark writes, some Sadducees, and then he gives an explanatory statement. Which, by the way, indicates that Mark is probably writing his gospel to a mostly Gentile audience. That’s why Mark will often explain Jewish sects and schools of thought and customs and so forth. He says, some Sadducees who say there is no resurrection, meaning they denied the future bodily resurrection of the dead at the end of this age.

Some Sadducees came to Jesus and began questioning him. And how do they begin questioning him? How do they address him? They address the Lord Jesus with an honorific title. They call him teacher. Now, did they really believe that Jesus was their teacher? Did they really approach him with that? No, they didn’t really believe that he was a teacher. They’re being deceptive. They’re being coy. They’re being manipulative in trying to butter him up so that they can trap him in his talk. So these are the Sadducees. Who are the Sadducees? In order to appreciate and understand this passage, it’s important to understand the identity of the Sadducees. Dr. Walter Wessel, in his commentary on this passage, reminds us that the word Sadducee probably comes from the name Zadok. It is Saduk in the Greek. and is usually traced to the high priest of that name during the time of David.

During the time of King David, the high priest in David’s time was Zadok. And so the Sadducees were apparently the aristocratic priestly class among the Jews of that time. And many scholars believe that the high priest was typically chosen from amongst the ranks of the Sadducees. So this is the priestly class. These are the aristocrats. They’re the elites, if you will. They’re the priestly class. And thus they would have been viewed as the Bible scholars of the day, although they weren’t as popular with the common people as were the Pharisees. But in any case, now what are some of the distinctives of these Sadducees? Well, the Sadducees accepted only the written scriptures and especially the five books of Moses, the Torah, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They accepted only the written scriptures and especially the five books of Moses.

And they rejected the oral traditions which were accepted as authoritative by the Pharisees. And so the Sadducees and the Pharisees had some very sharp theological differences with one another. Because the Sadducees claimed they couldn’t find it in the scriptures, they rejected the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. And I want to point something out, brothers and sisters. It’s interesting to me. that these Sadducees, apparently, while they were in a sense rationalists, because they rejected the future bodily resurrection of the dead, on the other hand, they were also Biblicists in the sense that they weren’t going to believe a doctrine unless that doctrine was directly stated in scripture. The only thing that would convince a Sadducee that the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is biblical is if it was stated directly in a scripture passage like, there shall be a resurrection of the dead at the end of this age.

And especially they would want to find that in the writings of Moses. But because they didn’t have that direct scripture quote, again, they took sort of a narrow proof text approach to the scriptures, they rejected the resurrection of the dead outright. They also, according to Acts 23 verse 8, the Sadducees also rejected belief in angels and spirits. And all of this made them very materialistic in their focus. Now they come to Jesus and what do they ask him? Look at verse 19. Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife and leaves no child, his brother should marry the wife and raise up children to his brother. Now that is a quotation from the background passage that I read for you earlier from Deuteronomy chapter 25. This was a provision in the Mosaic law designed to guarantee that the family inheritance would pass on from generation to generation, that God’s allotted tribal inheritance and the family inheritances would continue in the promised land.

Dr. William Hendrickson explains that this is called the leverite marriage, the law of the leverite marriage. And Dr. Hendrickson explains that leverate is from the Latin lever, meaning a husband’s brother, hence brother-in-law. This was a sort of a kinsman redeemer law. This kinsman redeemer law made provision for the continuance of the family line and of the family name, all of which helped to guarantee that the inheritance of property that God had given to his people in the promised land would remain in perpetuity. And it’s interesting, this is an old covenant law, which I would argue was only binding to God’s people living in the promised land and under the old covenant provisions. It’s not binding for us today. If you had a similar situation today where you have two brothers and one of the brothers dies and leaves behind a wife and they hadn’t had children, that doesn’t mean that the living brother has to marry his sister-in-law.

That’s not binding today, but it was binding for God’s people who had been given their inheritance in the promised land and had been given tribal allotments and family inheritance. But this old covenant law, which might seem so strange to us today, it’s a law that helps to picture and typify the ultimate inheritance of eternal life in the ultimate promised land of the new heavens and the new earth. God was concerned that his people’s inheritance be permanent. Well, in union with Jesus Christ, we who know Christ as our Lord and Savior, the New Testament teaches that our inheritance is indeed an eternal inheritance. It is firm and secure in the heavens. Praise be to God. But anyways. They come to Jesus and they remind our Lord Jesus of this law and then they bring before him a hypothetical scenario.

And again, it’s a ridiculous scenario. Some have suggested that this may have been sort of a private joke that the Sadducees like to tell amongst themselves as they ridiculed belief in the resurrection of the dead. It says this, and here’s what they say to Jesus. They say there were seven brothers and the first took a wife and died, leaving no children. The second one married her and died, leaving behind no children. And the third likewise. And so all seven left no children. Last of all, the woman died also. And then they get to their question and oh, they must have thought that they, you know, we’ve got them on this. This is this is a foolproof question. We’re going to catch him here. We’re going to trap him here. They asked the Lord Jesus in the resurrection, when they rise again, which one’s wife will she be?

For all seven had married her.” I can almost picture them in my mind kind of snickering as they ask Jesus of this question. Well, a number of takeaways or applications that I, a couple of applications I would make from what we’ve read thus far in our text for today. I think one of the takeaways from this, beloved, is that enemies of the gospel will often try to trap believers in their words or try to make them look ridiculous with gotcha questions, often gotcha questions that are asked with pretended sincerity. It’s very common today, isn’t it? Scoffing, mockery, and ridicule are common weapons that are wielded by hostile unbelievers who are overtly hostile towards the biblical Jesus and the biblical gospel. As the Sadducees did here in their approach to Christ, in general, the strategy of scoffers is to use subtle deception, pretended sincerity, and ridicule.

As the great evangelical Anglican Bishop J.C. Ryle has written in his expository thoughts on Mark, he says, we learn from this passage how much unfairness may often be detected in the arguments of infidels. And he’s using the term infidel there, not as a pejorative term, a demeaning term, but as a description of those who don’t believe and who are hostile to Christianity. Have you ever been shocked or dismayed when an unbeliever, you know, maybe you’re talking about Christ with an unbeliever or someone who’s not convinced of the gospel and, and all of a sudden they get very hostile or they ridicule you, they mock you. How could you, you know, you’re a rational person. How could you believe these fairy tales, that kind of a thing? Well, dear ones, we shouldn’t be shocked or surprised when that happens.

Let us not be surprised by the ridicule and mockery of unbelievers. As the Apostle Paul reminds us in his writings, the message of the cross is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the sophisticated Greeks. And indeed, it is foolishness to those who have not been born again by the Holy Spirit. It takes the Spirit’s illumination to open our eyes to see the truth of salvation through a crucified and risen Messiah. In the eyes of the sophisticates of the world, what we believe is ridiculous, silly. But it is the very truth of God and it is the very power of God. So instead of being upset or crushed or intimidated by the mockery of the godless, Let us love our enemies. Let us pray for those who persecute us. Let us seek their conversion and pray for their conversion.

Let us make it our aim to be always prepared to bear the cross of ridicule and to faithfully and courageously confess Christ even in the face of hostility, ridicule, and the scoffing of the world. Let’s remember what our Lord Jesus said in His famous Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, verses 10-12. As he pronounces the Beatitudes, he says, blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great. For in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Just as an aside, let me remind you, you are not being persecuted if you behave like a jerk in your attempted witness for Christ.

OK. You’re not being persecuted as well if an unbeliever calls you out for using irrational or unsound arguments. It’s important that we try, when we bear witness to Christ and give the reason for the hope that is within us, that we have thought through why we believe what we believe and that we ground our apologetic, our defense of the faith, in the solid rock foundation of God’s Word and the truths of God’s Word. But nevertheless, If we are being faithful, if we are being loving and kind in our sharing of the gospel and the world reacts with sneering and ridicule, let it not intimidate us. Instead, as Jesus says in Matthew 5, 12, rejoice and be glad for your reward. And it’s a reward of grace for your reward in heaven is great for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

I think another and brief takeaway from this first section of our passage for today is that it is immoral and a breaking of the ninth commandment. Thou shalt not bear false witness to deceptively try to trap someone in their speech under the guise of sincerity. And this is something that happens very frequently, especially in our hyper-polarized society today. You see it on internet discussions and so forth, where the goal in interacting with someone from the other side is to make them look foolish or to, quote, destroy them. We need to relearn, I think, as a culture and as a church, the art of civil dialogue, polite, dialogue, Christian kindness, even towards enemies of the truth. Now, Jesus himself would often ask probing questions to draw out from those whom he was interacting with, to draw out their assumptions, to draw out the truth from them.

But Jesus never did that. under the pretense of, under deceptive guise. He was always plain spoken and straightforward, even when he was asking probing questions. So again, let us brothers and sisters remember that our God is not only the living God, he is a God of truth and he is a God who speaks plainly. And that brings me to my next point. as we consider verse 24 in Jesus’s response to them. After they lay this hypothetical scenario before him, how does Jesus respond? But look at verse 24. Jesus said to them, is this not the reason you are mistaken? In other words, to paraphrase it, you guys are wrong. You don’t get it. Is this not the reason you are mistaken that you do not understand the scriptures or the power of God? Take to heart, beloved, the vital importance of knowing scripture in order to avoid serious religious error.

This is my second point in your sermon outline. Take to heart the vital importance of knowing scripture in order to avoid serious religious error. You see, in contrast to the deceptive subtlety of these Sadducees, Our Lord Jesus is direct, plain spoken and forthright in responding to them. Indeed, here our Lord Jesus, as we’ve already noticed, he bluntly confronts these religious leaders with their error. Notice he bluntly tells them they’re wrong. He says, is this not the reason you are mistaken? You are wrong. Jesus does not. And these are the these are the priests. You know, Jesus is not disrespectful, but he is blunt. He does not employ flattery. He does not. He does not use evasive language or equivocation, nor in responding to their question, does he bombard them with an evasive word salad? Instead, he is direct. plain-spoken, he speaks the truth to them.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ is the living truth. He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father except through me. He is the living truth and Our God is a God of truth. He calls us to be people who speak the truth with plainness. That doesn’t mean that you have to speak the truth with rudeness or or that you avoid diplomacy or are cruel and blunt in speaking the truth. But you are called. We are called. to be those who are lovers of the truth, those who speak the truth without equivocation or mental reservation. He also charges them with the inexcusable fault of not knowing their own scriptures. This was an accusation which must have triggered their anger. must have infuriated them. After all, they no doubt prided themselves on their supposed expertise in the scriptures.

And they should have been experts in the scriptures. These were the priests. They should have known their Bibles like the back of their hands. That was their job to know the word. But Jesus says, is this not why you are mistaken? You do not understand the scriptures nor the power of God. He also charges them with being ignorant of God’s power. And I think what Jesus is getting at here Perhaps the reason why they doubted or disbelieved in the doctrine of the resurrection of the body, they claimed that, well, it’s not in the Bible, so we don’t believe it. But perhaps the deeper reason why they didn’t believe it is because they doubted God’s power to raise the dead. And that’s often the case today. There are many folks today who would claim to believe in God who created the universe, but then would doubt or disbelieve in Jesus’s resurrection from the dead or disbelieve in this doctrine of the general resurrection of the dead at the end of this age.

But think about it. If God had the power, as the scripture says he did, to in the beginning speak the word and bang, it came into being out of nothing. I mean, that is the the biblical doctrine of creation is that God created all things by his omnipotent sovereign word. There was nothing but God spoke the universe into being out of nothing and into nothing. It’s called creation ex nihilo, out of nothing. If God had the power to speak all of the galaxies in this huge, unimaginably immense universe into being simply by speaking his creative words, certainly A God with that kind of power has the power to raise the dead. And so, again, he charges them with not knowing their scriptures, not knowing the power of God. And as a takeaway from this second point, beloved, think about it.

The best way to avoid being led astray by the wiles of Satan and his human servants is to be well acquainted with the word of God, the holy scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments. So many today are deceived because so few actually read and study and imbibe and meditate upon God’s word. Or we often read only parts of the Bible that we like. Now, I don’t want to go off-roading too much here, but let me just mention as an aside, if I had my choice, I would be very content with just reading the writings of Paul. I love the writings of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament. I’m a Pauline guy. I also like the Gospels and so forth. There are certain portions of the Bible that I find challenging. I just, in my devotional readings, read through the Book of Numbers with all those statistics and so forth.

And then I also find First Chronicles challenging. The first 10 chapters of First Chronicles is basically what some have described as the phone book of the Old Testament. You know, so-and-so begat so-and-so begat so-and-so begat so-and-so. But you know what? The Book of Numbers, And First Chronicles are just as inspired by the Holy Spirit as Paul’s letter to the Romans, Galatians, Ephesians and so forth. And so, brothers and sisters, I would encourage you, don’t just latch on to those portions of the Bible that you find personally, that you personally resonate with. It’s not wrong to. to prefer certain parts of the Bible to others. But make sure that you try to get the big picture. Read in depth, read deeply, but also read broadly. Don’t just take a deep dive approach to scripture. Use the jet ski approach as well.

You know, when you’re on a jet ski, you’re on the surface and you see the big picture. So we need to read the scriptures as a whole. But it’s also good to put on that wetsuit and dive deep into the scriptures and see what’s on the bottom there as well. I would encourage you, beloved, to meditate upon the word of God. And one of the ways that we hide God’s word in our hearts and equip ourselves against religious error is by doing precisely what you’re doing today, sitting under the reading and preaching of God’s word. Psalm 1 verses 1 to 3, this psalm, which is the entryway into the Psalter, It reminds us of where true blessing comes. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law, the Torah, the covenant instruction of the Lord.

And in His law, he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water. There’s security. There’s stability there, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. And whatever he does, he prospers. May you and I, brothers and sisters, seek to be this blessed man or woman as we meditate upon, as we chew upon, as we feast upon the word of God day and night. But finally, beloved, as we close our time in the word and consider this last section of our Lord’s response to the Sadducees, consider That life in the world to come will be very different from life in this present world order. This is another lesson that we learn from our Lord’s response to the Pharisees. We learn that life in the world to come. will be very different from life in this present world order.

Says this in verse 25, Jesus, again, he’s confronted them with their error, their mistake. And then he explains why their question is really so ridiculous. He says in verse 25, for when they rise again from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And notice, by the way, the Sadducees did not believe in angels. But Jesus is confronting them with another of their errors there. But he’s saying when they rise from the dead, they’ll be like the angels in heaven. The angels don’t get married. They don’t have children. See, there will be no more death in the final new creation. And therefore, there will be no more need for marriage in order to propagate the race. One of the reasons, not the only reason, but one of the reasons why God appointed marriage at the beginning was for the multiplication and propagation of the human race.

And that is still needed today, obviously, because generations come and generations go. People grow up, and they get old, and they die, and then a new generation rises up in their place. And marriage serves for the continuation of the human race. But there will be no more need for that, because in the new heavens and the new earth, there will be no more death. And then Jesus goes on to prove the fact of the resurrection and to prove it from their favorite part of the Bible, the books of Moses. Notice what he says in verse 26. He says, but regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read? And, oh, that must have stung them. It must have been like pouring salt in the wound. And again, Jesus is not. being cruel here, but he’s being straightforward with them.

He says, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, spoke to Moses saying, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And then he wraps it up by saying, you are greatly mistaken. You are greatly mistaken. Since the Sadducees had appealed to the authority of Moses, our Lord Jesus answers their deceptive question by appealing to the teachings of Moses in the writings of Moses, the Torah that implies the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. In verse 26, our Lord quotes from Exodus 3, verse 6, and I’d encourage you briefly to turn there, Exodus chapter 3, verse 6. This is the passage about the burning bush where the Lord reveals himself to Moses and calls Moses to be the deliverer of the Israelites.

And how does God identify himself here? Exodus three, verse six. He said, also, I am the God of your father, meaning your ancestor. the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Then Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God. Now, when God spoke this word to Moses, where were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at this point? They had been long dead. Their flesh had long turned to dust. Their bones were dry and buried in the ground. And yet, God says to them, he identifies himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Notice that the fact of the resurrection of the dead is grounded in God’s ongoing covenant faithfulness to his people, a truth which is implied by God’s self-designation as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

When you read of God in the Bible, that when God identifies himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, What’s going on there is that that harkens back to God’s covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be their God and the God of their children after them to make an everlasting covenant with them. And not only that, did you notice that God says, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He doesn’t say, I was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but of course they’re dead, so I’m no longer their God. No, he says, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In other words, he is the God of the living who has entered into an everlasting covenant relationship with the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and with their offspring.

And this implies that these patriarchs are still alive in his presence. And that also implies that one day they will be raised from the dead. How else could God fulfill his covenant promise, his everlasting covenant with them to be their God and dwell in their midst forever? And if we are believers in Christ, the New Testament teaches that if you belong to Christ, you are Abraham’s seed. says that at the end of Galatians chapter three, father Abraham had many sons, right? Many sons had father Abraham. I’m one of them. And so are you. So let’s just praise the Lord. Amen. Well, what is the takeaway was many takeaways from, from this passage, but friends, the message I think we should receive today from this passage of scripture, or one of the truths that we should take to heart.

Let us be reminded that there is a new world coming. The events of this past week seared into many of our minds and hearts the tragic nature of this present world. There is so much sorrow, so much suffering, so much unnecessary death. But there is a new world coming. It is a world that is very different from the world in which we now live. See, when the Lord Jesus Christ returns at his glorious second advent at the end of this present age, the Bible says that he will raise the dead, he will judge humanity, and he will usher in the eternal state. For those of us who, by his sovereign mercy and grace, are amongst the saved, there will be no more sorrow. There will be no more sickness, no more suffering. No more wars or rumors of wars, no more famines, no more financial distress and uncertainty, no more abuse, no more terrorism, no more school shootings that snuff out the lives of young innocents, no more riots, no more civil unrest or social decay.

Instead, beloved, There will be perfect peace, perfect harmony, unimaginable and glorious joy, endless comfort, and unbroken, joyous fellowship and communion with the sovereign, living, triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the new heavens and the new earth wherein righteousness dwells. That is the world that is coming. Jesus promised to bring it to each and every one of us at the end of this age. You know, In that glorious new eschatological reality, even the worst sufferings and sorrows and tragedies of this present evil age will seem to us like momentary light afflictions, as Paul describes the sufferings of this age in his writings. Dear listener, are you ready for the new world that’s coming? Are you trusting in the God who raises the dead, the God of the living, the glorious Father, who raised his incarnate son from the dead by the Holy Spirit and who raises spiritually dead sinners up to newness of life in union with the Lord Jesus Christ, enabling us to embrace him as our very own Lord and Savior.

Or like the Sadducees of old, is your hope only in this life bound up in earthly, worldly things? The things of this life are significant, yes. You’ve got to pay your bills. You’ve got to put food on the table. Raise your children. These are important things. But these are not the things of ultimate significance. The things of ultimate significance are the things of eternity. In the words of Dr. William Hendrickson, the crass materialism of the Sadducees was as repugnant to the heart of Jesus as was the pompous ceremonialism and loveless legalism of the Pharisees. Oh, dear sinner. And we are all sinners. We all fall short. Turn your eyes from the things of this age to Jesus Christ in the age to come. The Bible says, believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

For if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life, everlasting life in this glorious new world. that God will bring to us. May God give all of us the grace to embrace that life that is yet to come as that life is found in Jesus. Amen. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you and praise you for your goodness to us and your mercy in Christ. We pray that by your spirit, these truths would find a lodging place in our souls and would bear spiritual fruit in our lives. We thank you, O God, that you are indeed the God of the living and that therefore we can trust in you for life and eternity in Jesus name.

Amen. Let’s respond to what we have heard today by rising and we’ll sing is our hymn of commitment number 234. The God of Abraham praise 234.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

April 2, 2023
The Things that are God’s

About this sermon

Pharisees and Herodians try to trap Jesus with a question about paying taxes to Caesar, and he exposes their hypocrisy. ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ God appoints civil government to restrain sin, and Christians pay taxes, honor rulers, and pray for them, though they must obey God when rulers command sin. Every government in this age has flaws, so believers place their ultimate hope in Christ’s coming kingdom, where their true citizenship lies.

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Sermon transcript

As we prepare for the preaching of God’s Word, let’s rise and sing the first verse, the first stanza of 173, Almighty God, your Word is cast. 173. Almighty God, your Word is cast like seed into the ground. Now let the dew of heaven descend, and righteous fruits abound. Amen. Please remain standing for the reading of God’s Holy Word. My sermon text today as we continue our study of the Gospel of Mark is a short passage in Mark chapter 12, Mark 12, verses 13 through 17. The Lord Jesus is in Jerusalem for the last time before his crucifixion. Let us hear God’s holy word. Mark 12, beginning at verse 13. Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to him in order to trap him in a statement, they came and said to him, teacher.

We know that you are truthful and defer to no one, for you are not partial to any but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll tax to Caesar or not? Shall we pay or shall we not pay? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at. They brought one. And he said to them, whose likeness and inscription is this? And they said to him, Caesar’s. And Jesus said to them, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. And they were amazed at him. Dear ones, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for God to bless the preaching of his word.

Gracious Lord and Father in heaven, we pray for the illuminating presence of your spirit. We ask that your spirit would open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word. And we ask that the seed of your word would indeed take deep root in our hearts and bear spiritual fruit in our lives. Make us attentive. Help us to understand what we consider this day and grant unto me your unworthy servant, the grace to declare and speak forth your word with clarity, with power, with the assistance of your spirit and in a manner that is well understood. We pray these things in Jesus name and all of God’s people said, Amen. Please be seated. As you can see in your bulletin, the title of my sermon today, is the things that are God’s.

And there are a number of words, key words you can be listening for in my sermon, if that helps you follow along. And I’d especially point out the words government, gospel, hypocrisy and duty. Well, dear ones, one of the trickiest and most controversial issues in Christian ethics is the issue of how and to what extent the believer in Christ owes allegiance to the civil government. The relationship of the Christian and of the Christian church to the civil government and to civil authorities has often in the history of the church been a source of controversy among God’s professing people. For example, what if, say, the government promotes or endorses values, policies or practices that go contrary to the teachings of God’s word? Or what if the government uses some of the tax revenues that it collects from its citizens to support and pay for practices and laws that the Bible clearly condemns as sinful?

In such circumstances, does the Christian still have an obligation to pay taxes to such a government? Or should believers refuse to pay taxes when the government supports godless or unbiblical policies and laws? Do we as believers still owe obedience and respect to our government authorities even when they support and promote policies and practices and law that God’s moral law condemns? And are we expected to respect and obey and pay taxes to such authorities even when they engage in hostility towards Christ’s church with a persecuting zeal? Well, these kinds of questions are tricky and thorny questions, but they are not new questions. See, similar kinds of questions were also raised among the Jews in first century Palestine and even among our Lord’s Jewish contemporaries. Such questions sparked controversy among God’s people back then as well. One of the most debated issues among the Jews in the first century during our Lord’s lifetime was the question of whether or not Jews should pay taxes to the Roman government.

Remember, at that time, Israel, God’s people, the Jews, were under the domination of the Roman Empire, under the domination of the Caesar. And that was a problem for some Jews, because think about it. After all, the emperor Caesar, the Roman emperor, was he a believer in God, a worshiper of God? No. Not only was the Caesar a Gentile, but he was a pagan, an outright pagan, an idol-worshiping pagan. And while the Roman government was somewhat tolerant toward the Jews and their religion, just so long as they were willing to be good citizens and to avoid inciting revolution against the Roman government, and while the Roman Empire indeed provided all of its citizens and subjects, including the Jews, with many wonderful benefits, for example, benefits such as, by ancient standards, a relatively just legal system, good roads, civil peace and security, and so forth, At the same time, the Roman government itself also used taxpayer money to support the blasphemous, idolatrous pagan cult of emperor worship and other unbiblical and immoral practices.

So it was a mixed bag when it came to the Roman Empire. The issue of whether or not a faithful Jew could support such a pagan government with his taxes was a hotly debated issue amongst God’s people in the first century. This controversy was heightened by the fact that from, think about it, from a Jewish perspective, who were the Romans? Well, the Romans were a foreign occupying force in God’s holy land. a force which, from a Jewish perspective, desecrated and polluted the Holy Land by their very presence and by their idolatrous ways. So this is the issue that comes to the forefront in this discussion that our Lord Jesus has with these representatives from amongst the Pharisees and the Herodians. Now, I want you, first of all, as we dive into our passage for today, the first thing I want to point out from our passage from verses 13 and 14 is that opposition to Christ and his gospel often unites people of radically different opinions.

We see here that opposition to Christ and his gospel often unites unbelievers who are very different from one another in terms of their opinions. We see that by the very mention of these opponents who confront Christ with this question in verse 13. Who are these opponents? Well, they are described in verse 13 as the Pharisees and the Herodians. It says, Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to him. And if you compare this, by the way, with the parallel passages and other gospel accounts, it’s clear that they had plotted and schemed a way to try to trap Jesus in his words, to kind of ask him a gotcha question that could kind of push him into a corner and get him into trouble. And so these opponents are Pharisees and Herodians. Now, before I explain who these groups are, it’s important to remember the setting here.

When does this dialogue, when does this conversation take place? Well, again, remember that this is Passion Week, the week leading up to our Lord’s crucifixion on Good Friday. And so scholars debate, but this event probably took place either on Tuesday or Wednesday of Passion Week. And again, scholars differ upon which day it took place. But either way, the conflict, it’s clear from this that the conflict between Jesus and the Jewish authorities continues to intensify to a breaking point. It says again, They sent some Pharisees and Herodians to him in order to trap him in a statement. And notice how they approach him. Look at verse 14. They came and said to him, Teacher, we know that you are truthful and defer to no one for you are not partial to any but teach the way of God in truth.

Is it lawful to pay a poll tax to Caesar or not? Shall we pay or shall we not pay? Who are the Pharisees and who are the Herodians. Both of them are Jews. And the Pharisees, it was a sect of Judaism that was very rigorous and strict, at least professedly strict in its adherence to the Torah, the Old Testament law. Actually, in reality, the Pharisees were more loyal to the traditions of the rabbis, the traditions of the elders, than they were to the Word of God itself. But they prided themselves on being strict adherents of God’s law, being very careful to observe All of the minute details of God’s law is revealed in the books of Moses in the Old Testament. So the Pharisees were very religious, very devout in terms of their approach to the traditions of the elders, the rabbis.

But on the other hand, we have the Herodians. And you might notice that in their name, Herod, right? The Herodians, as you might suspect, these were essentially the worldly secularists of the day. They were Jews whose practice of Judaism was very superficial. at best. They were sort of nominally practicing Jews of the day, and they were quite content with Roman rule. The Pharisees were willing to pay the tax to Caesar, but from the Pharisees’ perspective, the fact that Rome was ruling in the promised land was an indication of God’s judgment upon Israel for its unfaithfulness. And so They say, well, we’ve got to accept this because it’s God’s judgment upon us, and the way to get out from under this judgment is to be like us, be more faithful to following the minutia of the law of God, as explained by the rabbis.

But the Herodians, on the other hand, were enthusiastic. about Rome’s rule and were quite supportive of it. Ordinarily, Pharisees and Herodians would not want anything to do with one another. They would be in opposition to each other. But as you know the saying, a common enemy makes strange bedfellows. And these two groups come together because they are both opposed to this man, Jesus of Nazareth. He poses a threat in their view to both of them. Now, what is their strategy in approaching Christ? Well, we see in verse 14 that they approach Christ with flattery and pretended piety. Notice again what they say. It says they came to him and they said to him, teacher, they approach him with a with a pretense of respect. They address him as a teacher and then they try to flatter him.

They try to butter him up. and make him vulnerable teacher. We know that you are truthful and defer to no one. Of course, this is true. Jesus is truthful. He is the way, the truth and the life. But they don’t really believe that in their heart of hearts, they’re being deceptive, they’re being hypocritical. But again, they’re trying to flatter him so that they might trap him. Teacher, we know that you are truthful and defer to no one for you are not partial to any but teach the way of God in truth. Again, what they’re saying is objectively true. Jesus indeed teaches the way of God in truth, because as I said before, Jesus is the truth of God. But then they ask this controverted question. Is it lawful to pay a poll tax to Caesar or not?

This is where Jesus probably gets clued into the fact that these folks are not sincere. Is it lawful to pay a poll tax to Caesar or not? Shall we pay or shall we not pay? By these questions, they seek to draw him into this rabbinical debate that raged amongst the various sects of Judaism in the first century. Their aim, obviously, had been to trap Jesus in his talk so as to get him into trouble with the authorities. That’s made clear in verse 13. And they probably imagined that they had concocted a foolproof trap, a gotcha question that would get him into trouble no matter how he answered the question. In their strategy, they are being quite clever. You see, if Jesus were to answer with a no, which he wouldn’t because obviously it becomes clear that Jesus does believe that we should and he teaches that we should render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.

But if Jesus hypothetically should answer their question with a no. then they could report him to the Roman authorities as a threat to the peace, a potential revolutionary plotting rebellion against Roman rule. And the Herodians especially would love to to get Jesus into trouble in that regard. But on the other hand, if our Lord Jesus directly answered their question with a straightforward yes, then his answer would alienate him from the many devout Jews who had previously supported and followed him and for whom paying tribute to Rome was extremely unpopular. See, even amongst the Jews who grudgingly paid their taxes, that was not a very popular thing. If the word got out that Jesus, oh, Jesus is saying we need to we need to follow along the thinking of the Herodians, then that would cause the Lord Jesus to lose some followers.

So they think they’ve got him trapped and that either way he answers the question is going to get him into trouble. And what is the issue again raised by Christ’s opponents? The issue, as we see in verse 14, is the lawfulness of paying taxes to Caesar. Look at their question. In verse 14, they asked, is it lawful to pay a poll tax to Caesar or not? Now, some might respond by saying, well, of course, it’s lawful. It is the law. You’re supposed to do this. And and if you don’t pay this tax from the standpoint of Roman law, you’re breaking the law. But obviously, they have in mind, not Roman law, not secular law. They have in mind God’s law. If we pay Caesar, taxes to Caesar, are we breaking God’s law? That’s really at the heart of their question.

Again, this was a hotly debated issue among the Jews in our Lord’s day, and there were radically different schools of thought on this. For example, on one extreme, you had the Jewish zealots. And the zealots opposed Caesar’s reign with a vehemence. Many zealots were actually supported revolutionary movements against Rome. And many of such zealots would at times, when they were exposed or captured, would be punished with the ultimate punishment that Rome meted out, the punishment of crucifixion. But the zealots among the Jews opposed Caesar’s reign and the payment of taxes to the Roman government. So that’s one extreme. But on the opposite extreme, you had, again, the Herodians who were enthusiastically supportive of the Roman government. Again, the point here, beloved, is that a common enemy will often unite otherwise radically different groups. Enemies of the gospel who under normal circumstances would be at each other’s throats or would review each other as ideological enemies will sometimes put aside their differences and unite together to oppose the truth of God’s word and the spiritual labors of the Christian church.

There is a certain unity among the enemies of God. And sadly, as we compare the church’s situation, there is often disunity among the people of God. Dear ones, let us counter the unity that is often found among the enemies of the gospel by standing fast in the unity of Christ with all who confess the true biblical gospel. All who truly name the name of Jesus, all who embrace the biblical gospel are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We may have some significant denominational differences with them, but we are not to view them as enemies. We are one body in Christ. Let us maintain that spiritual unity. The world is certainly united against us. Let us be united with those of like precious faith as we stand together for the gospel and against those who would destroy the gospel and its witness.

But next, notice our Lord’s response to the hypocritical testing of his opponents. We see next in verses 15 and 16, our Lord’s masterful response to this hypocritical testing of his opponents brought to him by his opponents. Look at verse 15. It says. But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, let me pause there. How does Jesus know that they’re being hypocritical? Well, it’s possible that he sees their hypocrisy in the sense that as the omniscient son of God, he’s able to see their hearts, that he detects in his divine nature, he detects their hypocrisy. Or it also could be that their hypocrisy is so obvious, so blatant that even our Lord, with respect to his human nature, was able to detect it. Either way, Jesus is on to them. He’s on to their game and he confronts them with it.

It says, he knowing their hypocrisy said to them, why are you testing me? He knows why they’re testing him, but he confronts them with their deceit and hypocrisy. Why are you testing me? And then he asks them to bring him a denarius to look at. We’ll talk about that in a few moments. But notice here, Christ sees what’s going on. He confronts their hypocrisy and we notice this object lesson. involving a denarius. Now, what is a denarius? Well, a denarius, as Dr. William Hendrickson points out, a denarius is a small silver coin equal to a laborer’s average wages for one day’s work. So it was a basic form of currency back then. If you were a day laborer and you put in a day’s work, you would get for your work a denarius. That was the typical pay for a day of labor.

And this coin was interesting because the coin itself had a likeness of Caesar, of the Roman emperor inscribed on it, along with an inscription of his name and his title. And in his title, divine honors are ascribed to the emperor. And so even the coin itself, this piece of currency, had idolatry attached to it in the sense that it rendered divine honors or ascribed divine honors to the Caesar. Now, Jesus requests this denarius, the fact that our Lord asked his opponents to supply him with a denarius and then they complied with his request. They didn’t say, well, we don’t have a denarius on us. We don’t use the Roman currency. Right. No. He asked them to give them a denarius, to give him a denarius. And they comply. This reveals that they themselves benefited from the relative peace and order supplied by Rome.

And the very fact that they use the Roman currency shows that they implicitly recognize their obligations to Caesar’s government. Again, notice, my friends, what we learn here is that our Lord Jesus detests hypocrisy, especially pretended and deceptive piety. Again, these Pharisees and these Herodians They come to Jesus pretending to be pious Jews. They say, teacher, we know, we know that you are truthful. Defer to no one. You’re not partial to anyone. You’re a good guy. We we know this. And in their hearts, they don’t believe a word of what they’re saying. They are lying and they are taking the Lord’s name in vain. And Jesus calls them out on it. And Jesus detests that kind of hypocrisy. Let us be warned, dear friends, Let us be warned against such hypocrisy in our own lives. Let us walk the talk and let us repent of any hypocrisy and false piety that might exist within our breasts.

But what is the lesson from all of this? Well, the lesson that we learn here, beloved, as we see in verse 17, is that our duty to the government and our duty to God are meant to go together. They’re not meant to be in conflict with one another. They’re meant to go together. Look at verse 17. Jesus said to them, you know, again, they he asked for denarius. They bring him a denarius, says in verse 16, they brought one. And he said to them, whose likeness and inscription is this? And they say, of course, Caesars. And what does Jesus say? Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. Oh, there’s so much to unpack from this one verse of our passage for today. We learn here, though, that under ordinary circumstances, there are exceptional circumstances, as we’ll see in a few moments, but under ordinary circumstances, our duty to the government and our duty to God are compatible.

They’re meant to go together. Dr. William Barclay writes in his commentary on Mark, and I quote him, he says, no man can accept all the benefits which the state gives him and then opt out of all the responsibilities. And Dr. Hendrickson, in his commentary, writes the answer. Jesus’s answer implies, yes, the tax must be paid. There must be an adequate response to privileges enjoyed. But though the emperor must receive his due, he must not receive more than that. That is, he must not receive the divine honors he claims. So, yes, there were ascriptions of divine honors to the Caesar imprinted upon that denarius. But using the denarius, using the currency did not of itself indicate that you accepted Caesar’s claims to divine honors. You were simply rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. We read of the general the general posture that the Christians should have to the civil magistrates.

This is fleshed out, this principle which which our Lord speaks of in our passage for today is fleshed out more by the Apostle Paul in that famous passage of Romans 13, verses one through seven. I’d like to invite you to turn there. I want to read this passage briefly. Romans chapter 13, verses one through seven. This is after the Apostle Paul has explained the gospel and in all of its intricacies, and then he, in chapter 12, begins to to flesh out some of the implications of our salvation. And one of those implications has to do with our relationship with the civil magistrates. Excuse me. Beginning in chapter 13, verse one, let me just read these verses. Paul writes, every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God.

Let me remind you that when Paul wrote these words, the emperor of Rome at the time, I believe, was Nero. If you know anything, know your history, know anything about Emperor Nero, he was not a he was not a nice guy. It’s one of the most vile, evil dictatorial rulers ever to ever to arise in human history. But nevertheless, Paul writes, every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God. God in his province raises up these authorities as he pleases. And then verse two, therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God. And they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. In an ideal world, he’s giving the ideal scenario.

Rulers are not a cause for fear of good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same. For it is a minister of God to you for good. Notice, verse four, he says, the civil authorities are ministers of God, servants of God, whether they realize it or not, whether they’re Christians or not in God’s providence, they serve God’s purposes. And then he goes on to say in verse four, but if you do what is evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword for nothing, for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore, It is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience sake.

For because of this, notice this how this relates to our passage for today. Verse six, for because of this, you also pay taxes for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them tax to whom taxes due custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. But wait a minute, Pastor, does that mean that if the civil authorities command the church to do something that is sinful or in violation of God’s law, that we should just go ahead and do it? Because after all, God put them in their position of authority and we are to submit to the governing authorities. Well, again, there’s other biblical teaching to keep in mind. For example, look with me briefly, if you would, at Acts chapter four, verses 18 through 20.

Acts, chapter four, verses 18 through 20. In this passage, the apostles are brought before the Jewish Sanhedrin, the ruling council among the Jews. And that ruling council, by the way, had not only religious authority, but they also had entrusted to them some civil authority as well. And in verses 18 through 20. We read this as Peter and John, the apostles, Peter and John, are arrested for preaching the gospel, for preaching about the resurrection of Jesus. And they are commanded to stop preaching Jesus and stop preaching the resurrection. Verse 18, it says, And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Stop your Christian preaching. Stop your Christian teaching. Stop proclaiming your gospel. How does Peter respond? Verse 19, but Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge, for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.

We must obey God rather than man, when there is a conflict, when civil law commands us to do something that is sinful or prohibits us from carrying out our God given mission as a church, then we must obey God rather than men. So what are some of the closing applications that we can glean from what we’ve considered today? Jesus says, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, render to God the things that are God. Give the civil authorities that which properly belongs to them. Give to God that which properly belongs to him. Well, first of all, by way of application, while a case might be made that in certain extreme situations, a Christian may without sin and in good conscience participate in a justified political revolution. And that’s a that’s a hot button issue that hot potato issue rather that can be debated by Christian theologians and ethicists and has been debated.

Nevertheless, understand, beloved, that the Lord Jesus in particular and the New Testament witness on the whole teach that the faithful Christians general posture toward the civil government is to be a posture of submission, compliance, obedience and respect. We are to submit to the governing authorities. And yes, I know tax season, it’s coming upon us, right? Who enjoys? Raise your hand if you enjoy paying your taxes. I don’t think anyone is going to raise their hands. But nevertheless, we are commanded to be faithful in paying our taxes. You know, God’s word calls us as believers and as a church to be good witnesses to our neighbors, And one of the ways that we do that is by being good, law-abiding, peace-loving, tax-paying citizens who pray for our civil authorities. We are commanded in Scripture, in passages like 1 Timothy chapter 2, to pray for those that God has raised up into positions of authority in biblical times, that would be the emperor.

The early church prayed for the emperor and for the authorities. We are to pray today for our president, vice president, the members of Congress and the Supreme Court, our governor and statewide and local governing officials. We have a duty to pray for those whom God has raised up to positions of authority. We also have a duty to seek to promote the common good by supporting the peace and good order of our society and the temporal blessings of our neighbors. That’s part of what it means to love your neighbor. Loving our neighbors as ourselves, as Christians, one of the things that means is that we pray for and desire to expose our neighbors to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We seek to be good witnesses for Christ, but we should also be concerned for their temporal well-being as well.

That’s part of what it means to be a good neighbor. Now, again, if a government authority ever seeks to enforce a civil law that contradicts the higher law and word of God, then, of course, we must obey God rather than men. When there is a conflict between man’s law and God’s law, then we must obey God’s law, even if it means disobeying man’s law. But when there is not a conflict between civil law and God’s law, we must obey both. We must render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God. the things that are God’s. But think about another implication of our Lord’s teaching here in this passage. Jesus says in verse 17, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. Now, the latter part of that teaching render to God the things that are God’s.

Do you think that Caesar is exempted from that principle? Of course not. Of course not. Our Lord’s words here imply that Caesar, too, The civil authorities, too, must render to God the things that are God’s. Even the emperor Caesar, even the Roman emperor, owed ultimate allegiance, worship and obedience to his creator, as everyone else does. And even our civil leaders today owe their ultimate allegiance to God Almighty and to his chosen anointed king. The Lord Jesus Christ, this is reflected in that song that we sang earlier in the service song to why do he the nation’s rage? Why do the unbelieving nations rage against Yahweh the Lord and his righteous rule through his anointed king? That is a general posture of unbelieving nations to be opposed to God, and we see that in many instances, even in our society today.

But even the civil authorities owe their ultimate allegiance to God Almighty and his chosen anointed king, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, some might hear what I just said and think, oh, Pastor Willauer is a theonomist, right? He’s preaching theonomy. No, I’m not. Let me assure you, I’m not in any way seeking to promote theonomy or Christian nationalism or any other kind of theological or or interpretational error or heresy. Rather, I’m simply pointing out the implications of this passage that all classes and types of men and women, not only the ruled, but even rulers. are accountable to their Creator and will answer to their Creator on the day of judgment. And when our civil authorities seek to exalt themselves and their positions above the authority of God, when the civil authorities, when the state views itself as being the ultimate authority, even higher than the authority of God himself, we must humbly, respectfully and yet firmly remind them of their proper position as creatures of God and call them to humble themselves in repentance.

But I also want you to consider as we close our time in the word today that what our Lord Jesus teaches here in this brief passage reminds us of our status as the pilgrim people of God. This reminds us that we are not to delude ourselves by expecting some kind of political utopia in this present age. See, by ancient standards, the Roman Empire was a fairly just, well-ordered, peaceful empire, but it certainly was not utopia. It certainly was not heaven on earth. One of the things that often distresses me, especially as we enter into election seasons, for example, is that how many folks, not just non-Christians, but many Christians get so wrapped up and so riled up And certainly, I think that if you, as part of expressing your citizenship, want to exercise your right to vote, which you certainly have the right to do, obviously, then I would encourage you to do that.

Vote your Christian conscience. But don’t think that the solution to our problems today is to get the right people in political office. And don’t let your spirit be crushed if the other guy gets elected or the other gal, as the case may be, gets elected into office. Our ultimate hope is not in our civil leaders. The Bible says, put not your trust in princes nor in the son of man. Because I got bad news for you in this present evil age, even the most just Even the most just societies will be flawed and imperfect and a level of corruption will be in any government because there are corrupt fallen people in positions of governance. Nevertheless, the government is an ordinance of God. Why did God appoint the civil authorities? Well, because the human race is a fallen, sinful race.

And without the restraints and the fear of punishment that the civil authorities provide, the human race, human society would be impossible. There would be nothing but death and destruction and despair. So we can thank God for the governments and government leaders that he raises up for our good. But again, There will be no need for civil authorities in the new heavens and the new earth for their perfect justice and perfect love will reign in the eschatological reign of Christ. That is where our hope belongs. In the meantime, we pay our taxes. We seek to be good citizens. We pray for our governing leaders, but we don’t put our hope in them. We put our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and in his coming kingdom. Dear listener, where is your hope placed this day?

In what do you repose your ultimate hope? May your ultimate hope be placed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to him and him alone. Rest in him and remember that your ultimate citizenship is in heaven. Amen. Let us pray. Lord and Father in heaven, we do thank you, O God, that you have granted us your grace and mercy in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We do pray, Heavenly Father, that you would help us always in our daily lives and in our daily vocations to keep Christ front and center and to put our hope in him above all in him alone. We ask, Lord, that you would give us grace to follow these directives of scripture. Sometimes they are uncomfortable. Sometimes they are troublesome. But we know, Lord, that you have a good purpose behind all of these these truths.

So help us to take these truths to heart and help us to be good witnesses in our relationship to our neighbors and in the way that we conduct ourselves in relationship to the civil authorities. We pray these things in Jesus name and all of God’s people said, Amen. In closing, let’s rise and sing as our hymn of commitment, number 502, All for Jesus, 502.

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March 26, 2023
Unfaithful Vine-Growers in the Lord’s Vineyard

About this sermon

In the parable of the vineyard, God sends servant after servant to collect his fruit, and the tenants beat and kill them, and finally they kill the owner’s beloved son. The parable exposes the murderous intent of the religious leaders who reject Jesus. God takes the vineyard from them and gives it to others, a church gathered from Jews and Gentiles. The stone the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone, and the church must build its life on Christ and his gospel.

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Sermon transcript

First of all, let’s sing together, 173, Almighty God, your word is cast. We’ll sing the first stanza of 173. Almighty God, your word is cast like sea into the ground. Amen. Please remain standing for the reading of God’s word. My sermon text today, as we continue to work our way through the gospel of Mark, my sermon text is Mark chapter 12, verses 1 through 12. Mark 12, 1 through 12. This is the word of God, hear it with reverence and awe. Remember the context here, Jesus is in Jerusalem and this is Passion Week. And he began to speak to them in parables. A man planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower and rented it out to vine growers and went on a journey.

At the harvest time, he sent a slave to the vine growers in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine growers. They took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another slave and they wounded him in the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another and that one they killed, and so with many others, beating some and killing others. He had one more to send, a beloved son. He sent him last of all to them, saying, They will respect my son. But those vine growers said to one another, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. They took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do?

He will come and destroy the vine growers and will give the vineyard to others. Have you not even read this scripture? the stone which the builders rejected. This became the chief cornerstone. This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes. And they were seeking to seize him, and yet they feared the people, for they understood that he spoke the parable against them. And so they left him and went away. Dear friends, the grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for the God’s blessing upon the preaching. of his word. Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you, O God, that you have made us your vineyard. We thank you, Lord God, that Christ is our vine dresser. Ultimately, we thank you that we can rest in him to prune us, to make fruit, to cause fruit to be born by us.

We ask that by your spirit you would bear spiritual fruit in our lives as we consider this portion of your holy word. We ask Lord that you would grant unto me your unworthy servant, the grace to declare and proclaim your word faithfully. And we pray that we might be faithful listeners and hearers that we might not only be hearers of the word, but also doers of the word. We pray all of these things, heavenly father, in Jesus name and all of God’s people said, amen. Maybe seated. titled my sermon this morning is Unfaithful Vine Growers in the Lord’s Vineyard. And if the children are wanting some words to listen for, I’d encourage you to listen for three words in particular, the word parable, cornerstone, and repentance. Well, dear ones, this parable of the Lord Jesus, which Mark records in our passage for today, It’s kind of a shocking parable.

In fact, it is both a confrontational and a provocative parable. Who is Jesus or to whom is Jesus addressing this parable? Well, in the flow of Mark’s narrative, it is reasonable to assume that our Lord Jesus addresses this parable to the same folks that he was speaking to in the previous context, namely the chief priests and the scribes, and the elders, referred to back in chapter 11, verse 27. In other words, the Lord Jesus addresses this parable to the religious authorities and representatives of the Jewish ruling council, or Sanhedrin, the folks who had confronted Jesus in the temple, demanding to know by what authority he was conducting his ministry, especially demanding to know the authority by which he conducted the actions that we read of in chapter 11, such as our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, which was a symbol, a symbolic and open claim to be the Messiah, as well as our Lord’s cleansing of the temple by which he challenged, through that action, the authority of the high priest who oversaw what the business that went on in the temple.

Jesus probably told this parable during the so-called Passion Week. Passion Week refers to the week leading up to our Lord’s crucifixion, and scholars estimate that this parable was probably told on Tuesday of Passion Week. Christ was going to be crucified on Friday, so this parable is told on Tuesday. This parable anticipates a further heightening of a crisis of conflict between Jesus and the Jewish religious authorities who were hostile toward him. A conflict that, of course, will culminate in our Lord’s crucifixion. In fact, by telling this parable of judgment to these religious authorities, and that’s what this parable is, it is a parable by which Christ is declaring God’s judgment against these religious authorities. By doing this, there’s a real sense in which our Lord Jesus actually adds fuel to the fires of animosity that the Jewish leaders harbored against him and provoked them to further anger.

For in this parable, Jesus confronts them with their hard-hearted rejection of him as the Messiah and Son of God, and he predicts their judgment and rejection of God. After all, as verse 12 makes clear, they understood that he spoke this parable against them. Now, Mark describes this saying as one of the parables. He began to speak to them in parables, but scholars debate whether this is actually, technically speaking, a parable. See, most of our Lord’s parables had one main lesson, and the various details of our Lord’s parables usually did not have any kind of separate significance, but that’s not the case in this particular parable. In this parable, the various figures of the parable, the various people and realities described in this parable, such as the vineyard, the owner of the vineyard, the vine growers or tenants, and the servants, and the owner’s beloved son, all of these figures stand for something or for someone.

I think William Barclay is probably correct when he says that this parable is best viewed as a parable-allegory hybrid. a cross between an allegory and a parable. But we’ll let the scholars debate about how we are to technically view this particular item, this particular story that Jesus tells. Again, Mark describes it as, generally speaking, as a parable. But what is the original setting of this parable? And is this a parable, a story that Jesus tells that would resonate with the original audience to whom he addressed it? Well, again, to quote William Barclay on the setting, the historical setting of this parable, he writes, the story itself is of what might well happen in Palestine in the time of Jesus. The country had much labor unrest and many absentee landlords. The owner of such a vineyard might be a Jew who had sought a more comfortable land than Palestine, or he might be a Roman who regarded the vineyard as an investment for his money.

If the owner followed the law, meaning the old covenant law, the first time for collecting the rental would be five years after the planting of the vineyard, and he refers us back to Leviticus 19, 23 to 25. In such a case, the rental was paid in kind. It might be a fixed and agreed percentage of the crop, or it might be a stated amount, irrespective of what the crop came to. The story is by no means improbable, and tells of the kind of thing which did actually happen. So, what Jesus says in this parable is something that they could resonate with, something that was true to life in the land of Palestine at that time. Although, the only thing that is humanly improbable in this parable is the owner’s repeated grace in giving the tenants, the vine growers, multiple additional opportunities to do the right thing by continuing to send additional servants and eventually sending his own beloved son.

And that, my friends, is a powerful picture of God’s incredible patience and long-suffering and forbearance, even toward hardened, rebellious sinners. Now, with all this in mind, let’s dive in to this parable, this story that the Lord Jesus tells. Let’s consider, first of all, from the first eight verses, consider how this parable depicts the unfaithfulness of Israel’s leaders throughout the history of God’s people. What we have in this parable is a picture of the unfaithfulness of Israel’s leaders throughout the history of God’s people. See, friends, this passage is a wonderful recounting and summary, if you will, of Israel’s covenant history in parabolic form. Remember the story of the Old Testament. It’s kind of encapsulated here in this parable that the Lord Jesus tells. Remember the story of Israel, right? God had made a covenant with Abraham and confirmed that covenant with Isaac and Jacob and raised up the patriarchs, but the patriarchs end up in Egypt.

The patriarchs and their descendants end up in Egypt through Joseph and so forth. But then they become slaves in Egypt and they cry out to the Lord for deliverance. And what does God do? He raises up Moses and he redeems his people from their slavery in Egypt by a supernatural mighty signs, by mighty signs and wonders. And he brings them through the Red Sea on dry land. He brings them to the foot of Mount Sinai where he gives them his Torah, his law, his covenant instruction. And then, eventually, there’s a 40-year gap because of Israel’s unfaithfulness. But eventually, he brings them into the promised land. They conquer the promised land. And God plants his vine, Israel, in his vineyard, the promised land. And he expects spiritual fruit from them, the fruit of covenant obedience. But if you read the history of Israel in the Old Testament, what do we often read of?

We often read of idolatry, covenant breaking. What does God do? His people go astray. They go after the gods of the nations. They abandoned Yahweh, their God, their redeeming God, who had rescued them and made covenant with them. They abandoned the Lord. What does God do? Does he automatically abandon them? No. He raises up his servants, the prophets, and he sends to them prophets who call them to repentance for their sin and call them back to faith and covenant obedience. And there are times, there are periods in Israel’s history where there is a national and spiritual renewal, an awakening, if you will, a return, a reformation of God’s people, such as under Hezekiah and Josiah and so forth. But most of Israel’s history is a history of God sending multiple prophets time and time again, sending his servants, the prophets to them.

And some of the prophets they beat some of the prophets they mistreat, they kill and so forth. But then eventually God sends his son, his beloved son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And what do they do to Jesus? Well, we will see that they will soon crucify their own Messiah. We have this covenant history encapsulated and summarized by our Lord Jesus. Again, in this passage, in this parable, where again, we have a summary and recounting of Israel’s history, covenant history in parabolic form. And what does it say in verse one? It says he began to speak to them. In other words, to the chief priests, to the scribes, to the elders of the people, these representatives of the Jewish Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. He speaks to them and he speaks to them using words that they would be familiar with because they would be familiar with Isaiah chapter five, which I read to you earlier in the service.

A man planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower. Does that sound familiar? It should because he’s referring there to Isaiah chapter five. He’s drawing Jesus is here drawing from the imagery of Isaiah 5, 1 through 7, and he rented it out to vine growers or tenants, as it’s translated in some of your translations, and he went on a journey. Who is the owner of this vineyard? Well, the owner of the vineyard obviously represents God. The vineyard planted by the Lord is the covenant nation of Israel, the nation which Yahweh had redeemed from slavery in Egypt. and had planted as a vine in the promised land. The vine growers or tenants represent the religious leaders, such as the chief priests, the scribes and the elders, religious leaders who were responsible and called by God to nurture and care for and shepherd the Lord’s people, his vineyard.

But then we read this in verses two through five. At the harvest time, he sent a slave or a servant to the vine growers in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine growers. Again, this is what an absentee landlord at that particular time would do when his rent was due, if you will, for renting it out to the vine growers. He would send a servant to get to collect some of the fruits of the vineyard. And it goes on to say, he does this, but what did they do? What did the vine growers do, the tenants do? Verse 3, they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Now, in reality, if that happened, in reality, what would the owner do? The owner would not put up with it, you know.

The owner would automatically go and deal with those tenants right away. But because this is a picture of God’s patient dealing with his people, What does it say in the parable here? Verse four, again, he sent them another slave. I wouldn’t have wanted to be one of those slaves, especially seeing my fellow slaves coming back all beaten, bloodied and bruised. I wouldn’t want to go. But anyways, the parable, he sent them another slave. And what did they do to him? They wounded him in the head and treated him shamefully. And so what does the owner do? He says, does he say that’s it? I’m through with these vine growers, these tenants. I’m going to pour out my wrath upon them, I’m going to deal with them. No, it says verse five, he sent another and that when they killed.

But does he stop at that point, sending them servants? No. Says so, with many others beating some and killing others, you see how this how this summarizes the covenant history of Israel. The people of God, time and time and time and time again, had been unfaithful to the Lord, and he persistently sent to them his servants, the prophets, to call the people to repentance, to call the people back to the Lord. Occasionally, there was a return to the Lord. There was always a faithful remnant, a godly remnant, among the people of God in Old Testament times. God, in his electing grace, always preserved for himself a godly remnants, but nevertheless, on the whole, the nation over and over and over again rejected the prophets whom the Lord had raised up and sent unto them. And so, but God keeps sending them prophets over and over and over again.

And finally, verse six, he had one more to send. This one more is a described as a beloved Son, who does that represent? Children, who does the beloved son represent? That represents Jesus. Jesus is the beloved son of God. God being the owner of the vineyard, the people of God, the church, the beloved son of the owner again represents Christ. And the language of this verse, by the way, may indicate that the son in this parable is an only son. Imagine this owner of the vineyard. He has sent multiple servants, most of them coming back bloodied or bruised, some of them killed. But then he sends his beloved son. Now, humanly speaking, that would be crazy. But God is a God of radical grace, so he sends his beloved son, his only son. And what are the vine dressers do?

Verses seven and eight. With those vine growers, said to one another, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours. Jesus here in this saying, he’s putting his finger on the motivation of these chief priests, these scribes. They wanted Jesus to be gone. They wanted to be rid of him. He threatened their power. He threatened their influence over the people. He confronted them with their sin and self-righteousness, and they would have nothing of it. They wanted to kill him, and Jesus, in parabolic form, confronts them with their murderous intention here. This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him. And what do they think is going to happen? The inheritance will be ours. And so what do they do? They took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard as Jesus was crucified outside the city of Jerusalem and rejected and despised.

The vine dressers or tenants in this parable kill the owner’s son in a vain attempt to gain possession of the vineyard. Now, as Dr. Walter Wessel explains, the tenants here, quote, saw the coming of the son as a golden opportunity for seizing the property. Why would they see it as such? Well, as Dr. Wessel explains, they may have inferred from the son’s coming that the owner had died. If they did away with his son, the property under the law, the property would be ownerless and therefore available to the first claimant. So there they might have thought, well, you know, the owner must be dead. So the son is claiming coming to claim his inheritance. Let’s kill the son, and then no one else will be able to claim the inheritance, then it’ll be ours, right?

But again, through this parable, Jesus confronts these religious authorities with their murderous intention. Now, what are some of the truths that we can glean from this and apply to our own situation today. What we learn in this parable, beloved, as we learn in all of scripture, that our God is a God who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. God is patient. He is forbearing. He is long-suffering. He is faithful even toward his unfaithful people. And that is one of the great lessons of the Old Testament. As the people of God, the visible, professed people of God, continuously sin against the Lord, break his law, violate his covenant, go after other gods. Yet God does not immediately cast them out of the land. He sends them multiple prophets. Eventually, though, he does. bring judgment upon them.

He does send them into exile eventually, but even in exile, they are still his people, and he will bring them back from exile. God is patient, and that is our salvation, beloved. Praise God that his mercies are new every morning. This is not an excuse, obviously, to sin, but this is something that should give the convicted, burdened sinner hope. because God welcomes the prodigal home. And dear prodigal child of God, God welcomes you home. Your heavenly father invites you home. Turn back to the Lord in penitent faith, and he will run to you, embrace you, and welcome you back to his fold. Praise God, he is patient. And we learn this from our parable today, and indeed from the testimony of all scripture But we also learn in this passage, as we read of the vine growers and their hardness of heart, we learn here that apart from God’s grace, man is spiritually, utterly spiritually blind and hardened in sin and rebellion.

Again, this is another truth that is proven by Israel’s covenant history and which the religious leaders in our Lord’s time were repeating in their own generation. These chief priests and scribes and elders of the people, they saw Jesus do his miracles. They saw the claims of Christ. They saw, they should have seen, that yes, this indeed is the promised Messiah. This is the one whom we should welcome. This is the one whom we should embrace. But no, instead, they hardened their hearts against him in their blindness and pride and self-righteousness. Praise God for his grace, and if you’re spiritual eyes have been opened to see Jesus for who He is as the Anointed One, the promised Messiah, the God-man, the Word made flesh, the Son of God, the only Savior of sinners. If the Lord has opened your eyes, it is only because of His grace, not because of your ingenuity or your worthiness or your intelligence.

It’s all by grace and grace alone. The next, as we move on to the next section, and we’re going to cover briefly verses eight and nine, take to heart God’s judgment upon the unfaithful tenants and the turning over of his vineyard to others. We see here God’s judgment upon the unfaithful tenants and the turning over of his vineyard to others. Jesus says they took him and killed him. This is the beloved son of the owner. They took him and killed him, the owner’s son, and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine growers and will give the vineyard to others. This language anticipates, ultimately, the doing away of the old covenant order, the destruction of the temple, which took place in 70 AD, and, of course, the bringing in of the new covenant order in Christ, which includes Gentiles on equal ground with Jews in the Israel of God.

The true Israel of God, the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord’s Vineyard now includes Jews and Gentiles who believe in and trust and confess Jesus Christ as Messiah, son of God, Lord and Savior. We learn here, beloved, we are reminded in these verses that God will judge the impenitence and unbelieving. While there is much encouragement here as we consider God’s patience, at the same time, there is warning here not to persist, not to presume upon the Lord’s grace, not to persist in impenitence and unbelief. Oh, dear listener, be warned against rebelling against the word of God. Be warned against hardening your heart against the Lord. May God in his mercy and grace give you the grace to have a softened, malleable, teachable heart. Cry out to God for his spirit to make your heart teachable, malleable, that you might be repentant and might rest in Christ for your salvation.

We also notice here that God is looking for spiritual fruit. Why did the owner of the vineyard send his servants to the vineyard in the first place? Well, verse two, At the harvest time, he sent a slave to the vine growers in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine growers. God is looking for spiritual fruit. But we cannot produce spiritual fruit apart from spiritual life, apart from spiritual union with the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only by abiding in Christ, the true vine, by true faith, that we can bear spiritual fruit for God. Now, that fruit that we bear does not save us, you are not saved by the fruits of God’s grace in your life. The fruit of grace is just that. It’s fruit. It’s evidence of a true and living faith.

We are saved, justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. But never by a faith that is alone. A faith that will always produce spiritual fruits. The fruits of humility and hatred of sin. The fruits of walking after a new obedience out of gratitude for God’s gift of salvation. and so forth. Let us, by the grace of God, rest in Christ and call upon the Lord for his Spirit’s grace that we might indeed bear fruit. May we abide in Christ, the living vine, that we might bear spiritual fruit for God. We also learn here in this passage that the church is the Israel of God, inclusive of Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus as Messiah, Son of God and Savior. As Jesus says in verse nine, what will the owner of the vineyard do?

He will come and destroy the vine growers. He’s going to destroy the old covenant order. He’s going to destroy the temple that represented the temple that ultimately pointed to Christ. And Christ did away with the need for the temple by his atoning death on the cross. But also it says he will give the vineyard to others. It’s not just for the Jews now, it’s for Jews and Gentiles. who believe in Jesus. No longer will God’s vineyard be limited to the covenant nation of Israel and to isolated Gentiles who happen to identify themselves with the God of Israel and with his covenant nation. But now, under the new covenant, it is expanded to include all who come to profess true faith in the true God and in his messianic son, the Lord Jesus Christ. How about you, dear listener?

Are you planted in the Lord’s vineyard? Do you belong to Christ and to his body? Come to Christ today in faith and repentance, and he, by his sovereign grace, will make you part of his vineyard, whatever your background may be. But finally, we see here, as we consider the closing section of this parable and Mark’s commentary upon it, Christ, the rejected stone, has become the cornerstone. Christ, the rejected stone, has become the chief cornerstone. Here in verses 10 and 11, the Lord Jesus is quoting from the passage that I opened up our service today with. He’s quoting from Psalm 118, particularly from Psalm 118, verses 22 and 23, which is clearly a Messianic psalm. That passage was initially fulfilled in Israel, which was rejected by the Gentile nations, but it’s ultimately fulfilled in Christ because, friends, Jesus Christ is the true Israelite.

Unlike Israel of old, Jesus kept the covenant. He kept it perfectly. He kept it on our behalf, in our stead, in our place. He is the cornerstone, or it could be, some suggest that it should be translated as capstone. But whether it’s a cornerstone or the capstone, it is central to the stability of the buildings of the church. The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord. She is his new creation by water and the Word. He is the foundation. As Jesus says, have you not even read the scripture? Oh, how that must have burned in the ears of these chief priests and these scribes and these elders. Haven’t you read the scriptures? You know, you’re supposed to be the Bible experts. Haven’t you read your own scriptures? And what does he quote for them?

The stone which the builders rejected. They, the religious leaders, they’re the builders, but they’ve rejected Christ the stone. The stone which the builders rejected. This became the chief cornerstone. And this came about from the Lord. It’s not by human doing or human invention. or human manipulation, it came about from the Lord. And it is marvelous in our eyes. Isn’t it marvelous in your eyes, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, that God would choose to save us through a crucified Messiah? The cross of Christ is a stumbling block for Jews. It is foolishness to Gentiles. But for those who are being saved, it is the power of God. Dr. William Hendrickson, in his commentary, says the following about this passage. He says, Jesus surprises his audience, particularly his bitter opponents, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders, by reminding them of this passage from Psalm 118.

There is a similar transaction there in that passage, rather a similar transaction had been described. Builders had rejected a stone, meaning leaders, prominent men of other nations had scoffingly denigrated Israel. Nevertheless, Israel had become, in a very true sense, the cornerstone, the head of the nations, and he refers there to Psalm 147, verse 20. This, moreover, had not happened because of Israel’s own intrinsic moral and spiritual excellence or because of its own power. On the contrary, by the Lord, this wonderful thing had been accomplished. Jesus now shows that the words of Psalm 118 reach their ultimate fulfillment in the owner’s son, that is, in himself, the true Israel. He is that stone that was being rejected by the chief priests, scribes, elders, and their followers. At Calvary, he was rejected by the nation as a whole.

Remember, the people said, crucify him, crucify him. But something marvelous was going to happen. The rejected stone would become the cornerstone. The owner’s beloved son will be killed by the vine growers. He will be rejected and killed. But that’s not the end of the story. Christ crucified. That’s not the end of the story. As Hendrickson says, something marvelous was going to happen. The rejected stone would become the cornerstone. Christ crucified would rise triumphantly. So in the place of the old covenant people, there would arise, was it not already beginning to happen? A nation producing its fruit, a church international gathered from both Jews and Gentiles. What is the reaction? Again, as we see in verse 12, they were seeking to seize him. basically seeking to fulfill what Jesus, in parabolic form, had confronted them with, their murderous intention.

They were seeking to seize him. And yet, they feared the people, for they understood that he spoke the parable against them. And so they left him and went away. At this time, at least, they left him and went away. For his time had not quite yet come. It would come, but not quite yet. Again, beloved, the church is built upon Christ and his word. He is the beloved son of the owner of the vineyard. He is the chief cornerstone. By God’s grace, let us as a church build our life and our fellowship upon Jesus Christ and his gospel. What are you building your life upon? Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, We thank you and praise you, O God, for the richness of Holy Scripture. We pray that by your spirit, these truths that we have considered today would find a lodging place in our souls and that indeed they would bear spiritual fruit in our lives.

Lord, as we take these truths to heart, may we hold them near and dear to us, especially as we look for that day and long for that day when Christ our Lord returns again. to take us to be with himself. We pray these things in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people said, Amen.

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March 19, 2023
By what Authority?

About this sermon

During Passion Week the chief priests, scribes, and elders demand to know by what authority Jesus acts. Jesus answers with a question about John’s baptism, and they refuse to answer for fear of the crowd. Those leaders abused the very authority Christ had given them, and no church leader today stands beyond correction. Believers should search the Scriptures for themselves, and Christ invites every sinner to come to him and rest.

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Sermon transcript

standing for the reading of God’s Word as we continue our study of the Gospel of Mark today. We are at the end of Mark chapter 11. My sermon text today, Mark 11, verses 27 through 33. Mark chapter 11, beginning at verse 27. Dear friends, let us hear with reverence and awe the Word of our God. They came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him and began saying to him, by what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority to do these things? And Jesus said to them, I will ask you one question and you answer me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?

Answer me. They began reasoning among themselves, saying, if we say from heaven, he will say, then why did you not believe him? But shall we say from men? They were afraid of the people, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet. Answering Jesus, they said, we do not know. And Jesus said to them, nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for God’s blessing upon the preaching of his word. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we do thank you and praise you, O God, for the word, for the gospel. We thank you that you have given us the word as seed. We pray that by your spirit, the seed of your word would indeed take deep root in our hearts and bear much spiritual fruit in our lives.

Fruit that brings glory to your name and comfort to our souls. Be with us now and bless us and grant unto me, your unworthy servant, the grace to declare your word with wisdom, with effectiveness, and with relevance. We pray all of these things in Jesus name and all of God’s people said, amen. You may be seated. If you’re following along in your sermon outline, you’ll notice there’s quite a number of words that the children or children of all ages, if you will, can keep track of if you find that to be helpful. And I would especially encourage you to be listening for the words authority, word, gospel and truth. Well, dear ones, Mark’s gospel is a gospel of action. And in this section of the gospel, we see that events are building up to a dramatic climax.

In our passage for today, we find our savior in Jerusalem. He has finally arrived at Jerusalem. And and in our passage for today, Jesus is at the Jerusalem temple during the last week of his life, which is typically called Passion Week. The conversation that Jesus has with these religious leaders is here recorded that Jesus is here recorded to have had with them likely took place on Tuesday of Passion Week. So think about it very, very soon. Our Lord Jesus is going to be crucified outside of Jerusalem due to the wicked scheming of the Jewish religious authorities and in cooperation with the Roman authorities. But then three days after our Lord’s crucifixion, he will be miraculously, supernaturally raised from the dead. The New Covenant era will be brought in and the Christian church will begin its history.

In our passage for today, we find the Jewish religious authorities confronting Jesus and asking him by what authority he is doing these things, look at verse 28, it says, they began saying to him, by what authority are you doing these things? What things are they referring to? Well, in the context of this passage, such things would include, especially, I imagine, our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the back of a colt. which is recorded at the beginning of chapter 11. By this act, our Lord Jesus was openly and symbolically declaring himself to be the promised Messiah, since the scriptures predicted that this is what the Messiah would be. Perhaps also they had in mind things such as our Lord’s cleansing of the temple, which again is recorded in Mark chapter 11. By that act, our Lord Jesus was directly challenging the authority of the high priest who oversaw what was going on within the temple precincts.

Indeed, when they say, by what authority are you doing these things? They probably also had in mind all of the things that Jesus had done during his earthly ministry without their explicit approval or sanction. Things such as our Lord’s preaching and teaching of the good news of God’s kingdom, our Lord’s healing of the sick and raising of the dead, his casting out of demons and so forth. Now, within the flow of Mark’s narrative, the main thrust of our passage for this Lord’s Day morning is a vindication of our Lord’s authority in the face of challenges to that authority. So as we look into this passage of God’s word, let’s consider some of the truths that we can learn from this passage. And as we focus first on verses 27 and 28, I want us to consider, first of all, the religious leaders’ abuse of their God-given authority.

What we have here in this confrontation of Jesus in the Jerusalem temple is an instance of the religious authorities actually abusing their authority let me again read these verses it says in verse 27 they came again to Jerusalem and As he was walking in the temple here is Jesus. He’s walking in the temple in Jerusalem this beautiful temple in the city of Jerusalem God’s temple he’s walking in the temple and really it is his own temple Jesus is God in the flesh this is his temple that he is visiting but as he’s walking in the temple and A group of people confront him. Who are they? It says the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him and began saying to him, probably with a very stern voice, began saying to him, by what authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority to do these things?

Jesus, who do you think you are? Who do you think you are? Well, dear ones, I’m almost reluctant to make this point because the professional clergy as a whole in our day have fallen on hard times. You see, there used to be a time in our culture when ministers of the gospel were highly esteemed and influential members of the community and of society. In fact, it used to be that in many communities, the most highly educated individual in the community was the local pastor. There was a time when Christendom was more intact, when even government leaders used to consult with Christian clergy for advice from the word of God. And it it used to be that when a minister of the word spoke, people would generally show a certain deference and respect, even if they were not churchgoers, even if they personally disagreed with the man.

But that is not really the case today, or it’s becoming increasingly less the case today. In our current post-modern, indeed, I would suggest post-Christian times in which we live, public respect for religious leaders and professional clergy is quickly shrinking. And so, as biblical Presbyterians who have a high view of church office, a high view of the ministry and the ordained government of the church, this is somewhat concerning to us. After all, we believe that God has ordained a government, an order for his visible church. And we confess that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is the king and head of his church, that he rules his church by the Holy Spirit through the word, but he has entrusted the responsibility for interpreting and applying that word to his under shepherds, namely the pastors and elders of his church.

And so when we read of Jesus upbraiding the religious authorities, we’re tempted perhaps to be a little squeamish about that, since we have a high view of religious authority in the church. However, friends, the fact that Christ has entrusted the rule and oversight of his church to church officers who are called and ordained to those responsibilities, that does not mean that those church officers are above criticism. After all, they too are to be subject to the Word of God as the only infallible rule for faith and practice. And furthermore, the fact that Christ has entrusted God-ordained authority to church officers does not thereby mean that church officers are never guilty of abusing their authority. Indeed, In our passage for today, we see this very thing happening, as I hope to show you. And so notice again who it is that was challenging our Lord’s authority in verses 27 and 28.

They are described here as the chief priests and the scribes and the elders, the chief priests. These chief priests would be of the Jewish sect of the Sadducees, most likely. Now the Sadducees, the Sadducean sect of Judaism was very popular amongst the aristocrats, amongst the elites, among the Jews, especially the family of the high priest, for example. And the Sadducees were sort of the, you know, they’re sort of the liberals of that day in a sense. They only believed in the authority of the first five books of the Old Testament, the books of Moses. I believe that the Sadducees rejected the resurrection of the dead. They rejected the existence of angels and so forth. And they focused, I believe they rejected as well, life after death. And so from their perspective, if you were prosperous, and of material wealth in this present life, that was a sign of God’s blessing.

That was a sign that you were righteous. On the other hand, we had the scribes. These scribes would likely be of the Pharisees. These were the Bible scholars of that time. the sect of the Pharisees among the Jews. Unlike the Sadducees, they accepted the whole of the Old Testament canon of scripture. They believed in the resurrection of the dead. They believed in the existence of angels and spirits and so forth. And then there are the elders of the people. So these priests, these chief priests, these scribes, these elders, who are these folks? What do they represent? Well, these are representatives of the highest authority among the Jews of those days. These were representatives of the high court of the Jews known as the Sanhedrin. And so those who are in charge, those who are the highest up among God’s people, they confront Jesus and they say, basically, Jesus, who do you think you are?

We’re the authorities here. What are you doing? By what authority are you doing these things? But I want you to consider the irony. Jesus’s authority here Who is it being questioned by? It’s being questioned here by the very ones who ought to have been the first to recognize and to submit to his authority. These were the religious leaders. These were the Bible scholars, the students of God’s word, the teachers of God’s word. They should have known from the scriptures that Jesus fulfills all the prophecies of what the Messiah was supposed to do and supposed to be. But they didn’t. The irony here is that the very one whose authority they questioned is the one who had given them the authority that they exercised among God’s covenant people in the first place. A couple of applications I’d like to make from what we’ve observed in this passage so far.

First of all, beloved. Let us never view any religious leader, any preacher, any teacher of the word, no matter how revered and respected, no matter how gifted, no matter how wonderful as a public speaker. Let us not regard any religious leader as somehow infallible or beyond criticism. There are numerous examples in the Bible itself of religious leaders falling under justified criticism. Think about, for example, think back in the Old Testament, think about Moses’s brother Aaron. Remember Aaron? God had raised up Aaron to be the high priest among the people of God during the wilderness generation, right? Aaron was Moses’ right-hand man. Not only was Aaron Moses’ brother. Remember, Moses had trouble speaking, so Aaron was Moses’ spokesman. But what happened when Moses was taking his time up on Mount Sinai? The people of God got restless.

They started complaining to Aaron. And Aaron said, well, bring me all your gold. And he fashioned the golden calf. And the high priest, called by God, Moses’ very own brother, Aaron led the people of Israel astray into gross idolatry and broke the covenant. And God was ready to kill Aaron for his sin, but Moses intervened and interceded for Aaron. God was merciful and gracious to Aaron. But Aaron showed very poor leadership. He led the people of God astray and he was subject to scathing criticism, even though God had called him and raised him up to be the high priest over the people of Israel at that time. Or think of the apostle Peter, Peter. I love Peter. He’s always putting his foot in his mouth and that comforts me because sometimes I do that. But here’s Peter, Peter, the rock.

Peter was so earnest. He loved the Lord. Remember, Peter was the one who, when Jesus said, Who do men say that I am? Peter said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus commended him. He says, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. My Father in heaven has revealed this to you. So this is Peter, the one who had faithfully confessed Christ as the Son of God. Peter, the one who was the spokesman for the other apostles. Peter the Rock. But we read in Galatians chapter two that there was a time after the resurrection, the time when the Apostle Paul was active in his apostolic ministry. There was a time when Peter started behaving in a manner in public. that was not in conformity to the gospel.

And again, you can read about this in Galatians chapter 2. And Paul recounts a time when he, Paul, had to publicly rebuke, publicly confront the Apostle Peter himself because Peter was not behaving in line with the gospel. If it is the case that even leaders that the scriptures reveal to be raised up by God, called by God, can be criticized and rebuked for not behaving in line with God’s will. Certainly it is the case today that those who hold positions of leadership in the church are not above criticism. You know, sometimes you hear in some Christian circles this idea that, you know, if a man, if a man of God is called to be a preacher or teacher of God’s word, then you dare not question that man of God. You dare not criticize that man of God.

Touch not the Lord’s anointed. Well, friends, that is a twisting of what the Scriptures teach. And because none of us is above criticism, not even those in positions of leadership in the church, you and I have a responsibility to be good Bereans. Remember the Bereans in the book of Acts? They are described as being noble because when Paul preached the gospel to them, what did they do? They went back to the scriptures to check it out, to make sure that these things were so that were in line with the word. We need to be good Bereans by seeking to know the scriptures for ourselves. We should indeed learn from church leaders whom God has gifted with preaching and teaching gifts. We should certainly respect that and learn from them. But we are also responsible before God to study the word for ourselves.

Friends, don’t let a human teacher, no matter how godly, no matter how respected, don’t let such a teacher or preacher spoon feed you. That is to say, don’t just believe everything the preacher says just because the preacher says, oh, my pastor says this, so it must be true. Well, maybe it’s true. Hopefully the pastor is being faithful to the word, but check it out for yourself and consult other resources as well. Consult the testimony of the historic church. Consult the confessions and catechisms of the church, which were which were crafted by Bible scholars and pastors over the centuries who who were in the word and consulted with one another. Test everything by the word. Be a good Berean. Even godly ministers of the word can sometimes get it wrong. So you are responsible to measure everything that you hear by the infallible standard of God’s word.

So don’t just be spoon fed. And by the way, spoon feeding is for infants, right? If you let some religious teacher spoon feed you without question, then it may indicate that you are in need of some significant spiritual growth. So, friends, let us strive to be in the word and to know the word. But let us also, as another takeaway from our passage, let us also recognize that the Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate authority in every area of life. Indeed, the religious leaders ask him by what authority he is doing these things. But friends, as God the Son incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ is the author of all legitimate authority. Have you submitted to Christ’s authority? Is He your Lord? May God in His mercy turn you to Christ today that you might receive and rest upon Him and trust Him as your Lord and Savior.

So Jesus is confronted with this very sharp A question by what authority are you doing these things? Notice next, our Lord’s masterful reply to the religious leaders questioning of his authority, our Lord’s masterful reply to the religious leaders questioning of his authority. Look at verses twenty nine and thirty. Jesus said to them, I will ask you one question and you answer me and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John, that’s John the Baptist, or as I prefer to call him, John the Baptizer. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? John the Baptist. Did he go out and baptize and preach by his own authority? Or did he receive his commission from God? As was typical of the rabbis in Christ’s day, Jesus responds to this question by posing a counter question.

And through this counter question, Jesus puts his finger on the real spiritual condition of these religious leaders. By implication, our Lord turns the tables on them and he confronts them with their own impenitence. and unbelief. You see, John the Baptist was a prophet that God had raised up to be the forerunner and herald of Jesus, the Messiah. And so think about it. Jesus says, I’ll answer your question, but first you got to answer my question. The baptism of John, is that from from heaven or from men? Was it sanctioned and authorized by God? Was John sent from God or did he simply speak on his own authority? If the leaders affirm that John’s ministry was from heaven, in other words, authorized by God, then what question would Jesus next ask them? Well, he would ask them, well, if you say that John the Baptist’s baptism was from God, authorized by God, then why did you not believe John’s testimony about me?

What did John the Baptist say about Jesus, remember, in the Gospel of John, chapter one? John is recorded to have said of Jesus, behold, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. That was John’s testimony. John not only called the people to repentance, he also called the people to believe in the promised Messiah. He heralded the coming of Jesus, the Messiah. And so Jesus would have confronted these religious authorities with that question. If you if you say John’s baptism was from God, why didn’t you believe his testimony about me? But if they answered our Lord’s question by saying that Jesus authority was of only of human origin, their popularity level among the common people would go way, way down. In fact, they were worried that people might even stone them for denying that John was a genuine prophet of God.

Look at how they reasoned amongst themselves in verse 31. It says they began reasoning among themselves, saying, if we say from heaven, he will say, then why did you not believe him? But shall we say from men? They were afraid of the people for everyone considered John. to have been a real prophet. They were afraid of how their reputation might shake out in the midst of the people if they denied John as a genuine prophet of God. As Dr. William Barclay says in his commentary in this question, Christ had impaled them, the religious leaders, on the horns of a dilemma. Friends, consider how very hard it is to suppress what you know in your heart of hearts to be the truth. It’s easy, it seems easy sometimes to lie to ourselves, to rationalize. But if something is blatantly obvious and you just are lying to yourself and holding down the truth, it becomes psychologically very uncomfortable to do that.

That’s what these religious leaders were doing. These religious leaders knew in their heart of hearts that John the Baptist’s message was true. that they needed to repent and to confess Jesus to be the promised Messiah. They knew that in their heart of hearts. But since doing this would mean giving up their idols of pride and greed and power and influence over the people, it would make them lose face, if you will, in the presence of others. And they can’t have that, right? We don’t want to lose our reputations. We don’t want to lose our power. We don’t want to lose our influence over the people. So we can’t say that John’s authority comes from heaven, John the Baptist. They desperately try to suppress the truth and unrighteousness to the harm of their own souls. Dear listener, what idols of the heart are you clinging to today to the harm of your own soul?

We all have idols of the heart. John Calvin was correct when he said that the human heart is a factory of idols. An idol is anything that you set up and prioritize above your relationship with God. We all are guilty of heart idolatry. But instead of clinging to those idols, we need to loosen our grip. We need to let them go. What idols are you clinging to? To the harm of your own soul. May God, in His mercy, give you the grace to turn from those idols to Christ and to look to Christ alone as your Lord and Savior. But finally, beloved, as we consider verses 31 to 33, the closing section of our passage for today, notice how prejudice against the truth leads to dishonesty and equivocation. Notice how prejudice against the truth leads to dishonesty and equivocation.

And I must give credit for this point to the great evangelical Anglican Bishop J.C. Ryle and his expository thoughts on Mark as he brings out this point. In verse 33, when these religious leaders answer our Lord’s question by claiming that they don’t know whether the baptism of John is from heaven or from men, they’re not being forthright. In fact, they’re lying. Again, verse 33, answering Jesus, they said, we do not know. We don’t know if if John’s baptism was from heaven or from men. That’s a lie. They give this answer not because it’s what they really believed or because they were sincerely undecided, but because of cynical political expediency that’s made very clear. as they converse amongst themselves in verse 31. Well, if we say this, then this is how they’re going to respond. If we say that, that’s how it’s going to that’s how it’s going to turn out.

And so they’re scheming, they’re plotting, they’re not being forthright, they’re not being honest with the Lord. Jesus knew that this was the case. So Jesus responds to their dishonest answer to his question by refusing to answer their question. If they will not deal honestly and transparently with him, he has nothing to say to them. It’s as if our Lord is saying, fine, you refuse to be open and forthright in answering my question. Then you have no right to receive an answer to your own question. And in doing this, Jesus turns the table. And by the way, he shows his own divine authority in the way that he deals with these religious leaders. Dear ones, we often meet non-believers who would claim to be sincere, open-minded seekers of God. But actually, the Bible teaches that that’s not the case.

See, if an unbeliever were truly to seek after God, then he would no longer be an unbeliever. The Bible says in, for example, in Hebrews 11, verse six, that God is the rewarder of those who seek him. And Jesus said, seek and you shall find. Only those who believe truly seek for God, as it says in Romans chapter three, verse eleven, where the apostle Paul is talking about the condition of those who are apart from a saving union with Christ. Those who are under the law, those who are apart from Christ, he says, quoting from the Old Testament, there is none who seeks God apart from God’s grace. There is no God seeker. Now, people seek the benefits that come from knowing God. Everybody seeks peace of mind, right? Everybody seeks happiness, joy, contentment, peace of mind, and so forth, peace of conscience, and so forth.

But seeking the benefits that come from knowing the true and living God is not the same thing as seeking God himself. Apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, in working in grace in your soul, there is none of us who would seek for God. Apart from a work of God’s grace in our hearts, none of us seeks for God. Apart from God’s grace, there are no sincere, honest God seekers. The religious authorities that Jesus confronts here in this passage are evidence of that. Apart from the grace of God, all of us would harden ourselves against the truth like these religious leaders who confronted Jesus. If you’re a believer and thus a God seeker today, then don’t pat yourself on the shoulder. Aren’t I good? Don’t I have it all together? Aren’t I just crushing it in the Christian life?

No. If you’re a believer and a God seeker, then praise God for his amazing work of grace in your heart. because it is only by grace that you have come to believe in Christ for your salvation. It’s only by grace that the Spirit has implanted within your soul a desire to seek after and pursue your Creator, the true and living God. But if you’re here today and you’re not a God-seeker or you’re not sure, then may God give you the grace to cry out to Him for mercy, that He would grant you the gift of faith so that you may truly seek Him. Here’s the good news of Jesus Christ. Christ died for sinners, for people who are rebels against him. Romans 5 verse 8, for God demonstrates or manifests his love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

And Jesus welcomes all who are burdened and weary and heavy laden with their sins. Jesus says, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden. And I will give you rest. Jesus welcomes you. He invites you come to Christ. Rest in him. Believe that in Jesus Christ, true God and true man, the son of God incarnate in Christ. You have a merciful, forgiving God, for he was crucified to atone for sin and raised from the dead so that we who believe in him might not perish, but have the gift of everlasting life. Repent and believe in Christ today and you can know the joy of the Lord in your heart and life. And then seek after God, the God who has sought you in grace and mercy and brought you to himself. Amen.

Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, sovereign and eternal God, We do thank you for the good news of Jesus, and we thank you that Jesus is indeed Lord, that all authority in heaven and on earth have been given unto Jesus. May we, O Lord, submit to his authority out of gratitude for your wonderful gift of salvation, and may we live lives that bear testimony to the Lordship of Christ. We pray all of these things in Jesus name and all of God’s people said, Amen. Dear friends, let us respond to what we’ve heard from the scriptures by rising and we’ll sing our closing hymn or closing hymn. Let me just turn to it is all hail the power of Jesus name. Number 374 will rise and sing together. Number 374.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

March 5, 2023
The Cursed Fig Tree, and Confident Faith

About this sermon

The withered fig tree stands for a fruitless Israel under the old covenant, and it points to faith in God. Jesus promises that whoever asks in faith will receive, and prosperity preachers twist those words into a name-it-and-claim-it gospel. In context, the promise concerns prayers that seek God’s kingdom and will, such as holiness, the fruit of the Spirit, and faithful witness. God answers such prayers in his time, and he calls those who pray to forgive as he has forgiven them.

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Sermon transcript

Amen. Please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word. We continue to hover in Mark chapter 11. Didn’t get through the entirety of the points I was trying to make on the last Lord’s Day from this passage. So today we pick this up again, Mark 11. I’m going to read verses 12 through 25, but our focus will be especially on the cursing of the fig tree and the aftermath of that. So we’ll focus especially on verses 12 to 14 and 20 through 25. But let’s hear God’s word. Mark 11, beginning at verse 12 and reading through verse 25. Dear friends, here with reverence and awe, the Word of our God. On the next day, when they had left Bethany, he became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it.

And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples were listening. Then they came to Jerusalem and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And he began to teach and say to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a robber’s den. The chief priests and the scribes heard this and began seeking how to destroy him, for they were afraid of him, for the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching.

When evening came, they would go out of the city. As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered. And Jesus answered, saying to them, have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them and they will be granted you. Whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone so that your father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.

The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Please remain standing for the as we seek the Lord’s blessing upon his word. Gracious Father in heaven, once again we ask that by your spirit you would bless the proclamation of your word this morning. Open our minds and our hearts, oh God, to receive the seed of your word. And may that seed take deep root in our hearts and bear much spiritual fruit in our lives, spiritual fruit that brings glory to your name. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. You may be seated. Title of my sermon this morning is The Cursed Fig Tree and Confident Faith. And there’s a number of key words you can be listening for my sermon today that you see in your sermon outline, trust, fruit, temple, Messiah, prayer and forgiveness.

Well, dear ones, we are reaching the point in Mark’s gospel where Mark’s narrative is bringing us to a climax. Our Lord Jesus has finally arrived in Jerusalem and he would soon face his final conflict with the religious authorities there, a conflict that would lead to his death by crucifixion at the hands of the Roman authorities. Now, of course, these from a human standpoint, these are disturbing events, but these events were ultimately all part of God’s sovereign plan. For God the Father had sent His eternal Son, Jesus Christ, into this world out of love for sinners. And He sent Christ so that Christ might die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and might gloriously rise from the dead so that the gift of eternal life might be secured for all those who, by grace, would come to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and Christ alone for their salvation from sin.

This is the center and heart of the good news. Now, we began considering this passage on the last Lord’s Day when we considered both our Lord’s cursing of the fig tree as well as his cleansing of the temple, both of which are recorded in this in this passage of God’s word. And as we learned on the last Lord’s Day, both the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple are two examples of enacted parables, acted out parables or prophetic drama. And they are two separate events that convey one spiritual meaning. Dr. William Hendrickson, and I quoted this last week, but I’ll quote it again to remind us. Dr. Hendrickson said, in cursing the fig tree and in cleansing the temple, Jesus performed two symbolic and prophetic acts. with one meaning. And what was that meaning?

As Dr. Hendrickson explains, Jesus was predicting the downfall of unfruitful Israel. Not that he was, quote, through with the Jews, but that in the place of Israel, an international and everlasting kingdom would be established, a nation bringing forth not just leaves, but fruits and gathered from both Jews and Gentiles. And ultimately, that nation, that international nation is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the true church in union with Christ, our Lord and Savior. However, last week I did not, as I mentioned, I didn’t have time to cover verses 20 through 25 in particular, where Mark records the withering of the cursed fig tree and our Lord’s explanation of the significance of that. So let’s dive in and consider what we can learn from this portion of God’s Word. And we notice here, brothers and sisters, first of all, a call to trust God to remove every hindrance to the bearing of spiritual fruit for God.

This world presents to us many hindrances, many obstacles to the bearing of spiritual fruit for God. But in our passage for today, our Lord Jesus calls upon his disciples and calls upon us to trust in God, to remove every hindrance to the bearing of spiritual fruit for God. Now, by way of remembrance, by way of review, let’s go back to verses 12 to 14 where we read of Jesus cursing this fig tree. And I’ll just read these verses again, verses 12 through 14. It says, On the next day, when they had left Bethany, they’re in they’re in the Jerusalem area, but they’ve been staying in Bethany and and they they’re heading towards Jerusalem. It says when they had left Bethany, he became hungry. Jesus became hungry. Jesus is God, but he’s also man. And as a man, as one with a human nature, body and soul, he experiences hunger.

Verse 13 says, seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf. This fig tree was in full leaf. It gave the impression that it would have have fruit on it. Seeing at a distance of fig tree and leaf, he went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season of figs. Fig trees typically don’t in that area, don’t produce fruit until June. And this is probably March or April. But Jesus goes to the tree because perhaps, perhaps it has fruit that has come out early, but he sees that it doesn’t have any fruit. And then verse 14, he said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples were listening. His disciples heard him speak these words to the fig tree.

Now, our Lord’s cursing of the fig tree, it’s interesting to notice that that this event where Jesus curses the fig tree and then later on they discover that it’s it’s it is rotted to the to the very roots of the tree. It’s withered to the very roots of the tree. This is the only destructive miracle that Jesus is recorded as having performed. Think about most of the miracles of Christ. What did most of the miracles of Christ consist of? But it consisted of things like Jesus healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, giving hearing to the deaf and speech to those with speech impediments, the dumb, raising those who were crippled and even raising the dead. Also, Jesus is known for his nature miracles, stilling the storm. calming the storm, multiplying loaves and fishes, these creation miracle of immediately multiplying the loaves and the fishes walking on the waters.

And of course, Jesus is also known for his casting out of demons. Jesus demonstrated by his his ministry of exorcism that he was the victor over the forces of Satan and spiritual darkness. But here is this one miracle where Jesus does something that results in destruction. Now, many who read this account are critical of Jesus. They wonder, why did Jesus do this? It seems so childish. It seems so out of character for the Lord Jesus. Well, as we considered on the last Lord’s Day, this miracle was not an example of Jesus losing his temper or childishly venting his anger upon an innocent, helpless fig tree. Instead, our Lord’s cursing of the fig tree is likely intended by Jesus as a symbolic picture of God’s judgment upon a faithless, fruitless Israel, an Israel that was spiritually fruitless and also upon Israel’s temple, a temple that should have produced spiritual fruit, a temple that was very leafy in its external glory, but which provided no spiritual fruit. for God’s people.

So this is a symbol of God’s judgment coming upon a fruitless, faithless Israel. An Israel whose religious leaders corrupted God’s temple as our Lord’s cleansing of the temple demonstrated. An Israel that would soon murder its own Messiah. This cursing of the fig tree pictures God’s covenant curses, which would come upon Israel for their rejection and murder of the promised Messiah. The bringing of the covenant curses revealed in the Old Testament law under Moses, those covenant curses would fall upon Israel as it rejected its Messiah. So with all this background information in mind, let’s skip ahead then to verse 20. Verse 20 says, as they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. This is what happens the next day, the day after the cursing of the fig tree.

This is probably Tuesday morning of the so-called Passion Week, the week of that leads up to our Lord’s crucifixion and later on his resurrection. And it says this in verse 21. All of the disciples, by the way, in verse 20, were told that all of the disciples noticed this fig tree. The disciples had heard Jesus the day before curse the fig tree. And then as they’re walking by the next day, they notice, wow, the fig tree, which our Lord cursed, it’s withered. It’s not just withered, it’s withered to the roots from the root up, completely withered away in just less than 24 hours. And then, since Peter is typically the spokesman for the other disciples, Peter often speaks on their behalf. He verbalizes what they are thinking. Verse 21, being reminded, Peter said to him, Rabbi, Rabbi means teacher.

Look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered. And how does Jesus respond to this observation? of Peter, verse twenty two, Jesus answered, saying to them, what what’s the first thing that Jesus says as they’re inquiring about the fig tree and and that it observing that it’s been withered to the roots, Jesus says, have faith in God. Have faith in God, what does faith in God, how is that connected to the cursing of the fig tree, especially if in the context of this passage, the cursing of the fig tree is a sort of an acted out parable of God’s judgment upon a faithless Israel. Well, friends, the connection between our Lord’s instruction here on faith. And the cursing of the fig tree is well described by one commentator who writes that Jesus’s point is that they should trust God to remove whatever hinders them from bearing fruit for God.

God’s judgment was coming upon a spiritually fruitless Israel. And Israel, that on the whole, there was a faithful remnant in those days, as there is, as God preserves a faithful remnant in every period of redemptive history. But on the whole, the visible people of God, the visible church of God was spiritually corrupt and fruitless, and God’s judgment was coming upon it. It makes sense, therefore, in the context of this passage with the cleansing of the temple, and the cursing of the fig tree and the withering of that fig tree to connect the faith that Jesus is calling us to here with faith in God that he would remove all that hinders the bearing of spiritual fruit for God. And then he goes on to say in verse 23, Jesus says, truly, in other words, pay attention.

This is important. Truly, I say to you, Jesus is speaking to them with his divine authority. He says, truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain be taken up and cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Now, we’ll get into the issue of how many twist these words to promote a so-called name it and claim it gospel. But let us consider, first of all. the many spiritual obstacles, the many obstacles in Jesus’s day that prevented the people of God or proved to be hindrances to the people of God bearing spiritual fruit for God. Consider, for example, that in the days of our Lord Jesus, the corrupt temple system in Jerusalem, Consider that corrupt temple system combined with the pharisaical works, righteousness approach to God that was often promoted by the Bible scholars of the day, the scribes and the Pharisees who ought to have known better.

Consider those factors combined with the political, worldly minded notions that most of the Jews in our Lord’s day had about what kind of messiah they should be expecting. Most of them were expecting not a spiritual messiah who would come to save his people from their sins, but a military political messiah who would reestablish a political kingdom, a theocratic Davidic kingdom in Jerusalem. So when you factor all of these things together, the fact that the temple system and the leaders of the temple system were corrupt. Spiritually corrupt. When you consider the fact that the doctrine that was typically taught in the synagogues, the doctrine of Phariseeism, this works righteousness, merit based doctrine of salvation that was taught. And when you combine that with with worldly minded nationalistic notions of the Messiah, all of these things, all of these factors served to hinder the professed people of God from recognizing their own Messiah. and therefore hindered them from bearing spiritual fruit for God.

But that was about to change. That was about to change. with the sacrificial death and glorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, followed by His ascension into heaven, His enthronement at the Father’s right hand, and His pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the church at Pentecost. Combine that with the judgment destruction that would fall upon Jerusalem in 70 A.D. with its destruction by the Romans and the destruction of the temple. All of those things would remove these obstacles to the bearing of spiritual fruit among God’s people, at least in principle. The death and resurrection of Christ, Pentecost, and later on the destruction of the Jerusalem temple would remove these obstacles, in principle, at least. Now, it’s interesting. Let’s examine the words, the instructions that Jesus gives in verse 23. about the significance and the meaning of the of the withered fig tree.

He says this. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain be taken up and cast into the sea. What mountain is he talking about? This mountain. Well, that’s actually, the Bible scholars actually have different views on that. Many scholars think that Jesus is speaking of the Mount of Olives, where he and his disciples would perhaps have been standing at that point. But others think that Jesus may be speaking, in fact, about the Temple Mount, the mountain upon which the Temple was placed. For example, Dr. G.K. Beale and Mitchell Kim in their book, God Dwells Among Us, Expanding Eden to the Ends of the Earth, a book, by the way, that we’re studying Wednesday morning at the Smokestack Study. Wednesday morning, 8 o’clock, the Smokestack Cigar Shop. Come and join us if you’re interested in that study.

But in this excellent book, Beale and Kim make the case that the mountain in this passage is not the Mount of Olives, but actually the Temple Mount. To quote them, they explain, quote, The temple is like a fig tree that had leaves but no fruit. From a distance, the temple looked very beautiful and promised fruit and satisfaction with its, quote, leaves, but failed to satisfy hunger with any fruit. Mark 11 makes this point clear. Jesus inspects the temple. That’s recorded for us in Mark 11, verse 11. He curses the fig tree, verses 12 to 14. He cleanses the temple. verses 15 through 19, and then teaches about the cursing of the fig tree here in verses 20 through 25. They go on to say the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple are intertwined.

Though many have tried in vain to move anthills with their, quote, faith, the context of the temple cleansing suggests that this mountain refers to the temple mount. The command to speak to this mountain is not a formula to fix our problems, as some may assert. But Jesus speaks here of the destruction of the temple that had leaves but not fruit, representing unfruitful Israel herself, failing to impart the life that it advertised. Jesus returns to the temple and exposes the ignorance and failure of the temple leaders. We’ll get to that on the next Lord’s Day in verses 27 to 33. And Beal and Kim go on to say, Jesus clears the way for the eschatological temple where outcasts are gathered and made joyful in God’s presence in his house. And he refers to the prophecy of Isaiah 56, 3 through 8.

What is that eschatological temple? That end times temple, not some future physical temple that is going to exist during the millennial period in the future. That temple, that would be going backwards in redemptive history. Rather, in union with Christ, we in the church, we are the temple of God in Christ and by the spirit. And as people come to faith in Christ, they are engrafted as living stones into the temple of Christ, the living temple, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is the chief cornerstone. And so, friends, what’s the takeaway? What are what do we learn from this? Well, dear ones, the finished work of Christ in his cross and resurrection has, at least in principle, removed all obstacles and hindrances that would prevent us as believers from bearing spiritual fruit for God. That spiritual fruit includes such things as gratitude for his gift of salvation, a walking after a new obedience.

And of course, it involves love and the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. The death and resurrection of Christ, his saving work in principle removes all obstacles to such fruit manifesting itself in our lives. Let me ask you, dear listener, are you trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross for your salvation? You see, only as you are united to Christ by faith will you be enabled to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life. The unregenerate, those who are not born again, can certainly, through God’s common grace, manifest natural virtues. They can have a level of civic virtue and kindness and so forth. But when it comes to the fruit of the spirit, you have to be united to Christ by faith before that fruit will manifest itself in your life.

You see, you can’t manifest the fruit of the spirit in the power of your flesh. It is only as you are united to Christ that your sins will be forgiven. You will receive the gift of eternal life in the spirit of God. will dwell within you and begin working in you to remake you, to transform you by the renewing of your mind more and more into the image of Christ. Do you know Christ as your Lord and Savior? If not, come to Jesus today. He invites all who would recognize their sin and recognize him as their only hope of salvation to come unto him. Come believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ this day and you shall be saved. Repent and believe. So we see here a call to faith, a call to trust God in order to enable us to overcome obstacles to the bearing of fruit for God.

But next, we see here also in verses 24 and 25, a call to believing prayer and a forgiving spirit. Jesus says in verse 24, therefore, I say to you and notice again, Jesus is speaking in the first person, speaking on his own authority. I say to you, he’s not quoting the rabbis or the experts, he says, I say to you, because he is God in the flesh, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them and they will be granted you. Whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone so that your father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. Now, how do you think verse 24 is sometimes used or misused by Bible teachers and by Christians? Well, Jesus says, if I pray for something and I really believe that I’m going to receive it, then I’ll receive it.

So, Lord, I’m praying for a Tesla today. Say you really want a Tesla. Personally, I don’t. But, you know, if you’re into that stuff, You really want a Tesla and you pray and you really believe that somehow God is going to grant a Tesla to you. Does that mean you should expect a Tesla? Or maybe it’s something simpler, something more mundane, if you will. Say, Lord, I pray that you would give me the financial means to pay all my bills this month. Certainly, God is concerned for our daily needs and And as we learn in the Lord’s Prayer, we can pray, give us this day our daily bread. There’s a place for praying for God to provide for our daily needs. But Jesus is not saying that his words are misunderstood if they are yanked out of context and taken to mean that anything you want, you can ask for God and expect that he’s going to give you.

That’s not what it is saying. So how do we counteract the prosperity gospelers, the the false teachers out there who preach this prosperity, name it and claim it gospel? And they use passages like this one. They say, hey, Jesus says, if you’ve got enough faith, as long as you have enough faith, if you name it, you can claim it. So if you’ve got cancer, for example. You can just pray, Lord, heal me, and if you have enough faith, You’ll be healed, right? Doesn’t it say, Jesus says, all things which you pray for and ask, believe that you’ve received them and they will be granted you. The implication being, if you don’t get the healing you pray for, it’s your fault. Which, by the way, that’s an incredibly cruel doctrine. So how do we counteract the prosperity gospel, name it and claim it, distortions of passages like this one?

Well, friends, the answer to that question is that context is the key. I’m sure you’ve heard that saying. That’s repeated ad nauseum almost in our churches. But what? A text without a context is a pretext, right? And that’s so true. We must avoid taking a proof text approach to Scripture. There’s a legitimate way to proof text, to use texts of Scripture to support doctrine. But it requires that you read the scriptures in their context. And what is the context of this passage? Well, first of all, it’s important to understand that our Lord is here very likely using what’s called hyperbole and children. Hyperbole is intentional exaggeration. It’s not lying, it’s not fibbing, but it’s using exaggerated language to drive home a point. This was a very common teaching device in Jesus’s time. It’s my understanding that this was was commonly used among the rabbis of Jesus’s day.

So when Jesus said things, I mean, one example of an extreme hyperbole that Jesus uses. Remember, Jesus says, if your if your right hand causes you to sin, do what? Cut it off. It’s better for you to enter life, eternal life lame or maimed than to with your whole body be cast into the eternal fire. Or if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Now, is Jesus there teaching that we should engage in self mutilation? Of course not. And Jesus’s original listeners and audience, his disciples and those whom he preached to would have understood that Jesus is using this shocking imagery to drive home the point that, look, sin is so serious. that you need to deal radically with it, even if it involves self-sacrifice, even if it involves pain. You need to root out sin in your life.

Jesus was using hyperbole there to drive home the lesson that he was driving home about dealing radically with sin. Well, likewise, when we see Jesus saying in verse 24, whoever says to this mountain, whether it be the Mount of Olives or the Temple Mount, Whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted to them. Jesus is using hyperbole there. He’s not saying that, you know, that we should literally go speaking to mountains or to anthills or to anything else like that, commanding them to be uprooted and cast into the sea. No. However, we identify this mountain, Our Lord’s intention here is to use this shocking image of commanding this mountain to be taken up and cast into the sea to underscore the boldness and confidence of believing prayer.

We should approach God with boldness and confidence when we pray for the things that are according to his will. And I have a feeling that a Tesla may not be in God’s will for me, probably not for you either, depending. Friends, The point here is that we are to trust in God and we are to approach God with boldness in prayer. But boldness in prayer does not mean bossing God around. Prayer is an expression of dependence upon the Lord, submission to the Lord and His will. And so, friends, however we understand the words of our Lord here in verses 23 and 24, We need to interpret our Lord’s teachings here on prayer in this passage in the light of what Jesus teaches elsewhere about prayer. And indeed, in light of the whole of scripture, we need to compare scripture with scripture.

For example, consider what our Lord Jesus teaches in John 15, verse seven, which has powerful implications for our life of prayer. John 15, verse 7, which is the Jesus is giving the discourse on the vine and the branches. Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. Jesus says this, and this has so many implications for our prayer life. He says, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. There’s a condition attached to the promise there, isn’t it? If you do what? Abide in me. That’s the language of faith. Faith connects us to Christ as branches are connected to the vine. As you abide in me, as you trust in me, Jesus is saying with a living faith and my words, that is my teaching, my word.

Abide in you as you are informed by and directed by and governed by the Word of God. Ask whatever you wish for and it will be done for you. Why? Because you are asking in faith and your priorities in prayer will be informed by the Word of God. And so, for example, when we pray, We ought to pray for things that God has shown us that he wills for us. What are some of the things that God that we can know as as believers that God wills for us? Well, God wills that we be holy. How many times have you prayed, Lord, give me the grace to be more holy. The Lord wills for us to be forgiving. Lord, give me the grace to have a forgiving spirit. The Lord wills for us to experience his joy even in the midst of trials.

Lord, grant me the grace to be joyful in the midst of my trials and so forth. But then verse 25 goes on to say, whenever you stand praying standing, the posture of standing was a typical posture of prayer in those days. Whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone so that your father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. Now, the point of Jesus is saying here is that there is a connection between a forgiving spirit towards others and effective prayer. Again, we should not understand our Lord saying here in this verse to mean that that the evangelical forgiveness of our sins is somehow conditioned upon us first forgiving the sins of others against us. For the scriptures teach and Jesus himself elsewhere clearly teaches that we are forgiven of our sins and justified before God by his grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, apart from works, including the good work of forgiving others.

However, if we have truly received the forgiveness of God in Christ, then our faith in Christ ought to produce within us a desire to extend forgiveness toward others, just as God, our heavenly father, has extended his forgiveness toward us in Christ. Our Shorter Catechism addresses this very well in Question and Answer 105. If you want to follow along, you can turn to page 976 in the back of your Trinity hymnal, your Psalter hymnal, 976. Question 105 is on the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer. Remember, the Lord’s Prayer is a model prayer. Yes, we pray it every week. We use it as an actual prayer, but it’s also a model prayer for us. And the question is, what do we pray for in the fifth petition? The Bible based answer is this in the fifth petition, which is and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

We pray that God, for Christ’s sake, would freely pardon all our sins, which we are the rather encouraged to ask, because by his grace we are enabled from the heart to forgive others. Our forgiveness of others is the outflow of us having received God’s gracious, undeserved forgiveness in Christ. So in closing, my friends, let me ask you, what do you typically pray for in your prayer life with the Lord? Do you pray for those things which God has revealed that He wills for His children? Things like greater holiness, greater patience, greater conformity into the image of Christ, a deeper love for the Lord and His Word, greater contentment in the face of trials and struggles, and so forth. Is that what the bulk of your prayer life consists of? Praying those kingdom-focused prayers? Or are your prayers more self-focused on your own personal wants and desires?

Again, there is a place for praying for God to provide for our daily needs. God is concerned about our daily needs. And so we pray, give us each day our daily bread. But if you study the Lord’s Prayer, you’ll notice that most of the petitions are God focused. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Are your prayers focused on God? You can be assured if you pray for the things that God has revealed, that he wishes and desires for you, that he has planned for you as a believer in Christ, things like godliness, greater conformity into the image of Christ. He will answer your prayers. He’ll do so in his time and in his way.

But pray for the things that God has willed for you in his word, holiness, the bearing of the fruit of the spirit, a closer walk with the Lord, a greater effectiveness and faithfulness in confessing Christ. And are you characterized by a forgiving spirit, a spirit that is willing to extend grace to others, even as you have received grace from your loving heavenly father? Or are you characterized by an embittered, angry spirit? If you have an embittered, angry spirit, bring that before the Lord. Ask God in his grace to remove that spirit from you and to open your eyes and help you to experience afresh his amazing grace in your life. And then that will transform you and enable you to be forgiving toward others. Amen. Let us pray. Gracious Lord and Father in heaven, We do thank you and praise you, O God, that you are so kind and merciful to us.

And we thank you that in Christ, by your spirit, all obstacles to the bearing of spiritual fruit have been, at least in principle, removed. We ask that you would give us the grace to live in the light of these truths. And so grant us the grace, O Lord, more and more to take up our cross daily and to follow Jesus as becomes those who bear His holy name. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, Amen. As we respond to what we’ve heard from God’s Word, let’s rejoice in our Lord with hymn 291. Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing. 291. We’ll rise and sing together. Oh for

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February 26, 2023
A Curse, a Cleansing, and Faith

About this sermon

Jesus curses a leafy but fruitless fig tree and then drives the merchants out of the temple, two acts that picture God’s judgment on a faithless Israel. The corrupt temple had shut out the Gentiles from the house of prayer for all nations. Christ now replaces the temple as the living temple, and no future rebuilt temple has a place in God’s plan. Believers need no special holy site, because Christ dwells with his people wherever they gather in his name.

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Sermon transcript

Amen. Please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word as we continue our study and consideration of the Gospel of Mark this morning. We are in Mark, chapter 11, and my sermon text is Mark 11, verses 12 through 25. Mark, chapter 11, verses 12 through 25. Let’s hear God’s holy word. In the setting here, Jesus has finally arrived at Jerusalem. He has entered the city through his triumphal entry. And that brings us to our text for today. On the next day, when they had left Bethany, he became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, May no one ever eat fruit from you again.

And his disciples were listening. Then they came to Jerusalem and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And he began to teach and say to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a robber’s den. The chief priests and the scribes heard this and began to seek how to destroy him, for they were afraid of him, for the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching. When evening came, they would go out of the city. As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up.

Being reminded, Peter said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered. Jesus answered, saying to them, have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them and they will be granted you. Whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone so that your father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. Amen. And as a background passage, I would also invite you to turn to Malachi chapter three. I’ll read the first three verses of Malachi chapter three.

Behold, I am going to send my messenger and he will clear the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for God to bless the preaching of His Word. Once again, Heavenly Father, we ask that You would open our hearts and our minds to behold wondrous things from Your Word.

Grant that by Your Spirit we would be edified and built up in our faith. Grant that Jesus would be exalted through the proclamation of Your Word. And grant unto me, Your unworthy servant, the grace to declare Your Word with clarity and power and for the edification of Your people. In Jesus’ name we pray and all of God’s people said, amen. You may be seated. Title of my sermon this Lord’s Day morning is a curse, a cleansing and faith. And if you’re following along in your sermon outline page, there’s quite a number of key words that you can be listening for in my sermon today. Well, dear ones, the events in the life of our Lord that we read about in our passage for today have often proven to be a stumbling block to many Bible readers, not just Bible readers who are skeptical, but even Bible believing Christians can find this passage and the events that this passage records to be difficult.

They seem to be so uncharacteristic of Jesus. So contrary, especially to the sentimental, gentle Jesus, meek and mild picture of our Lord Jesus that is often promoted in Christian media and Christian educational materials and in our popular culture. And especially Bible critics will look at this passage and say, oh, this can’t be historical. This is not how the real historical Jesus would have acted. Cursing a fig tree and blowing a fuse in the temple and having a temper tantrum there. No, Jesus wouldn’t act like that. Well, friends, that’s sort of a misunderstanding of what’s going on here, as I hope to show. Contrary to the thinking of the Bible critics who often judge the actions of Jesus recorded by Mark in this passage to be contrary to the humble dignity and peaceful character of our Lord.

As we will see the actions of Jesus as recorded in this passage of God’s word are fully in line with what we learn elsewhere in God’s word about the real historical Lord Jesus Christ. And these actions of our Lord serve to remind us that as our Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ is the great and mighty prophet, priest and king of his people, God’s people. And in this particular passage, the prophethood and the kingship of Christ come to the forefront. Jesus Christ is a prophet and king who comes as the messenger of the covenant to deliver God’s covenant curses to a spiritually fruitless, faithless Israel. Our passage for today is a fulfillment of the prophecy recorded in Malachi chapter three, verses one through three, as Jesus comes as the messenger of the covenant to bring the covenant curses. against an unfaithful and fruitless Israel.

A faithless Israel that would soon crucify their own promised Messiah. Indeed, Jesus is presented here as a prophet and king who comes to cleanse his temple, and praise be to God, our Lord Jesus Christ comes to cleanse his living temple, the church, from everything that desecrates and defiles it. Now, what’s the setting and context of this passage? Well, these events, the events of the cursing of the fig tree, as well as the cleansing of the temple, take place after Mark’s record of our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of what the scholars call Passion Week. The Passion Week is the week leading up to our Lord’s crucifixion. And what we have here in this passage is we have here two dramatic prophetic messianic actions. So let’s dive in to our text for today.

And as we consider, first of all, verses 12 through 14, as well as 20 through 21, I want you to observe, beloved, a dramatic depiction of God’s covenant curse upon fruitless Israel. What we have here is a dramatic depiction of God’s covenant curse coming upon a spiritually fruitless Israel. Let me read verses 12-14 again. It says, on the next day, the day after our Lord’s triumphal entry, when He had left Bethany, He was staying in Bethany just outside of Jerusalem. When they had left Bethany to go back into the city, what does it say? He, Jesus, became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

And how does Jesus react to this? Here is this fig tree that is probably fully in leaf. And one would expect to find fruit, the fruit of the figs there on this leafy fig tree. And there’s there’s only leaves. There’s no fruit. How does Jesus respond? Verse 14, he said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples were listening. Poor little fruit, a fig tree or a fig tree to have Jesus Bring a curse upon it. What’s going on here? And then we notice after the cleansing of the temple and when they returned the following day, which would be Tuesday, probably of Passion Week, we read this in verses 20 and 21. As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up.

Being reminded, Peter said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered. The Lord spoke the word of curse upon the fig tree and it was withered to the root. It was completely dead and worthless. Well, friends, both the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple were what the theologians call enacted parables or prophetic drama. The intervening account of our Lord’s cleansing of the temple, which is sandwiched between the account of the cursing of the fig tree and its withering, shows that Mark saw a connection between these two events. Dr. William Hendrickson explains this in his commentary on this passage. He says, quote, in cursing the fig tree and in cleansing the temple, Jesus performed two symbolic and prophetic acts with one meaning. And what was that meaning?

Well, as Hendrickson explains, Jesus was predicting the downfall of unfruitful Israel. Not that he was, quote, through with the Jews, but that in the place of Israel, an international and everlasting kingdom would be established, a nation bringing forth not just leaves, but fruits and gathered from both Jews and Gentiles. And when Hendrickson there uses the term nation, he’s using it in sort of that poetic New Testament sense of the church as an international nation, an international community, including both Jew and Gentile, who believe in and confess the Lord Jesus Christ as Messiah and Savior and Son of God. Now, what do we learn in verse 12? Mark makes an interesting comment here as he introduces this passage. It says, on the next day, that would probably be Monday of Passion Week, the Monday before his crucifixion.

On the next day, when they had left Bethany, he became what? Jesus became hungry. Think about that. Jesus, the eternal divine son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, became hungry. Well, we have to remember that Jesus is both true God and true man. He is the God man, fully God and fully man in one divine person. So this passing comment offered by Mark serves to highlight our Lord’s human nature. And by the way, as an aside, it’s just as important for your salvation and mine that Jesus Christ be truly, fully human, as well as truly, fully God in order to be our Redeemer and Savior. For only God has the power to save us from our sins, but He can only save us by representing us in our humanity. So in his incarnation, Jesus took upon himself our humanity, that he might represent us before the Father, that he might obey for us, and that ultimately he might die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.

And then we read again in verse 13, they’re making their trek towards Jerusalem from Bethany. And it says, seeing at a distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it. You know, it’s fully in leaf apparently. It looks like it’s got, it should have the figs already on it. But when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves. And then Mark explains for his audience who may not be familiar with that particular area around Jerusalem, he explains, for it was not the season for figs. Well, what’s going on here? And what is the reason for this focus on the figs? And why does Jesus curse this fig tree for not providing him with fruit when it’s not the season for figs? Well, as another commentator, Dr.

Walter Wessel, explains, Fig trees around Jerusalem usually leaf out in March or April, but they do not produce figs till June. This tree was no exception. It was in full leaf, but as Mark tells his readers, there were no figs on it, quote, because it was not the season for figs. Now, perhaps this, again, perhaps this particular fig tree was so fully leafed out that it would give travelers the impression that perhaps it had produced its figs early. Perhaps the travelers could expect to find some fruit on it. But for all of its leafy show, it was in reality without any fruit. Now, what does this have to do with fruitless Israel? Well, it’s interesting if you know the Old Testament scriptures, especially if you’re familiar with the prophets. It’s interesting to observe that Israel is sometimes depicted in the Old Testament scriptures as under agricultural imagery, as a vine, for example, or as a fig tree, especially this is the case in the prophets.

And I just want to give you a few examples of that. Keep your finger here in Mark, chapter 11, and let’s turn back to Jeremiah, chapter 8, and look at verse 13. Jeremiah, chapter 8, verse 13. It says this, the Lord through Jeremiah says this, I will surely snatch them away, declares the Lord. There will be no grapes on the vine and no figs on the fig tree. And the leaf will wither. And what I have given them will pass away. Or consider Hosea chapter 9 verses 10 and 16. Hosea chapter 9. Verses 10 through 16, Hosea is right after Daniel. Hosea chapter 9, verse 10, it says this, I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season. But they came to Baal Peor and devoted themselves to shame.

In other words, they fell into idolatry. They broke God’s covenant. They fell into shame and they became as detestable as that which they loved. And then skip down to verse 16, where it says Ephraim is stricken. Their root is dried up. They will bear no fruit, even though they bear children. I will slay the precious ones of their womb. In other words, again, we see this language of fruitfulness or lack of fruit and Israel being compared, God’s people being compared to a fig tree. Or consider Joel, chapter one, verse seven. Joel is right after Hosea. Joel, chapter one, verse seven. It says this. Again, describing Israel as a vine and a fig tree, it says, it is made my vine. Speaking of this mighty army of locusts that is coming, it is made my vine.

That would be Israel, a waste and my fig tree. Again, that would be God’s people splinters. It is stripped them bare and cast them away. Their branches have become white. So what’s all the point of this background information? Well, we need to have these Old Testament scriptures in view as we try to understand our Lord’s action here in cursing the fruitless but leafy fig tree. You see, friends, our Lord’s cursing of the fig tree, which is, by the way, the only destructive miracle that Jesus is recorded to have ever performed. This destructive miracle of the cursing of the fig tree was not an example of the Lord Jesus losing his cool, having sort of a toddler-esque temper tantrum or irrationally venting his anger upon a poor, innocent, helpless fig tree. No, instead, friends, our Lord’s cursing of the fig tree is likely intended as a symbolic picture of God’s judgment upon a spiritually faithless and fruitless Israel, an Israel that would soon murder.

The son of God, the Messiah, their own Messiah, it pictures God’s covenant curses as threatened by God in the Old Testament law revealed under Moses. curses, which would come upon Israel for their rejection and murder of the promised Messiah. Now, what are some lessons that we can learn from what we’ve considered so far from this passage of God’s word? Well, this passage reminds us, beloved, that God keeps his word of promise and judgment. We love to focus on the promises, right? And we should. But we also need to recognize that God threatens judgment to the impenitent and unbelieving, who persist in that impenitence and unbelief. So let us joyfully, by faith, embrace the promises of grace that are offered to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But let us also tremble with holy awe and reverent fear at his threats, and make sure that we are trusting in Christ as our Savior and Lord. so that we might escape the wrath to come.

For Jesus took that wrath upon Himself in the place of those who turn to Him in faith and repentance.” In this passage, another takeaway or lesson from this passage is that it seems to clearly imply that as a covenant nation, national Israel is over with forever. What a shocking thing for a pastor to say. National Israel is over forever. Well, look at what Jesus says. If Jesus is cursing of this fig tree, if the fig tree represents fruitless, faithless Israel and Jesus says, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. What that implies is that there’s going to be no more old covenant Israel. Again, this does not mean that God is through with the Jews. Our sovereign Lord continues to convert Jews to faith in Christ. This gentleman that we are going to have in April to do this classical concert for us, this outreach concert, Mr.

Sam Rotman, is himself a converted Jew who came to Christ while he was a student at Juilliard. My friends, God is not through with the Jews. That’s not what this means. Rather, it means that now God’s people are an international community. God’s church under the New Covenant is no longer limited to a theocratic nation. It is now an international body consisting of Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus as Messiah, Son of God, Lord and Savior. And that is A very clear teaching in the New Testament, but we miss it because of the kind of the false teachings that are out there with respect to national Israel. And I just want to take you to a few passages in the New Testament briefly that show that, indeed, the Israel of God is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Consider Galatians chapter three, verses twenty five to twenty nine, Galatians three, verses twenty five to twenty nine. And here the Apostle Paul addressing the Galatian churches. These churches were predominantly Gentile churches of Gentile believers. And Paul says this. For you are all sons of God through what through association with Abraham, through becoming circumcised and joining the nation of Israel. No, you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. God has one people. There are not two peoples of God, Israel and the church. There’s one people of God, the true Israel of God, the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, consisting of Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus, as verse 29 says.

And if you belong to Christ, even if you’re a Gentile, in other words, if you belong to Christ, Then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. Or we consider Ephesians 2, Ephesians chapter 2, which is right after Galatians, starting in verse 11, where Paul again is addressing Gentiles and he says this, Remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision, which is performed in the flesh by human hands. Remember that you were at that time and before the coming of Christ, you were separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. That was then, but this is now, as it says in verse 13. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who formerly were far off have been brought near.

How? By the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in His flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross by it having put to death the enmity. And so, friends, this being the case, let us avoid the common, but quite frankly, Judaizing false teaching of dispensational theology. What’s that, pastor? If you’re not familiar with what it is, it’s basically a method of interpreting the Bible, which sees a sharp distinction between Old Testament Israel and the New Covenant Church. It is a theology that says that Jews as Jews, ethnically and racially speaking, are still God’s covenant people, even without faith in Jesus Christ.

It also teaches that the land of Israel is still the promised land, that that piece of real estate in the Middle East still has significance in God’s historic plan and that one day there will be a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. But friends, from a redemptive historical perspective, that’s regress, that’s that’s stepping backwards in terms of the progress of redemptive history. Jesus, the Messiah, has come. He has done away with the temple. He is the living temple. He is the fulfillment of that temple imagery. And we who are united to him, we are a temple of God in union with Christ. Christ is our promised land. The new heavens and the new earth where in righteousness dwells is the ultimate goal and the ultimate promised land that we that we are heading for as pilgrims. in this fallen world.

So let us avoid these errors. And instead, let us realize that if we are in Christ, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and we in the church, we are the body of Christ, whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be male or female, whether we be American or from some other part of the world, we are all united in one body through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. But what was Israel’s problem back then? Well, again, Israel was bustling with religious activity. If you were to get into a time machine and go back to the first century and go to Jerusalem and see the magnificent Jerusalem temple, you would see a flurry of activity. You see all kinds of religious activity going on, sacrifices being offered, priests walking about the temple corridors and so forth.

There was a lot of external formal religion going on. But it was devoid of spiritual fruit. Let us, beloved, be warned against the dangers of a merely external, formal religion devoid of a living, saving faith in the true and living God. Fig leaf religion no more saves today than it did in the time of Adam and Eve or in the case of Israel, the Israel of our Lord’s time. The Israel of our Lord’s time had a lot of leaves of external religious activity, but there was no fruit. And so Jesus pronounces a curse upon fruitless, faithless Israel. Only a living, saving faith in Christ connects us to the living Christ. Do you have a living, saving faith in Christ? Are you trusting in Christ and Christ alone as your Lord and Savior? Dear listener, if you’re not sure, why don’t you make sure today?

Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the word of God promises you shall be saved. Jesus died upon the cross to pay the penalty for sin, and he rose from the dead. so that all who believe in him all who trust in him might not perish but have everlasting life. Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and repent of your sin today and you will know and you by the grace of God will begin bearing spiritual fruit the fruit and the outflow of that faith. So we’ve seen the Lord’s cursing of the fig tree and the significance of that. But behold, next, how Christ, the triumphant king, cleanses his temple. We read about that in verses 15 through 19. It says this. Then they came to Jerusalem. This was after the cursing of the fig tree.

They come to Jerusalem and Jesus enters the temple. And what does he begin to do to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple? And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. Some folks were using the court of the Gentiles, this sacred precinct of the temple, to take shortcuts in their merchandising activity, to take their wares through that to other parts of the city. And Jesus forbade that. In verse 17, and he began to teach and say to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a robber’s den. Now, this is likely our Lord’s second temple cleansing.

If you read John’s gospel, John records our Lord cleansing the temple at the beginning of his ministry. And Mark and the other synoptics record this as taking place toward the end of our Lord’s ministry. And some make the case that, well, John arranges his material more thematically rather than chronologically. And OK, that’s one possible way to harmonize the two. But it seems to me that we should really understand that there were two temple cleansings. And what is the setting here? Why does our Lord take such offense at the activities that are going on here in the temple? Why does he overturn the tables of the money changers? Why does he drive and drive out the these those who are buying and selling and so forth? Why this seemingly violent action from Jesus, the Prince of Peace?

Well, first of all, It’s important to understand that this activity turned the court of the Gentiles, the only place in the temple precincts where God fearing Gentiles could pray to the true and living God, the God of Israel, this activity that took place there in the court of the Gentiles, turned that place into a noisy, smelly marketplace. Imagine if you were a Gentile who had heard about the mighty acts of God. You’d heard about how God rescued his people, Israel, from their slavery in Egypt and brought them through the Red Sea into the promised land and and how this God commanded his people to build a temple, which was a symbol of his presence and reign. amongst his people, his revelatory presence. And imagine that you’re a Gentile living back then. You come to believe in the true God, the God of Israel, and you desire to go worship this true God in his temple.

And you make a pilgrimage and you arrive at the temple, this beautiful temple in Jerusalem. And you are so looking forward to worshiping God in the temple, in this sacred, holy place. And you show up to the only place in the temple where you as a Gentile are allowed to worship. And what do you see? You enter the court of the Gentiles and you’re immediately confronted with filth and animal smells and noise and all kinds of merchandising activity going on. This is why one of the reasons why Jesus took such offense. After all, God had designed the temple to be, as Jesus reminds them, a house of prayer, not just for the Jewish nation, but for all the nations, as it says in Isaiah 56, verse 7, which Jesus quotes here in verse 17. This was also offensive.

These activities in the temple precincts were also offensive to Jesus because they desecrated with secular activity a sacred, holy place that had been set apart for the holy activities of prayer and worship. The temple, this was Jesus’s temple. Jesus was coming to his own temple. He’s God in the flesh. This is his house. And this is how they’re treating his holy house. with secular activities of changing money and buying and selling the animals. Yes, those animals were used for sacrifice at the temple, but this was essentially turning a holy place set apart for holy activities into a secular marketplace. In addition, the money changing activity that went on in this sacred precinct was sadly, from what I understand, was sadly often abused. And the money changers often charged exorbitant rates to exchange the currency, and therefore they ended up turning this sacred space into, literally, into a robber’s den, as verse 17, as Jesus again points out in verse 17.

That, by the way, is a reference to Jeremiah 7, verse 11. And by the way, you might say, well, why was there a need to exchange money? And why was there a need to sell and, you know, to buy these animals? Well, think about it. If you are a pilgrim, the Israelites, every male in Israel was required by God and His law to go to the temple once a year to participate in the feast activities. This was the feast of the Passover. And so say that you were an Israelite, an observant Israelite, and you lived a long distance from Jerusalem. Now, you could bring some animals with you on the journey to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, but you could get there and the priests could examine your animals and say, I’m sorry, they’re not unblemished, they’re not acceptable for sacrifice.

It would be better to bring your money, your currency, to the temple and then buy animals there, animals that had already been checked out by the priest as being appropriate for sacrifice. And furthermore, the only money that was acceptable for the temple tax was the equivalent of the Hebrew shekel, the Israelite shekel. And so if you were bringing Roman money, you needed to have that exchanged in order to pay the temple tax. So the activities there were not invalid. It’s just they were taking place in the wrong place. And they were taking place in the wrong place with the knowledge of the high priests and those temple authorities who should have made sure that the sacredness of that holy space was guarded. Dr. Walter Wessel explains the significance of our Lord’s action here. He says, exorbitant prices were often charged for changing the currency.

By overturning the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, Jesus was directly challenging the authority of the high priest because they were there by his authorization. The high priest and the temple authorities knew what was going on and they were probably profiting from it as well. Those exorbitant prices that were being charged. It’s very likely that the high priest was was getting a part of that. And so that kind of explains the reaction of the chief priests in the temple authorities in verse 18. It says the chief priests and the scribes heard this and repented of their desecration of the holy place of God. And they they said, yes, Lord, we agree that this needs to be cleansed and we repent of this. Is that how they respond? No, it says the chief priests and the scribes heard this and began seeking how to destroy him.

For they were afraid of him, for the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching. They were afraid of Jesus because Jesus was a threat to their power and influence over the people. And Jesus was a threat to their pocketbook as well. So they said, instead of repenting, instead of repenting, they seek to destroy him. They dig in their heels and seek to destroy him. Just a couple lessons we can glean from this portion of our passage. Friends, this teaches us that our Lord is dishonored when his people desecrate his holy ordinances. When the holy things of the Lord are secularized, for example, our Lord, his holy name is desecrated. Well, how how is that done today in the new covenant context? Well, think about it this way. Let me just give you an example. We believe in the Reformed faith, we believe that the preaching of God’s Word is a holy ordinance of God.

When you come to Grace Church and you hear preaching, you don’t just come, I hope you don’t come to hear Jeff Willauer preach. Jeff Willauer is a nobody. Jesus Christ is what you need to come for. And you need to come to hear the Word of God. It’s my job as a servant. That’s what the word minister means as a servant of the word to feed you with the word of God. But let’s say that I got up behind this pulpit and instead of preaching a sermon based upon the word of God and expounding the word of God and applying it to you instead, I gave you maybe a light inspirational pep talk. Maybe I gave you a life coaching TED talk or a moralistic lesson or perhaps a book report. of an edifying book that I recently read.

Now, there’s a place for those kinds of things, right? But that would be a desecration of the holy ordinance of preaching. And sadly, that desecration takes place far too often, even in Bible-believing churches. I’ve even seen it in Reformed churches. Just to give you a a brief illustration. And by the way, we’re not going to get to my third point today. We won’t have the time to do that. We’ll pick that up on the next Lord’s Day. So if you’re looking at your watches and saying, oh boy, this is going to be a long one, let me assure you, we’ll pick up the third point on the next Lord’s Day. But I recall, it was a number of years ago, Sharon and I were were out of town visiting relatives and and we found a PCA church to attend on a particular Lord’s Day.

Very friendly people, a warm, welcoming church. And and I was really looking forward. You know, I’m a pastor. I don’t know if I am a preacher. I don’t often get a chance to sit under the preaching of the word. So I was looking forward to hearing a Bible based sermon. And we went to we intentionally chose this PCA church and most PCA churches, I believe, are very faithful and seek to faithfully preach the word. But on this particular Lord’s Day, the pastor, I think after reading a brief scripture passage, the content of his sermon was, I believe, a history lesson having to do with maybe the faith of George Washington or something like that. I was very disappointed. I would suggest to you, brothers and sisters, if I were if I were an elder in that church, I would rebuke that pastor.

I would perhaps bring charges against that pastor. That is not the pastor’s job to give a history lesson, maybe during a Sunday school class or on some other special occasion. The pastor’s job is to preach the word that is a holy ordinance of God, not to preach or give a lesson about his own political views or cultural views or that are divorced from the scriptures or anything like that. But to preach the word beloved, whether we’re talking about the preaching of the word or the sacraments or prayer or worship, let us reverence his holy name by treating his ordinances with respect and seriousness. And let us remember in closing, that we are the temple of the Lord in union with Jesus Christ. We no longer, praise God, we no longer have to travel to a special place, a special physical building like a temple or a shrine. in order to experience God’s direct revelatory presence, in order to worship Him appropriately.

And praise God, aren’t you glad that when you come to church on Sunday, you don’t have to come with a sheep or a goat and a knife ready to slit its throat and offer it on an altar? Isn’t that a blessing? Praise God for that. Because Christ offered that final sacrifice on the cross. There is no more Holy Spirit hotspot, if you will, located at some special place, whether it be the Jerusalem temple or nowadays, Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, where that revival so-called is going on. And I’m not critical of students wanting to get together and pray and worship. Praise God for that. So many are traveling to that place today thinking that, you know, that there’s something special going on there and I want to be where the action is. Well, guess what?

If Christ is your Lord and Savior, you have received, according to Scripture, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You don’t need to travel to a special place to imbibe some special spiritual juju that might be going on there. You are indwelt by the spirit. You have access to the word of God. And not only that, you have access to the community of God’s people. We together are a temple of God in the Lord. Where is the Holy Spirit hotspot today? Wherever God’s people meet in the name of Christ for holy worship, for Christ is there by his word and spirit. As we are reminded by the Apostle Peter in first Peter, Chapter two, four and five, it says, and coming to him as to a living stone, which has been rejected by men, but his choice and precious in the sight of God.

You also, as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Praise God for that. Brothers and sisters, we are living stones in the living temple of God in union with Christ. Let’s live out our identity in Christ. Amen. Let us pray. Gracious Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you and praise you, God, that you continue to work in your church by your spirit, drawing people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation into this one body of Christ. And we thank you, Lord, that it is a body that extends throughout the world and how we look forward, O God, to that day in the new heavens and the new earth, where we will join together with our brothers and sisters in Christ from all over the world and from all ages of human history before the throne of God and the Lamb, singing praises unto you forever and ever.

In the meantime, Lord, abide with us and strengthen us by your grace that we might be faithful disciples in our day to day lives. We pray these things in Jesus name and all of God’s people said, amen. Let’s close our time of worship by rising and we’ll sing together him for 36. My faith has found a resting place for 36.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

February 19, 2023
The Blind Beggar who Saw

About this sermon

Blind Bartimaeus sits by the road outside Jericho and cries out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ The crowd tries to silence him, but he cries all the louder, confessing what little he knows. Jesus stops, calls him, and heals him, and Bartimaeus follows him along the road to Jerusalem. Saving faith takes God at his word, and the Christian life continues in daily faith and repentance.

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Sermon transcript

as we continue to consider the Gospel of Mark. This is Lord’s Day morning. We are in Mark 10. My sermon text is Mark 10, verses 46-52. Mark 10, verses 46-52. Dear friends, let us hear with reverence and awe the Word of our God. Then they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stopped and said, call him here. So they called the blind man, saying to him, take courage.

Stand up. He is calling for you. Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus. And answering him, Jesus said, what do you want me to do for you? And the blind man said to him, Rabboni, I want to regain my sight. And Jesus said to him, go. Your faith has made you well. Immediately, he regained his sight and began following him. on the road. Dear friends, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for God to bless the proclamation of his word. Dear Lord and Father in heaven, we stand in awe at the fact that you have communicated to us, though we are sinners, yet you have communicated to us in the scriptures, your word of grace and salvation. We ask, O Lord, as we consider this portion of your God-breathed, inerrant, infallible Word, we ask, O God, that you would open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your Word.

We pray that by your Spirit, your Word would find a lodging place in our souls. We pray that this portion of Scripture would be spiritual milk for those who need the milk of the Word. May it be spiritual meat to those who need the meat of your Word. And may it be manna from above for all of us. We ask these things through Christ our Lord and all of God’s people said, Amen. You may be seated. Well, dear friends, my sermon today is entitled The Blind Beggar Who Saw. And if you have a sermon outline page, there’s a number of The key words, suggested words that you can keep track of as you hear the sermon today, if you find that to be helpful. Well, dear ones, in our passage for this Lord’s Day morning, we find our Lord Jesus Christ continuing his final journey to Jerusalem.

He has set his face like Flint to go to Jerusalem in order to fulfill the mission that God the Father has sent him to this earth to fulfill. And so Jesus and his disciples, along with a considerable crowd, are making their pilgrimage toward Jerusalem for the Passover, where Jesus will engage in his final battle with the satanic forces of evil by dying on the cross for our redemption. And so as we turn our attention to our text for today, we read the following in verse 46. As Mark records this event, he says, Then they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road.” Now, it’s important, brothers and sisters, to understand the context here.

And it’s especially important for us to consider Mark’s account of this healing of Bartimaeus in light of the parallel accounts in the other Gospels, such as Matthew and Luke. The core of the accounts is similar in all three of the Gospels, but there are some differences in detail. But when we understand the historical and background of these details, we will recognize that there are not contradictions here or discrepancies, but there’s actually great harmony. Dr. Walter Wessel, in his commentary on Mark, introduces our passage as follows. He says, this last of the healing miracles in Mark’s gospel takes place near Jericho. Now, where was Jericho? Well, Dr. Wessel explains. Jericho is located five miles west of the Jordan and about 15 miles northeast of Jerusalem. Now, here’s an important detail. He says there was an old Jericho, that would be the biblical Jericho, and a new Jericho.

In Jesus’s time, the old Jericho was largely abandoned, but the new one extending to the south was an attractive city. It had been built by Herod the Great, who had his winter palace there. Matthew speaks of two blind men. Luke says that the healing occurred on the way to Jericho. Mark reports that it took place on the way out of the city. Now, how do we harmonize those two accounts? Well, as Dr. Wessel suggests, it is possible that the miracle was done somewhere between the old Israelite city and the new city of Herod. Mark is the only evangelist who names the blind man. Bartimaeus probably means son of Timae. And in the Middle East, a blind man sitting along the road begging is a common sight. So these are some important historical details to keep in mind as we seek to understand this passage.

And I hope you see from Dr. Wessel’s comments that the differences in detail between the gospel accounts need not be viewed as contradictions. For example, Mark’s gospel records the healing account of Bartimaeus from the perspective of Jesus leaving the old Jericho, whereas the gospel of Luke records this healing from the perspective of Jesus traveling toward the newer Jericho and all on the way towards Jerusalem. And it’s interesting that of the three gospel accounts that record this miracle, Mark’s record of this miracle is the most detailed. Well, friends, this passage of God’s word is rich with spiritual lessons, especially when the spiritual insight of blind Bartimaeus is contrasted with the spiritual blindness of our Lord’s enemies who will push to have our Lord put to death. In this passage, we have a wonderful picture of the transforming power of the gospel, the good news of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

So what do we learn from this portion of God’s word? Well, let’s focus, first of all, on verses 46 through 48. We notice, first of all, a plea for mercy, a plea for mercy. Again, verse 46. Then they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, they are headed towards ultimately towards Jerusalem for the Passover. As they are traveling along that road, what do they see? A blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. So again, as they are leaving Jericho to go to Jerusalem, they come across a very common sight. at that time, namely a blind man who’s identified by name. Now, why does Mark identify Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, by name? Well, we’re not told why he identifies Bartimaeus, but could it be that Mark identifies this man by name because perhaps some of those amongst his original reading audience would have known this man?

I believe that is a distinct possibility. And then in verse 47, we learn this about Bartimaeus. It says, when Bartimaeus heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, or Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. We have a plea for mercy here. Have mercy on me. How did Bartimaeus know about Jesus? Well, obviously, the news of Jesus’s healing powers had spread far and wide in that region. So no doubt Bartimaeus had heard about Jesus by word of mouth. He’d never seen Jesus with his eyes. He was incapable of seeing the Lord with his eyes. But he had heard the word, the news about Jesus of Nazareth. And how does Bartimaeus address Jesus? Bartimaeus recognizes and confesses Jesus as the Son of David. Now, we’ve considered on numerous occasions in the Gospel of Mark the significance of that title, Son of Man.

That is a messianic title. But what about this title, Son of David? Well, in other this title, son of David is an even more, in a sense, even a more explicit confession of the Messiah ship of Jesus. It was a messianic title. Jesus, Messiah, son of David, have mercy upon me. And did you notice there’s no record of Jesus rebuking him for doing so? There’s no record of Jesus saying, listen, fella, yes, I can heal. I’m a rabbi, I’m a servant of God, but I’m not the Messiah. No, Jesus does not rebuke Bartimaeus for acknowledging him as the Messiah. Now, it’s very likely that Bartimaeus, like most of his fellow Jews in those days, had a very imperfect understanding of what kind of Messiah Jesus was. This is a theme that we have seen over and over again in Mark’s gospel, is that even Jesus’s own disciples had worldly minded and political notions of what the Messiah was supposed to be.

They viewed the Messiah as a great anointed king who would come and as a military conqueror, conquer the Romans and set up again the theocracy of David, of King David in Jerusalem and rule the nations from Jerusalem as a political king. And it’s quite likely that Bartimaeus shared these Jewish assumptions of our Lord’s contemporaries. But however imperfect his theology was at the time, the truth that he did know, he openly confessed. He did so vigorously and unashamedly. And his cry to Jesus for mercy, what does that show us? That shows us that Bartimaeus recognizes that the Lord Jesus is the source of mercy. And indeed, he looks to the Lord Jesus as the one who had the power, the divine power to help him in his need. Though Bartimaeus was physically blind, he clearly saw with the eyes of faith with spiritual eyes that Jesus was his only hope.

And then verse 48, how do the crowds respond to this blind beggar beside the road, crying out to Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me? How do they respond to this poor blind man? It says in verse 48, many were sternly telling him to be quiet. And how did he respond to their admonitions that he be quiet, that he shut up, basically. But he kept crying out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on him. He was not going to let anyone stop him from crying out to Jesus for mercy. Now notice, friends, the uncaring crowds and their lack of compassion for the plight of this poor, blind beggar. Again, this was a common sight, but such hardness, telling him to be quiet. It’s as if they were embarrassed by this needy man.

Why were many in the crowds telling Bartimaeus essentially to shut up? Well, as a blind beggar, Bartimaeus held a very low social position in the social hierarchy of that day. So perhaps Some were embarrassed that a man of such low social standing and position would dare to bother an important man like Jesus of Nazareth. Or perhaps some in the crowd were either bothered by or made uncomfortable by the fact that this man was so clearly and so openly confessing Jesus to be the Messiah. Perhaps they feared repercussions from Rome. And they’re basically saying, quiet down. We don’t want you to be so open about that. Well, either way, whatever the case may be, the crowd demonstrated its uncaring hardness of heart in the way that it responded to this blind beggar. So we see this plea for mercy.

What are some of the takeaways or applications that we can glean from this portion of our passage for today? Well, let me suggest a number of things. Friends, Bartimaeus was obviously not a theologian. He was a poor, blind beggar. And his understanding of Jesus was probably quite limited. But what he did know, he confessed and he used to his soul’s advantage. The late Dr. William Barclay in his commentary on Mark says this, he says, we must ask people to think, but we should not expect them to become theologians before they are Christians. The case of Bartimaeus illustrates that one may be saved and come to faith even with a very limited understanding of the person and work of Christ. Now, certainly some things must be known. You need to know that Jesus is Lord, that he’s the son of God, that he died for our sins and rose from the dead and so forth.

But nevertheless, you can have a childlike simple faith and and that faith by God’s grace can still be saving faith. But though Bartimaeus had limited spiritual light, he used well the light that God had blessed him with. Whereas, I would suggest, brothers and sisters, that so many churchgoers today who are exposed to such great gospel light, sadly, many seem indifferent to the great gospel knowledge with which they’ve been blessed. We are awash in Bible knowledge here, brothers and sisters. You’ve heard that saying that familiarity breeds contempt. Or at least it can breed indifference. We’ve heard if you’re a churchgoer and you’ve been a Christian all your life, you know the old, old story of Jesus and his love. You know the glorious good news. You’ve heard it week in and week out proclaimed from the pulpit.

The danger is that we come to take this glorious gospel light for granted. Yes, we should seek to grow in our understanding of the gospel, in our theological and doctrinal knowledge. We in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church highly value, as we ought to, sound Bible doctrine and faithful, reformed theology. At the same time, let us not take the light that we have received for granted and let us not look down on our nose at down our noses at those who maybe have not yet come to the the sound understanding that we have been blessed with. How about you, dear listener? You may not be a Bible scholar or a theologian. But are you responding with faith, repentance and obedience to the gospel knowledge with which God has blessed you? By the grace of God, let us use well the knowledge and the light, the spiritual light that we have received through the word of God.

Also, as a blind man, Bartimaeus had never seen Jesus perform miracles. He had heard the word, however, He had heard the message about Jesus, and that hearing led him to put his trust in Jesus. I’m reminded of what Paul the Apostle writes in that very familiar passage, Romans 10, 17. Faith cometh by what? Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. The Holy Spirit uses the word, the message of the gospel, in the scriptures as it is read, but especially as it is preached to bring sinners to faith in Christ. We, too, like Bartimaeus, we’re in a similar situation with respect to Jesus as the late great evangelical Anglican Bishop J.C. Ryle writes in his expository thoughts. He writes, We, too, are not allowed to see Jesus with our bodily eyes. But we have the report of His power and grace and willingness to save in the Gospel.

He goes on to say, what is the beginning of all saving faith but a soul’s venture on Christ? Oh, I love that sentence. What is the beginning of saving faith? A soul’s venturing upon Christ. He goes on to say, what is the life of saving faith when once begun, but a continual leaning on the unseen Savior’s Word. Basically, saving faith is, through God’s sovereign grace, taking God at His Word in the Gospel. Believing that God means what He says and says what He means and believing that it applies to you. For example, we’re probably all familiar with that famous passage, John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he did what he gave his one and only son. God’s love for a lost and sinful world is expressed in the giving of his son so that what so that whoever believes in him.

That is to say, whoever trusts in him might not perish, but have everlasting life. Oh, well, that promise is for others, not for me. I’m too wicked. I’m too corrupt for that. I’ve gone too far. No, that promise is for all who through sovereign grace come to believe. Saving faith takes God at his word, trusts in his promises. And the promise is what? Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Dear listener, do you believe? Do you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your very own Lord and Savior? Your faith might be weak. It might be feeble. But your Savior is great. Your Savior is great. Even the weakest, smallest faith in the Savior is sufficient to receive the Savior’s benefits. So, repent and believe upon Christ this day for your salvation from sin.

So, we see an act of a cry for mercy, but we see next in verses 49-52 an act of grace. An act of grace. It goes on to say in verse 49, Mark writes, “…and Jesus stopped and said, call him here. Probably some in the crowds who were telling this blind man to shut up, probably they were kind of surprised. Oh, I thought Jesus wanted to get to Jerusalem fast. Well, he certainly did. But Jesus was willing to stop in his tracks and give this poor man his personal attention. Jesus stopped and said, call him here. So they called the blind man, saying to him, take courage, stand up. He is calling for you. We can imagine some of the same folks in the crowd who, at a moment before, had been telling him to shut up, are now saying, oh, hey, take heart.

He’s calling you forward. I want you to notice a couple of things. Even though Jesus is in the midst of His all-important task of heading to Jerusalem so that He might die on the cross for our sins, That was the mission that the father had sent him to accomplish, even though he’s in the midst of accomplishing that great mission. Yet he is willing to stop in his tracks in order to minister to the specific needs of this particular individual. Our Lord Jesus values Bartimaeus as an individual and therefore Jesus gives him individual attention, even in the midst of the craziness of His schedule and mission. Praise be to God that Jesus, our Lord and Savior, does this for each and every one of us who trust in Him and cry unto Him for salvation. Notice also how the crowds hypocritically changed their tune.

Before, they had rebuked Bartimaeus for making such a scene, But now that Jesus calls Bartimaeus to himself, the crowds change from words of rebuke to words of encouragement. And I don’t see, I don’t know about you, but I don’t see any recorded apology here to Bartimaeus. Maybe there was. We don’t know. But Mark doesn’t record it. They go from saying, be quiet, to saying, oh, be encouraged. Ah, the fickleness of crowds. Perhaps this is instructive to us not to just go along with the crowds, but instead to have our thinking aligned with the Word of God, our thinking and our behaving. How does Bartimaeus respond to this? He’s been crying out to Jesus to have mercy upon him. And finally, he hears, hey, he’s calling you to himself. Verse 50 is almost comical in its expressiveness.

Throwing aside his cloak, that would be his outer garment. Bartimaeus is so excited that he throws aside his cloak. Perhaps he had spread it by the road to collect the donations that people would give to him. But whatever the case may be, he dramatically throws aside his cloak. He jumped up And he came to Jesus. Now, some scholars have suggested that, well, this proves that Bartimaeus was not entirely blind. He wasn’t completely blind. After all, he was able to get on his feet and find Jesus in the crowd and go to him. But I think that’s really kind of reading too much into the text. Certainly, his ears were well attuned to where Jesus was in the crowd. And so. whatever the case may be, he enthusiastically heeds the call of Jesus and responds to that call.

And what does Jesus say to him in verse 51? And answering him, Jesus said, what do you want me to do for you? Now, why does Jesus ask this question? Isn’t it obvious what Bartimaeus wants him to do for him? This is a blind man who’s been begging. by the side of the road. No doubt Jesus knew what Bartimaeus wanted from him, but nevertheless, he asks him what he wants. Why does Jesus do this? Well, perhaps to help make it clear to the crowds that Bartimaeus is not asking for a handout. But probably, I suspect more likely, Jesus did this so that Bartimaeus might have an opportunity to express his faith in Jesus by having to express his request directly to Jesus. In other words, he is drawing out a confession of faith from Bartimaeus.

And what does this teach us? Well, beloved, this teaches us that Jesus is not just interested in healing Bartimaeus. He’s interested in establishing a personal bond, a personal relationship with this man. And Bartimaeus responds by addressing Jesus as Rabboni in the Greek. Bartimaeus says, Rabboni, I want to regain my sight. What does that word Rabboni mean? Well, it’s a stronger word than rabbi. Rabbi means teacher, but Rabboni carries with it or can carry with it the sense of master or Lord. So by using this title to address the Lord Jesus, Bartimaeus indicates by implication his recognition of our Lord’s authority and his trusting submission to Christ. And what does Jesus say in response to Bartimaeus’ request? It says, And Jesus said to him, Go, your faith has made you well. And what happens? Well, we’ve learned in our study of Mark’s gospel that one of Mark’s favorite words is the Greek word euthus, or immediately.

And we get one of those immediately’s here. Immediately, he regained his sight and began following him on the road. Notice a couple of things. First of all, Jesus immediately grants Bartimaeus his request and heals him. Jesus doesn’t linger. Jesus immediately heals him simply by speaking the word. Notice also that our Lord Jesus attributes Bartimaeus’ healing to his faith, his trust in Jesus the Messiah. Go, your faith has made you well. Your faith has made you well. Now, wait a minute, Jesus, that’s technically wrong, right? Theologically speaking, it wasn’t Bartimaeus’ faith as such that healed him. It was Jesus Christ who healed him. However, it is Bartimaeus’ personal faith in Jesus that connects him to the Lord and to the Lord’s healing power. And that is why sometimes that which is technically belongs to God is ascribed to the faith of God’s people, such as, you know, such as.

I mean, think about justification by faith. We are declared righteous by God through faith in Christ. Technically, Christ is the one who justifies us or God justifies us in union with Christ. But we receive that blessing through the instrumentality of faith, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is that is how Jesus is using the term here. So what do we learn? A couple applications. Just as Christ shows personal concern for Bartimaeus’s individual needs. So, dear believer, he cares for you as an individual. It’s tempting for us because we are so small, we are so limited. God is busy. We imagine God is busy running the universe. He’s got too much on his plate to be concerned about us and our individual needs. That is not the case. Your Savior, dear believer, cares for you and your individual needs.

Trust in his tender watch care over you. And consider also that just as our Lord wanted Bartimaeus to express his desires and needs personally to him, so let us express our personal needs and desires to the Lord in prayer. It reminds me of that wonderful hymn, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Oh, what pain we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pains we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Take it to the Lord in prayer. He hears the cries of his children who cry unto him. Notice also that faith connects us to Christ and his benefits, just as it did for Bartimaeus. So let us strive to nurture our faith by the diligent use of God’s means of grace. Remember, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.

And faith is nurtured by the word of God as well. Let us be in the word and in communion with our God. But finally, we see here in this passage a response of gratitude, a response of gratitude. Jesus said in verse 52, Go, your faith has made you well. Immediately he regained his sight. And what did he do then? Said thank you and turned and went the other way. No, began following him on the road. Notice that Bartimaeus responded to our Lord’s healing, not by saying thank you, or at least there’s no record of him doing so, although no doubt he was thankful to the Lord. But Bartimaeus shows the reality of his faith by following Jesus on the way. Now, this could mean a number of things. This could mean that Bartimaeus formally attached himself to Jesus as one of our Lord’s traveling disciples.

That’s a possibility. Or it could simply mean, as I think more likely, that he simply chose to follow along with Jesus in order to accompany him to Jerusalem for the Passover. But whatever the case may be, it is clear that he had become in his heart, at least, a follower of Jesus. And he desired to be in the company of his Savior and to walk with the Savior’s community of disciples. As J.C. Ryle puts it, he would not leave him from whom he had received such mercy. At once he devoted the new powers which his cure gave him to the son of David who had worked the cure. Brothers and sisters in Christ, our salvation results in transformation. Salvation results in transforming the saved into followers of Jesus. Saving faith bears spiritual fruit in a life of discipleship.

Having tasted the mercy of Jesus Christ in your life, are you seeking day by day to faithfully follow Him as your Lord out of heartfelt gratitude for the grace that He has given to you. None of us follows Christ perfectly. And that’s, by the way, why Christians need the gospel, too. The gospel isn’t just for unbelievers to bring them to faith in Christ. The gospel is for Christians because the normal Christian life is a struggle. It is a struggle. It’s not just onwards and upwards. You know, there’s this notion of the victorious Christian life. We do live a victorious Christian life because our life is in union with Christ, the victor. His victory is ours through faith. But nevertheless, in our daily experience, sometimes we stumble. We often stumble. We daily a war against the world, the flesh and the devil.

And the good news continues to be good news for us as believers. God continues to forgive your sins, believer in Christ, as we continue to walk day by day in daily renewed faith and repentance. Remember, Martin Luther reminded us that the Christian life is a life of repentance. You don’t just repent once at the beginning of the Christian life and then you’re done with it. Repentance is daily, daily mortification of sin and vivification renewal in faith. That is a day by day experience of every Christian. But as we have tasted that the Lord is good, let us show our gratitude for God’s goodness by seeking to be faithful followers of the Lord Jesus Christ out of gratitude for his gift of salvation. Dear listener, have you tasted the Lord’s goodness? He is good. And in Christ and through the gospel, he offers you his mercy.

Jesus is the God-man. He was crucified for the forgiveness of sins. He rose from the dead for our justification, and so that all who believe in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life. Come to Jesus today in faith and repentance, and He will receive you, and you will taste the goodness of the Lord. And then, like Bartimaeus, follow your Lord along the way. For he is the way, the truth, and the life. Amen. Let us pray. Gracious Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you and praise you, O God, for the Lord Jesus Christ, for his word of grace to us in the gospel. We pray that this word would never become too old for us, that it would always be new and fresh. that we would always love to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.

We pray all of these things, Heavenly Father, through Christ our Lord and all of God’s people said, Amen. Dear ones, let’s rise and as we respond to what we’ve heard proclaimed, let’s rise and sing together 446, Be Thou My Vision, 446.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

February 12, 2023
A Ransom for Many

About this sermon

James and John ask for the highest seats in Christ’s kingdom, still picturing an earthly throne in Jerusalem. Jesus answers that the Son of Man, the heavenly figure of Daniel 7, came to give his life a ransom for many. His death paid the price for sinners and actually secured the salvation of all the Father gave him. The age tells us to be captains of our own souls, and Christ calls his people to deny themselves and serve others as he served them.

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Sermon transcript

to remain standing for the reading of God’s Word. This morning we consider, as we are continuing our study of the Gospel of Mark, my focus today will be in particular on Mark chapter 10, verse 45, but I’m going to read beginning at verse 32 through verse 45 to once again offer us the fuller context. Mark chapter 10, beginning at verse 32 and reading through verse 45. Friends, let us hear with reverence and awe the word of our God. They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them, and they were amazed, and those who followed were fearful. And again, he took the 12 aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to him, saying, Behold, We are going up to Jerusalem and the son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles.

They will mock him and spit on him and scourge him and kill him. And three days later, he will rise again. James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus saying, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. And he said to them, What do you want me to do for you? They said to him, Grant that we may sit one on your right and one on your left in your glory. But Jesus said to them, You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? They said to him, We are able. And Jesus said to them, The cup that I drink, you shall drink and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized.

But to sit on my right or on my left, this is not mine to give. but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” Hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with James and John. Calling them to himself, Jesus said to them, “‘You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it is not this way among you. But whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Dear friends, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever.

Let’s pray for God to bless the preaching of his Word. Our gracious Lord God, Heavenly Father, we pray that by your Holy Spirit once again You would open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word, feed our souls from the word this day, build us up in our faith, strengthen us in our discipleship, and grant unto me, your unworthy servant, the grace to declare and speak forth your word with the power and assistance of your Holy Spirit for the edification of your people, the salvation of the lost, and the glory and praise of your holy name. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said. Amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon today is A Ransom for Many, again based on chapter 10, verse 45.

And you’ll notice if you’re following along in your sermon outline, there are a number of words you can be listening for that will help you follow along in the sermon today. And I just would highlight a couple of very important words. Messiah, Son of Man, Ransom, and Atonement are especially significant words to be listening for today. Well, dear friends, in our passage for this Lord’s Day morning, our Lord Jesus Christ makes his third and his most explicit prediction of his coming suffering and death and resurrection from the dead, as we read in verses 32 through 34. But true to form, The disciples still don’t get it, as we considered on the last Lord’s Day. This is demonstrated in verses thirty five to forty five, where we read of James and John, the sons of Zebedee and two of our Lord’s twelve disciples asking Jesus to grant them the privilege of sitting on his right hand and on his left hand in his glory and the glory of his kingdom.

Now, in ancient times, Sitting on the right hand and the left hand of a king symbolized the positions of highest authority and highest influence in the kingdom, second only to the authority and the influence of the king himself. So, in effect, what James and John were asking was basically, Jesus, give us the highest positions in your kingdom. And apparently, when they are thinking of the kingdom, apparently they’re not thinking of Jesus’s eschatological kingdom, the future glory of Jesus’s kingdom, which will come about when he returns at his second advent and ushers in the eternal kingdom, the new heavens and the new earth, wherein righteousness dwells. Now, consider the context here. Consider the picture that Mark paints here of this exchange between Jesus and James and John on this particular occasion. The picture we get is that Jesus and his disciples are heading to Jerusalem.

Jesus has set his face like flint to go to Jerusalem. Verse 32 tells us that the disciples were amazed by this fact. And we’re also told that those pilgrims who followed along with Jesus and his 12 disciples, they are described in verse 32 as being fearful. Now, Mark doesn’t tell us explicitly why they were amazed, why the disciples were amazed and why the people were fearful, but perhaps the disciples were amazed because they believed that Jesus, whom they acknowledged to be King and Messiah, that Jesus was finally heading to Jerusalem for the purpose of military conquest, for the purpose of overthrowing the Romans and setting up an earthly political kingdom. like the one ruled by King David in Old Testament times. In other words, when James and John asked, let us sit on your right hand and your left hand in your glory, they are probably conceptualizing the glory of Christ’s kingdom to be the glory of an earthly political kingdom with Jesus sitting on a throne in the city of Jerusalem, reigning over a renewed Davidic theocracy.

That’s probably what they are picturing. And so the request of James and John to sit at our Lord’s right and left hand in his kingdom demonstrates the fact that Christ’s disciples still couldn’t seem to grasp the truth that the Messiah had to first suffer and die before he could rise and reign. Now, even though in verses 33 and 34, Jesus had been very clear and very plain spoken in telling them about what he was to suffer and that he was to die before rising again. His words didn’t seem to register with his disciples. In Luke’s, in the parallel account in Luke’s gospel, we are told that these words were hidden from them. They were blinded to the significance of what Jesus had told them in verses 33 and 34. Even at this late point in our Lord’s earthly ministry, His disciples still think of God’s kingdom in terms of this worldly, political, militaristic glory.

Now, Jesus informs James and John that he is not the one who decides positions in God’s kingdom. By implication, that authority belongs to God the Father and God the Father alone, who assigns these positions to whomever he chooses. As we read in verse 40, Jesus says, But to sit on my right or on my left, this is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. The implication is those for whom it has been prepared by my father in heaven, by God, the father. Our Lord Jesus then proceeds to instruct James and John and the other disciples as well about the fact that in God’s kingdom, suffering and servanthood come before glory and exaltation. See, and this is the exact opposite to the way that the world thinks. In the world, so-called important people tend to oppress and lord it over those who are below them in rank.

But in God’s kingdom, in his kingdom of grace and salvation, it is the first who shall be last and the last who shall be first. And those who wish to be greatest in God’s kingdom are those who are the greatest servants. And, of course, what greater servant is there than Jesus Christ himself, the one whom the prophet Isaiah predicted would be the suffering servant? Christ’s kingdom is indeed an upside down kingdom. Now, it is in the midst of explaining the centrality of servanthood and humility in the life of the kingdom that our Lord Jesus sets himself forward as the greatest example of servanthood, as Jesus says in verse 45, for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. This is the verse that I will especially be focusing upon today in my sermon.

Now, after these things, Mark will go on to record in verses 46 to 52, a miracle account where Christ’s redemptive servanthood is illustrated in our Lord’s healing of blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus. But we will cover that on a future Lord’s Day. So let’s dive into our passage for today. Mark 10, verse 45. And I want you to notice, and this is the first point on your sermon outline, if you’re following along. Notice, beloved, that even Jesus, the mighty Messiah King, came for the purpose of serving others. Even Jesus, Jesus, the eternal second person of the Holy Trinity, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, as we confess in the 19 creed, Jesus, the word made flesh, even Jesus, the mighty Messiah King came not for the purpose of being served, but for the purpose of serving others.

As Jesus says in verse 45, for even the son of man, did not come to be served, but to serve. Yeah, yeah, Pastor, I know that, you know, been there, done that. I’ve heard that so much so many times. We hear this so often that we become desensitized to just how radical of a statement this is. You need to we need to put ourselves in the shoes or rather in the sandals of our Lord’s first century disciples. We need to try to imagine what it was like to be a first century Jew and to have first century Jewish conceptions or misconceptions about the nature of God’s kingdom and the nature of the Messiah. And when we realize that, when we put ourselves in the shoes of the Lord’s disciples and put ourselves, try to understand the mindset of first century Jewish thinking on these subjects, we realize just what a radical statement this is.

Oh dear ones, do you realize Just what a radical, earth-shattering statement this must have been to our Lord’s disciples, especially when you think about popular Jewish expectations in those days of what the Messiah was going to be like. You see, the Jews of Jesus’s day were expecting a Messiah. The term Messiah or Christ means anointed one, God’s chosen and anointed King. They were expecting A Messiah who would rule with an iron fist, a Messiah who would destroy and crush the wicked, a Messiah who would come and demand absolute service and obedience and loyalty and would put his enemies under his feet, literally, physically, militarily. Now, of course, Jesus is indeed our Messiah and King, and He does indeed demand our absolute allegiance and loyalty. But the allegiance that our Lord demands of us is fundamentally of a spiritual, not a political or earthly nature.

Now Christ’s Lordship certainly has implications for every area of life and society. Jesus is Lord of all. But again, His Lordship is fundamentally of a spiritual nature. Spiritual, not in the sense of unreal. spiritual is very real, but in the sense of the Holy Spirit, eternal things are in view here. You see, at every point, our Lord Jesus was shaking up the false ideas and misconceptions that his disciples had. And the idea of the Messiah as a servant was an idea that was quite foreign to many Jews in our Lord’s day, including, sadly, Jesus’ own. although it should be said that this idea should not have been foreign to them. After all, passages like Isaiah chapter 53 predicted a Messiah who would indeed be a suffering servant, who would die as the sin bearer for his people.

Now, the fact that this was a radical statement is underscored by our Lord’s reference to himself as the Son of Man. Again, hone in on verse 45 and notice what Jesus says. He says, for even the son of man did not come to be served. And here’s where, you know, when we when we’re trying to understand the Bible, when you read the Bible and you’re trying to understand it, you need to learn how to ask good questions. And one of the questions that ought to jump out of the page and slap you and me in the face is the question, who is this son of man figure? Who is Jesus talking about when he talks about the Son of Man. He says, even the Son of Man did not come to be served. Is Jesus simply saying, you know, identifying his human nature?

Jesus indeed was and is truly man, as he is truly God, true God and true man, united in one divine person. He is the God-Man, the Word made flesh. Is that what Jesus is referring to when he refers to himself as the Son of Man? Well, let’s consider this title, Son of Man. See, in the first three Gospels, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, this title, Son of Man, is our Lord’s favorite title for himself. It’s our Lord’s favorite self-designation. In fact, Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man more often than he refers to himself as the Son of God. Although, obviously, Jesus is indeed both. He is true God and true man. Well, what does this title, Son of Man, mean? Is he simply referring to his human nature? Well, I believe that, along with many other scholars, not that I’m a great scholar, but along with many scholars, I agree with the scholarly view that Jesus is here referring to the Son of Man figure that is prophesied in Daniel 7, verses 13 and 14.

And I know that Reverend Lauer mentioned this in his sermon a number of weeks ago, but let’s go back to this passage. It’s a very significant prophecy about the Messiah in the Old Testament. Let’s go to The book of Daniel, Daniel is after Ezekiel, Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 and 14. Here in this vision that the Lord gave to the prophet Daniel, we read these words, Daniel 7, 13 and 14, I kept looking in the night visions And behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming and he came up to the ancient of days. Notice, by the way, the son of man is going up, not coming down in this prophecy. This was a prophecy of the ascension of Christ and his reign at the father’s right hand. He came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him and to him was given dominion. glory and a kingdom that all the people’s nations and men of every language might serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away. As an aside, let me say that this reference to his everlasting dominion points to his deity. This son of man figure is a divine messianic figure. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. So here we have this glorious vision of a reigning, sovereign, mighty messianic son of man, a son of man who exercises universal dominion, who is king over whose kingdom extends over all of the people’s nations and nations of men from every language that they might serve him. Notice that verse 14. To him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom that all people’s nations and men of every language might serve him. But then keep your finger there and go back to Mark 10, 45.

And thinking that and understanding that Jesus is here referring to himself by this messianic son of man figure of Daniel, Jesus says, for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve. It says here in Daniel 714, the son of man is to be given universal dominion that all might serve him. Well, yeah, all are to serve the risen, reigning Lord Jesus Christ. But in our passage for today, Mark 10, 45, Jesus says even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve. You see how radical that is, how that turns The Jewish expectations on its head, the son of man figure in Daniel was to be a great king who would exercise universal dominion. And we believe as Christians that this is a prophecy speaking of King Jesus.

But again, in verse 45, Jesus says, even he, even this great king, this glorious messianic son of man, did not come to be served, but to serve. And why did Jesus The son of man, the Messiah, why did he come to this earth? Well, the son of man came to this earth because God the Father sent him to this earth. Let’s compare scripture with scripture. Let me just have you turn to John, chapter six, and let’s look at John, chapter six, beginning at verse 37 through 40. This is one of many passages in the New Testament. that make it clear, that teach that Jesus came to this earth voluntarily, willingly, but he came because he was sent by God the Father. And by the way, you know, sometimes the liberals and modernists in the church like to twist and distort and misconstrue the biblical, historic gospel doctrine of substitutionary atonement by saying, well, you know, the substitutionary atonement, that’s the view that that Jesus had to die to make an angry God loving.

That is a blasphemous distortion and misconstrual of what the Bible teaches about the substitutionary atonement. Jesus did not have to come to this earth and die in order to make an angry God loving. It was a loving God who sent his son, Jesus, who willingly came to die that we might be reconciled to the Father. For God demonstrates his love for us. that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And the father in the eternal covenant of redemption sent his son, covenanted to send his son, Jesus. And Jesus came willingly to die in our place, in our stead. And many passages of the New Testament underscore this truth. For example, John 6, verses 37 through 40. Jesus says all that the father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of who of him who sent me.

The father sent his son out of love for sinners to redeem us. This is the will of him who sent me that of all that he has given me, I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life. And I myself will raise him up on the last day. Hallelujah. Praise be to God. The Son of Man came to this earth because God the Father sent him. And Jesus came to this earth the first time in his first advent. He didn’t come to conquer in a militaristic sense. Although he conquers us, he conquers our sin, he conquers the devil, but he comes to serve. He came the first time to be the suffering servant.

Our Lord’s earthly ministry is proof of this claim. Now, what did Jesus do during his earthly ministry? What did he busy himself with? Did the Lord Jesus go around during his earthly ministry demanding that people bow before him and kiss his ring? and serve him. And, you know, Jesus went around serving others, preaching and teaching the good news of God’s kingdom, God’s reign of grace and salvation that has drawn near in his person and healing the sick, raising the dead, multiplying loaves and fishes, casting out demons, giving the signs of the kingdom, the signs of good news that the kingdom of God had drawn near. He came to serve. And he was so busy preaching, teaching, healing and casting out demons that we read in the Gospels that our Lord hardly had a moment to rest.

He had hardly had a moment to himself. And our Savior’s supreme act of servanthood, of course, was his setting his face like Flint to go to Jerusalem, that he might stretch out his arms upon the hardwood of the cross and die for our sins. His supreme act of servanthood was his laying down his life on the cross. for our sins. But the scriptures also teach that Jesus will come back a second time at his glorious second advent. We don’t know when that time will be. No man knows the day or the hour we are told, but Jesus is coming back. And every day that passes is a day closer to the day when Jesus will return and take us to be with him forever and will destroy wickedness and the wicked and will usher in the new heavens and the new earth.

So Jesus is coming back a second time, not as the suffering servant, but as the mighty King of Kings who will judge the world. But in the meantime, in this age between the ages, in this period of redemptive history, between the first advent of Christ and his future glorious second advent, what does Jesus call us to be busy doing as his people? In the meantime, he calls us to follow his example of servanthood, even to the point of being willing to lay down our lives for the benefit of others, should that become a necessity. Now that leads me to my next main point, beloved. Notice next that Christ’s servanthood was consummated by his giving up his life as a ransom for many. Christ’s servanthood was consummated by his giving up of his life as a ransom for many.

Again, as Jesus says in verse 45, for even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to do what? To give his life a ransom for many. Now, let’s break that down. First of all, notice that Jesus gave. Jesus gave. The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give. He didn’t come to take Jesus did not follow the philosophy that is so common in our humanistic culture today, the philosophy that says you got to look out for number one. You can’t love others unless you first love yourself, right? Balderdash. That’s baloney. Nowhere does the Bible tell us to love ourselves. The Bible assumes that we will love ourselves. Now certainly, The Bible, you know, having a biblical view of humanity should lead us to a healthy view of ourselves.

We were created in the image of God. God has bestowed dignity and value upon us. And though we are fallen in Adam, if you are in Christ, if Christ is your Lord and Savior, not only are you an image bearer of God, you are a beloved, adopted, blood-bought child of God. So there certainly is a place for having Christ esteem. Our esteem is found in Christ. But we are so self-focused today. We live in a culture that constantly tells us that your job is to find your own identity, create your own identity, create your own life. You’re the master of your faith. You’re the captain of your soul. And you know what that is? That is the ultimate in idolatry. That is the idol of self-sovereignty. I got news for you. You and I are not ultimately sovereign.

God is sovereign. You and I do not ultimately decide our identity. God bestows and gifts us with our identity. We are his image bearers, male and female, created in his image. And if we are redeemed in Christ, if Christ is our Lord and Savior, we are his children, his beloved blood-bought children. But Christ does not call us to focus on ourselves, to be centered narcissistically on ourselves, to navel-gaze, we are called upon to be centered and focused on others. We are not to esteem ourselves, but to deny ourselves that we might serve others. And that is, by the way, that is the path to true happiness. Those who are constantly pursuing their own happiness by focusing on themselves and their own sense of self-esteem, those who do that are often the most miserable, unhappy people around.

But if you are focused on following your Savior, laying down your life to serve your brothers and sisters in Christ and others in need, that is what kingdom life is all about. Jesus came to give him of himself. Our Lord did not look out for number one. He didn’t come to earth in order to get in a sinfully selfish way, but to give himself for our Redemption. And what did Jesus give? Jesus gave his life. Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life. He didn’t just give up some of the surplus of his time or of his energy or of his money or of his personal freedom. No, beloved, he left the throne of glory in heaven. clothed himself in our humanity and he came to this earth ultimately to set his faith like flint to go to Jerusalem that he might give the greatest gift of all to pour out his lifeblood on the cross to ransom us from our sins and that is another point I would make in this in this verse notice that Jesus gave his life as a ransom why does Jesus use this language of a ransom What is the significance of this language?

What’s the picture that the word ransom conjures up in your mind? Maybe you might think of someone who’s been kidnapped and has been taken for ransom. You know, you can only get this family member back if you pay a ransom price. Well, this language of ransom implies that we are enslaved. The Word of God teaches, beloved, that we in Adam, in our fallen state, We are slaves of sin, we are slaves of self, we are slaves of Satan. But praise be to God, Jesus’s atoning substitutionary death on the cross frees us from this slavery. The Greek word that is translated here in our passage as ransom is the word lutron. According to Bower’s Greek English lexicon, the basic meaning of this word is price of release, ransom. Now, again, why was it necessary for Jesus Christ to die on the cross as a ransom?

Because God’s word teaches that we are all sinners. And as sinners, we have offended against the holy God who created us to serve him. See, God is a God of infinite holiness, infinite righteousness. God is a loving God, a merciful God, a kind God, a gracious God, but he is also a holy and just God. And God’s holy and just and righteous nature requires him to punish sin. Sin will either be punished in the person of the sinner or in the person of a substitute who ransoms that sinner from his or her sin. God’s Word teaches that we have all fallen short. We have incurred the debt of God’s infinite wrath. The penalty for our sins must be paid if we would be redeemed and forgiven and reconciled to the father out of love for us sinners.

God, the father, sent his son into this world ultimately to pay that penalty on the cross as our sin bearer, our substitute. And that is the heart and center of the gospel, the atoning death and the glorious resurrection of Christ. Have you trusted Christ? as your sin bearer, as the one who ransoms your soul. If not, God in the gospel is calling you, dear listener, to turn to Christ in faith and repentance. Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Trust Christ to save you from your sins and he will save you. He will forgive you. He will cleanse you. He will deliver you from the guilt, the penalty, and the power, the dominating power of sin in your life. Rest in Jesus. Come to him and he will ransom you. You can be assured that he has ransomed you.

But who did Jesus give his life a ransom for? We learn here that Jesus gives his life as a ransom for many. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. The contrast here is between Jesus, the one and the many for whom he lays down his life as a ransom. Jesus didn’t lay down his life to ransom himself, by the way. After all, Jesus was the spotless, sinless Lamb of God. He was without sin, and therefore he didn’t need to be ransomed. Nor did he lay down his life for just a tiny remnant of the Jews, such as his disciples, for example. No, my friends, when we compare scripture with scripture to gain insight on the implications of what this is teaching, Jesus says that he came to give his life a ransom for many.

That is to say, for a great multitude of people from every tribe and tongue and language and nation. This is implied, for example, when we compare our passage for today. with what the Apostle John records in the book of Revelation. Turn briefly to Revelation chapter 5 verses 9 and 10. Revelation chapter 5 verses 9 and 10. And here we get a vision of heavenly worship, the worship of the saints and angels in heaven. And it says this. In chapter five, Revelation five verses nine and ten, and they sang a new song, saying, and they’re praising Jesus, the Lamb of God, saying, Worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood. Hear it. Hear what he’s saying. Purchased for God with your blood, men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priest to our God, and they will reign on the earth. Now, friends, while our passage for today does not directly address or settle the theological issue of universal atonement versus definite or limited atonement, as it is sometimes called, it’s important to notice that our Lord Jesus did not say here that he came to give his life to ransom all or everyone without exception. He certainly could have said that if he had wanted to make that clear. Instead, Jesus says that he came to give his life for many. And while he does not define who those many are, whether the many be everyone without exception or a more limited or might maybe has a more limited scope. Nevertheless, this is a statement which is certainly consistent with the doctrine of definite atonement.

When we compare scripture with scripture on this topic, and especially when we consider the worship scene that I just read for you from the book of Revelation, it seems clear that Christ laid down his life to ransom a definite number of people, not everyone without exception. As it says in Revelation, you’ve purchased for God men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. This is what biblical universalism is, that God has redeemed and elect people, a great multitude from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. While our Lord’s atoning sacrifice is indeed of infinite value, and is certainly sufficient for the redemption of all humanity. At the same time, it is designed and intended to actually redeem an actual number of people, a limited number of people. And by the way, this is even implied in that famous passage of scripture, which is the favorite passage of many Christians.

Can you guess what I’m talking about? John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that what? that everyone without exception might be saved and guaranteed eternal life? No, God so loved the world. God’s love for a fallen, sin-cursed world was expressed in the giving of his son, so that what? So that whoever believes in him might not perish, but have everlasting life. In the words of the canons of Dort, Christ’s atoning sacrifice is certainly sufficient for all, sufficient to redeem all humanity, but efficient or effective for the elect. And who are the elect? How do we know who the elect are? They are those who come by sovereign grace to believe upon Christ and Christ alone as their Lord and Savior. Our Lord’s atonement was effective, definite, and efficacious.

Jesus didn’t just die to make everyone savable. The good news is that Jesus actually died to actually save sinners. And if you are trusting him as your savior from sin, he died to not just make your salvation a possibility, but to actually save you, to guarantee your salvation. Praise be to God. Dear listener, do you believe that the Lord’s ransom is sufficient for you? Do you trust him as your savior? Jesus welcomes you. That verse that I read earlier and I’ll close our time in the word in just a moment. But that verse that I read from John chapter six earlier. Remember, Jesus said in that passage, he said that whoever comes to me, I will not cast out all that the father gives me will come to me. That’s the elect and whoever comes to me, I will not cast out.

Do you desire to come to Christ? He welcomes you. Come believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. and you shall be saved. And then, by his grace, come alongside your brothers and sisters to serve the Lord in his kingdom. For the Lord has served you with his grace. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in Heaven, we praise you, O God, for the good news of Jesus, our Savior. We thank you, O God, that Christ gave his life a ransom for many. We thank you, dear Father in Heaven, that Christ, our sin bearer, our substitute, our Savior, has ransomed us. Fill us with joy and gratitude for our Lord’s ransom, and give us the grace, O Lord, to faithfully confess Jesus as the Savior to a lost and needy and dying world. In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said, Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

February 5, 2023