Jesus' Authority (Mark 11)

Good morning. It is good to be back with you after a week away. This morning we're going to be really looking at the subject of worship. Worship is what Christ has come to secure for us. Worship is what he leads us into. The passage is a little different this morning. It's a little more challenging. We see Christ coming up to Jerusalem for the last time. This is the last ascent to the holy city, the capital city of Israel. And if you haven't been with us, we've just finished the Great Discipleship Discourse, that's chapters eight through 10. That's where we hear just the clarity of over and over again, the first shall be last, the last shall be first. Deny yourself, carry your cross, follow me. He was teaching his disciples what it means to be a disciple. But now we turn to the last section of Mark. Really there's three different parts. And if you notice, we've got 40% of the Gospel of Mark talking about one week. That's a significant percentage of pages and words just for one week, whereas the rest of it has mainly been about three years. The importance of this week, which he lays out very clearly, what happens on Saturday to Sunday to Monday to Tuesday to Wednesday to, well, the Lord's day, the day he rose, is very important for Mark. As that last week is when he comes in as the king. He cleanses the temple. He's betrayed. He has the last supper with his disciples. Then he's crucified. This morning we're going to see how he comes in as a king. And a passage I want us to have in the back of our minds as we're looking at this is Ezekiel 34. You can turn there, read it later. There's so many passages that have background today that I didn't know which one to pick for Old Testament reading. Ezekiel 34 is when God, through the prophet Ezekiel, declares, I see the priests, I see the kings, I see all those that have appointed over Israel, and all they're doing is fattening themselves with the sacrifices that the people are giving to me. The priests and the kings are just selfish. They're not feeding the people the Word of God. They're feeding themselves only. And so God says, I myself will come be the shepherd. I myself am going to come and care for and feed and provide for my people, because those of a point of the task have completely failed. They've left the people starving and only fed themselves. A well-known passage in the Gospel of John. Jesus says, I am that good shepherd. he has come to lead his people. And that shepherd imagery is that of a king. And it's sweet and tender for those who are his sheep because he gathers them, he feeds them, he holds them. But it is terrifying if we are not one of his sheep. It's terrifying. you're one of the priests, kings, scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, has been appointed as someone who oversees a sheep because he comes specifically in judgment. And that's really what we see here this morning. A few weeks ago before Easter, the Sunday before Easter, we, we call that Palm Sunday. We, we, this is a day that we're actually thinking about here. The, the, the day, the, the, the day, the week before he, he, he dies and rises again, he enters in on this this cult. And so if you're taking notes, our first point is Jesus comes as a king. Jesus comes as a king. Let me read verses one through 10 again. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethpage, to Bethany, the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter into it, you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, why are you doing this? Say, the Lord has need of it, and it will send it back here immediately. They went away and found a colt tied at the door side of the street. They untied it. Some of those standing there said to them, what are you doing, untying the colt? And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and they threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. So if we go back to that Zechariah 9 passage Isaiah read earlier, this is just as it was said hundreds of years prior to Christ. And notice even right here in the immediate, Jesus says to two disciples, go into the city, find this cult, and this is what's going to happen. And it happens just as he said. We see here Christ is in complete control of making sure he ascends to Jerusalem for this last time, and everything has to happen according to the perfect plan. Now it's interesting as we just see how this was fulfilled. unknowingly by those who owned the cult, or asking about the cult, and really even unknown to the disciples. But here we see Jesus riding in on the cult, which was, most believe this is a picture of coming in peace. But here he's coming, his last ascent to Jerusalem, and he's coming to fulfill this prophecy. Now let's look back at verse 7. And they brought the cult to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road. And others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest. So we see folks taking their cloaks off and putting it on the colt for Jesus to sit on. Then we see them even going so far as to putting the cloaks on the road with branches, as if kind of a royal red carpet here. They're sacrificing their most important garment, their outer garment, what they would oftentimes keep warm with, maybe even sleep with. They're sacrificing to praise him, the king. Now a key word here is hosanna. This is used as a decoration of praise, but, but it's, if you look at the, the nature of the root of the word, it's, it's a plea for salvation. Save me, please. Save me, please. It's, they're declaring with this, with this praise, a plea of salvation. They're recognizing something unique is happening here with Jesus on a colt. This seems to be a spontaneous recognition with praise. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. They see that Jesus is a representative of God, he is a Messiah, he's a prophet at least. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father, David. Now that's very loaded. We could really unpack that whole verse right there from the Old Testament the rest of our hour, or two or three it would take. But here we see Zechariah 9 says the king is gonna ride in on a colt. Okay, we fulfilled that. If you go back to 2 Samuel 7, God promises David, a son of yours will sit on the throne forever. They're recognizing that the coming kingdom of our father David is right here in front of us. The true king that was promised even back in 1050 to David, The one who will have an eternal reign. What we see here, the fulfillment of Ezekiel 34. God himself has come to be the king for his people. It's important to recognize what is happening. In this final ascent, Jesus is very proactively coming to die. as the creator for the creature, as the king for his people. This is what he does to provide for us, because the only, the only thing that can possibly give us a true access to the Father again, the only thing that can truly give us peace again, is that our sin is paid for. Our debt forgiven. He's come to save us by coming to die for us in our sins. And the people are recognizing he's coming in the name of the Lord. He's coming as that fulfillment of the King David. Hosanna! Save us! It's really as if they're saying, salvation has finally appeared. Praises on their lips. Notice what happens next. Jesus entered, verse 11, he entered Jerusalem, and he goes straight to the temple. So, so, this is kind of hard for us to imagine, but sacred space is very important in Old Testament worship. Right? So we're gonna look at this in a moment, but Jerusalem—Israel is the holy place, the holy nation. Jerusalem, the holy city, the capital, Then the temple, the holiest place in that city. And then there's layers of holiness as you actually go through the temple from the Gentiles to the Jews to the place only the priests enter in. Then the Holy of Holies. We see here Jesus getting closer and closer into that holy space where he himself is going to be the perfect priest who gives the perfect sacrifice in the once and for all perfect temple. We see he comes to inspect the temple that he prescribed in the Old Testament. It's very vague. Honestly, verse 11 is so vague and even so quiet, it's a little eerie. Here he comes, he's being praised as the king who brings salvation. He goes to the temple, looks around, and leaves. That's called a good setup. What happens next shows that he did not like what he saw. He came and inspected the temple. And then he goes out and he sleeps in Bethany with the Twelve. We have to remember, this is Passover. Hundreds of thousands of foreigners are coming to the city of Jerusalem. They all can't stay there. So the ascent of Jerusalem is a very symbolic moment where he is entering in as the king for the last time, but he's gonna go out and sleep elsewhere as there's no room in Jerusalem. This is the kind of reception he deserves. Praise him who brings salvation. Save us please, oh great king. We're gonna see here he gets a different reception in the temple. As we meditate upon this coming of Jesus, we celebrate the coming of Jesus at Christmas, right? He entered humbly into the womb of a virgin, Mary. He's come now to fulfill his final mission, this last week that's called the Passion Week, the week where he's going to die for us and rise again and then ascend 50 days later. As we meditate upon this, and I want us to really focus here, he's coming again. Jesus continues to come to us. When He comes to us, He heals us. When He comes to us, He saves us. When He comes to us, He comes because we need help and we cannot help ourselves. And as we are on the other side of the cross and the resurrection and the ascension, we cannot forget. He's coming again. And as we're going to see here in a moment, He will inspect. He will come to judge the living and the dead. How will we be found? It's interesting as we look at this. I believe it is a warning passage. If you wait, when we get to Mark 13, it's even more clear. The words repeated in that declaration of what's going to happen. Be on guard. Keep awake. Be expectant and watchful. I find these words convicting because I like to be lazy. We like comfort. We like to figure out how to let it ride. Right? You know, if you know no one's going to check on you for a few days, you, well, me, I'm in the shower for a while. Right? If we know we're going to be alone, it's easy to kind of get in the mindset, I'll just let it coast for a little while. This is a warning. God's watching. He is not fooled. desires and cares about how we're going to praise him. Let's look at our next point. Verse 12. Jesus comes to clean house. So first he's come as a king. He's received as he ought to be. Hosanna, blessed be the Father, David. The kingdom of our Father, David. Now he comes to clean house. Verse 12. On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing the distance of fig tree and leaf, He went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again, and his disciples heard it. This is a bit of an unusual story. It's the only story where we see Jesus cursing something, like this tree. It's an unusual story because our narrator, our author, inspired by the Holy Spirit, he tells us a really interesting fact. It wasn't season for figs. Jesus is 33 years old. He knows the season for figs. He created them. This is springtime. Figs don't come until summer. And so it's curious. Why does he seem so mad at the tree? Right? It's an unusual story that's supposed to be provocative. We're supposed to kind of ask, what in the world is going on here? So Jesus is on his way back into Jerusalem. He's not riding a colt this time. The colt's been returned. He's not receiving praise. He's just walking as an average Joe, walking back into Jerusalem. He's hungry, sees a fig tree. It has leaves. Now sometimes, Commentators explained. Sometimes leaved figs, fig trees, would have figs from last season. They think maybe he was looking for that. Sometimes there's an early fig that's sweet. Maybe he was looking for that. But I believe the comment, it wasn't season, is showing us something different's going on. Some have even interpreted this as Jesus is so hungry, he's angry. Right? It's like that Snickers commercial. He's just not himself when he's angry. So he's just not acting like himself. I don't think that applies here. Something else is going on. We need to realize the fig tree was a very important metaphor in the Old Testament. Here, Hosea 9.10. Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season. I saw your fathers. Israel is being likened to that first fruit on a fig tree. But they came to Baal Peor and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame and became detestable at the thing they loved. Israel was like that first fruit, but they bowed down to other gods. Jeremiah 24 speaks of how he saw good figs, and they were so sweet, and they were abundant in goodness. And then he saw bad figs, and they were cursed. The good figs refer to Judah, those who are faithful. The bad figs refer to King Judah, the king of Judah, and in his court, they're cursed. He used that metaphor. Micah 7.1 speaks of there's no ripe fig. There's not even a first fruit to eat because no one is worshiping Yahweh. this picture of Jesus cursing the fig has already been predicted at many levels. I believe what we see here is a kind of a parable, because he's doing something disciples don't understand. He's doing something it's hard for us to understand. Why would he be so angry at a tree for not bearing fruit when it should not be bearing fruit? He's showing that this image of the fig tree, it's a picture of Israel. It looks healthy, but it bears no fruit, and therefore it's worthless. And therefore he curses it so that no one would ever eat of it again. I believe what he's doing here with this picture, this pronouncement against the fig tree, is he's isolating Israel. He is, he's pinpointing the hypocrisy. Because I believe that fig tree is, is pointing us to what's wrong with the temple. Let me explain why I think that's the case. If you're new with us, as we've walked through Mark for a while, Mark uses this technique called sandwiching, right? Now, I realize it's getting close to lunch, and we shouldn't be talking about sandwiches, but it's a writing technique where he'll have one story, and in the middle of the story, he'll insert another story. It's not a commercial break. It actually shows how there's an interpretation importance going on here, that the stories are connected and intertwined, and the middle story normally informs the bigger story. The meat of the sandwich usually is the story that helps interpret the bread part of the sandwich. What we see here, this is sandwiched. There's the fig tree encounter, and that's the bread, upper bread. We see then the cleansing of the temple, that's the meat. And then we see again, the fig tree comes back up. But I believe it's reversed here. I believe the fig tree is helping us understand what's going on with the temple. Lots of leaves, lots of busyness, lots of activity, but not a lot of fruit. I believe the fig tree is a picture of Israel as a nation who's called to be the worshipers of God, and to be the light to all the nations. And yet, there's no fruit. It's a picture. Jesus walks up to the tree. He closely inspects it. And he finds it wanting. He finds it failing and unfruitful. The same thing is going to happen with the temple. He's going to come into the temple. He sees nothing but hypocrisy. He sees how they've turned what is supposed to be a house of prayer into a den of thieves. And he acts accordingly. I believe the fig tree is simply a parable of sorts. to help us see what's really going on with the temple. Israel is not fruitful. I believe the main problem here is hypocrisy. There's a lot of activity, but no fruit. It looks healthy because of other things going on, but it is not providing the fruit that God would desire because they are not following him in faithfulness. Let's back up to verse 17. Well, let me read verse 15. after Jesus says, no one will ever eat this fruit again. And we can go there and realize if that's about the temple, this is an end to the sacrificial system. It is an end to this particular way of worshiping in Israel, because in a new covenant, we worship differently. Praise God, it's not bloody, right? We're going to sing about this on Arise My Soul at the end. Now in verse 15, and they came to Jerusalem, and he entered the temple again. And this time, having looked around before, he began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple. And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them, saying to them, is it not written, my house should be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a den of robbers. Now, let's just pause there, this declaration He's turning tables over. He's going into what we believe is a court of the Gentiles, the most outer part of the temple. And he's turning tables over. He's throwing people out of the temple. He's causing a significant disruption. And the one thing I want us to see from this passage is that Jesus cares about our worship. If there's anything that is obvious throughout all of Scripture is that God cares about our worship. It's an understatement. Jesus is about to go and give his whole life to be separated from his eternal Father so that we can worship. But here we see there's a strong correction to bad worship. He's come as a king to lead us in worship. He's come to the most holy city to exercise his reign, and then to be betrayed and murdered. He's come to the most holy place, and they will despise him. Let's walk through the different parts of this action in the temple. If the fig tree is cursed, it shows that there are leafy people, but there's no fruit. It's very busy. of religious activity, but it's not truly following God. First, let's see, he drives out those who are selling and buying. All right, so this is not a small farmer's market. This is big business. Josephus tells us that in one year, 255,000 lambs were sacrificed for Passover. This is a money opportunity. Okay, and that's just the lambs, not to mention the pigeons and every other animals and all the other offerings. That's just the lambs that would be offered. There's a lot of money here, and so as always, there's gonna be some sinful opportunist who's gonna figure out how they can make a buck on the religious practice of Israel. That appears to be somewhat of what's going on. Now Jesus in the court of Gentiles, it says he overturned the tables and the money changers. It was necessary for Israel to exchange money. Because if they came from a place that had a god or a king that was made for worship on their money, they would have to exchange it for a coin that did not have that. That was actually prescribed in the Mosaic law. So the money changes are necessary, but it doesn't appear that they're necessary to happen in the temple itself. The other odd, just kind of detail, is that he specifically goes after the seats of those who sold pigeons. Pigeons were a sacrifice that the poverty, the poor, could give. If you could not offer the lamb, if you could not afford the different sacrifices, this is kind of the lowest sacrifice. If you were in the poverty level, the pigeon is how God ordained you to be able to afford a sacrifice at Passover. They're taking advantage of even the oppressed. You know, it's kind of like whenever you've traveled all the way, and if you're poor, this costs you a lot, but you've traveled miles, you've traveled days, and then you're there, and you're at the will, and you're at the mercy of those who are selling the different items. It's kind of like at the airport, right? You get in the terminal, and now all of a sudden, a bottle of water is like $5. Right? You're, you're there, you're stuck, and if you have to have something, you have to pay a premium for that. And that appears what they're doing. Jesus is here upset that the, they're, they're further oppressing those who are oppressed. And then verse 17. He's quoting Isaiah, which is also a blessing and a curse. My house is to be a house. prayer. It's not a place to make money. It's not a place for profit. It's not a place to figure out how you can be more entrepreneurial. It's not a place to think, let's, let's figure out how to do something more here in the temple where we're missing an opportunity. No, he's saying, you're not doing the one thing my Father has commanded. That is pray. And you're incorporating all kinds of practices that are out of bounds. We see here Jesus acting like a true priest. There's two jobs a priest has in the temple, most basic jobs, to watch and to keep. To be the ones who are watching and observing and keeping the rules of the Lord, and the priests who are in charge have let things just go and go and go. And when Jesus comes to inspect as a true great high priest, he sees how horrible the temple had become. There's a point here as well that's included in Mark. He says it's supposed to be a house of prayer for all the nations. You're in the court of the Gentiles. All the nations, all different kinds of people, all of us would have been invited there. And that's as far as you get in the temple. So whatever you experience in that space is what you think of God. And if what you think of God is just an exchange of money, and being oppressed, and being robbed, and being overcharged, how are you going to walk away? Israel was supposed to be a light to the nation, and there, those who are actually in charge of that particular part of the temple, they're being a bad witness. They're only spreading more darkness. They're not fulfilling the role that God has given them. All the nations. We know from some non-biblical texts that there were traditions at this time that predicted that when the king, Messiah, comes to Israel, he's gonna purify the temple. And the idea of purification was he was gonna cut off all the Gentiles from the temple. That's how the people thought the Messiah would come. That he would purify it by only keeping the pure there. He would cut off the Gentiles. See that completely misunderstands our problem and our call to worship. Jesus came to call those who are impure, so that he could purify them, so that we would be his pure people. There's no such thing as a pure people apart from Christ. He doesn't come to cut off people who are impure. He calls, if you are impure, come to me and I will forgive you, and I will lead you into the perfect place of worship. God welcomes all kinds of sinners. This is an amazing event. Jesus has come as the king being praised. He has come into the temple and inspected. He's declared it unworthy. They're acting like a den of robbers. They're not fulfilling what God has given to them. And then finally, verse 18 shows us how he was received. The chief priests and the scribes heard of it, those who were supposed to be keeping watch, and they were seeking a way to destroy him. they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came, they went out of the city." So the disciples, they go back to Bethpage and Bethany where they were staying. It's interesting here. Christ has caused such a disruption to the money-making schemes of the chief priests and scribes, they now need to destroy him. Let's not miss the irony. Holy space is important because God meets man in holy space. Right? The Garden of Eden. That was holy space. Adam got to walk and talk with God. That was a holy place. That after he sinned he could not be in anymore. The temple is a renewal of the Garden of Eden where God and man get to meet Then Jesus Christ, he's come. The temple wasn't a place for Israel to contain God like they thought. This is our God, he's the one true God and we have the temple. It was a place where God could say, this is how you can come to me because you're so sinful. They should long for the glory of God to be in the temple and don't miss the irony. The glorious God just walked in the temple and their desire is to destroy him while he's in the temple. while He's giving them instruction for how to be a temple people, their response, let's destroy Him. If you want a picture of sin, that's our sin. We have things the way we like them, we have things the way they're running smoothly for us, and then when God interrupts, our response in our sin is to overthrow Him. Our response in His grace is to follow Him. I want us to hear a warning. Jesus is coming again, and He will inspect. Jesus is coming again, and He will inspect. We, as a body of believers, are His temple. The Holy Spirit is with us in a covenant way when we gather together. We are His temple as believers. The Holy Spirit is sealing us. And so the question I really wanted to be pressed in here, the question I think the text is pressing in upon us, we think about this fig tree in the temple. If Jesus comes to inspect us, what will he find? Will he find a lot of leaves? Will he find fruit? You see this, this is, this is, this is a challenge for hypocrisy. It's a different kind of idolatry going on here. They're worshiping the right God. They're just not worshiping Him the right way. Right? You can name the right God Jesus, or Yahweh, but if you're not going to worship Him according to His way, you're still an idolater. You're, you're being a hypocrite. You're pretending to be righteous and have it all together. But if, unless you're actually following His way of worship, which is confessing sin, which is forgiving sin, which is coming humbly to receive Him as He has instructed, we're going to be treated like the tree, or the temple. This is the importance of self-inspection. Asking God in His Word, Lord, how does my life not align with what you have clearly said? The importance of letting others respect. Asking brothers and sisters to come around. Can you help me see blind spots in my own life as to where my life does not line up with, with Scripture? It's important that somebody has a freedom to speak truth in your life. Everyone needs another person who can just be free to speak truth in life. If you have not just told somebody, I grant you permission to speak truth in my life, you're probably having blind spots. None of us can see all of our sin. However, we usually see about the sin pretty clearly. This is more than just going through the motions. This is loving the Lord our God with all our heart, in a way that's going to trust Him, and what He says is good and right and worthy to be obeyed. It's going to be watchful. I want to say for us pastors, there's a unique warning. In 1st Timothy 4, we're commanded to watch our lives and our doctrine. In Acts 20, we're called to watch His sheep. I believe every believer is supposed to watch their life and their doctrine, but there's also a desire to watch the flock of God. Not our flock. That is a high responsibility. Not to make sure we're going through all the motions, but to make sure we're all walking together in the same direction according to Christ, in Christ, driving up to Him. You need to realize worship isn't just keeping the wrong things out of worship. It's making sure we're right in what we're doing, and how we're doing it, and why we're doing it. A third point. We've seen Jesus come in as a king. That is, he's exercising his reign as the one who brings salvation, the King of David. We see him cleanse the temple. We really see king, then priest, and now we're gonna see prophets. We see the three rolls of Christ really full in this passage. He's come as a king, he's cleansed out the temple as the great high priest, and now he's going to speak the truth to direct us. Third point, Jesus comes to call us. Look at verse 20. As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. Okay, this is the power of the Creator. He curses the tree and it dies. Verse 21, as the disciples all heard, and as Peter's the one who's always going to speak on their behalf, Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the victory of the curse is weathered. Thank you, Mr. Obvious. All right, we have Peter just making the obvious observation. But it's perfect. It's how Jesus sets up the next teaching, where he's going to tell us something. And notice, he doesn't mention the fig tree, he doesn't mention the temple, but he does go back to prayer. Here, Jesus is giving us instructions for worship. Again, he cares about worship. There's three things he tells us, and I want us to see these as invitations. Jesus comes, he cleanses, he invites. Jesus comes, he cleanses, he invites. That is the unique thing about Christianity. And I want to make it very clear. It isn't just saying what's wrong. It's saying how we can be reconciled. Jesus doesn't just leave you in sin after he points it out. He says, here's how to be renewed. Here's how to be restored. If you're going to point something out wrong, there has to be an invitation. Here's how to come. There's always an openness. And this is what Jesus models for us here. He's come. He's cleansed. Now he's inviting the disciples. Here's, here's how you're going to worship. First, have faith in God. Have faith in God. Trust Him. God is who He says He is. He will do what He says He will do. He has done what He has said He has done. He has given us good instruction. His promises and commands are equally true. Fruitless hypocrisy is corrected by faith in God. Turning towards Him. Not in our understanding. As our call to worship ended, the wisdom of God begins with a fear of God. That is a faith in Him. We should be asking, as we live our lives, what has He said? Alright? The whole problem began when Adam and Eve refused to actually acknowledge what God said. They doubted God and they were led astray. We must rely less on our competence, our strength, and our wisdom. It means we deny ourselves, we carry our cross, and we follow Him. The key word here is trust God. And if you remember Mark 9, one of the most helpful, instructive stories. I believe, help my unbelief. That is a simple passage to remember. That is a model prayer for us. I believe, help my unbelief. Help me trust you in what you say. Help me see that you are the God you say you are. Help me understand that you are with me, you are for me. There's nothing that can separate me from you. So the first thing we see is a command to, to believe. We don't have to work our way to God. But, but I think the correction here is more the, the, the, the priests, the chief priests and the scribes and, and those who are the money changing, they don't believe in God. Because they decided to do something other than what God said to do. You don't see faith with their works. The other prescription Jesus gives is that you're called to pray. And really, I believe this is moving on from faith, and that faith is demonstrated in prayer. Look at verse 23. Truly, or he says, amen. He's drawing attention to what he's emphasizing now. And again, The temple is supposed to be a house of prayer. Jesus here highlights the importance of prayer. I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up in thorn of the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. benefit of picking a mountain up and throwing it in the sea. Why is that the chosen image? Someone speculated, and maybe it's true. He's speaking of the mount where the temple is. This passage is declaring there's an end to this old worship system, and there's a new way of worship within Christ, not on Mount Sinai, not on Mount Moriah, not here at the temple mount, but Mount Zion. They can read about in Hebrews chapter 12. What Jesus seems to be pointing out most clearly is, okay, there's gonna be obstacles. And when we come to those obstacles, we're called to pray. Now some of those obstacles we might be thinking of immediately are a difficult boss, a health issue. Yes, we're called to pray and trust those things, but I'll be very clear. God never said your life was gonna be easy without frustration. If you want to think about what a mountain might be, God did promise that if you seek to put to death sin, then you can put it to death. You can be free if you, if you recognize the, that Christ died to free you from that sin, and that you, you, you, you consider yourself dead, and then you, you yield yourself to righteousness. I want to, I want to focus in here that, that maybe the mountain that needs to be prayed for is, is our temper. Our impatience. Our lust, our propensity to grumble, our lack of gratitude. These are heart obstacles that are hard. Who can tame the tongue that unleashes, that reveals what's in the heart? What Jesus says here is what James says in chapter one. Pray without doubt. That is so challenging. Again, I believe, help my unbelief. And I want to be very clear, this isn't kind of a name it and claim it, mine never matter. If you just, if you just muster up enough faith, then God is going to give you whatever you want. I don't believe that's really what's going on here. I believe the point here is if you look to God and you trust Him, He will help you overcome your sin and your obstacles. And it may be that He doesn't remove the obstacles, but He lets you learn how to live underneath them. That's what endure means. To remain under. Truly trust that God has the power. Not, not with wavering. Not with doubting. But, but truly seeing He's the God who's kept the promises. He's the God who orchestrated from, from 2 Samuel 7, a king's going to come, to that king's going to run a cult, to hear Jesus is. He's written on the, on the, the cult to be our king. Something that isn't obvious in our text is that this call to prayer is a plural. So if it were from where I am, that would be a y'all. Whatever y'all ask in prayer. There is an importance to a body praying together. It's very different from how I pray by myself. I find myself praying too easily like a selfish prayer in my closet. But when you're praying together, you're united with the church for things of the kingdom. I believe it's a helpful way of learning what prayer is. It's a way of uniting together in prayer. I believe it's something that's commanded clearly in Scripture. This is why our evening prayer service is so important. Charles Spurgeon called the hour of prayer at his church the boiler room. If somebody wants to, if you can't come on Sunday night and somebody wants to start leading a Sunday school hour prayer meeting, please talk to me. We need that power. It's amazing how whenever we're trying to do something without prayer, it is usually just frustrating. Right? Moms, dads, the most important work you can do is praying for your children. That is the most important work you can do. All right, you need to feed them and those other things. That's necessary. But all the other work, It's all submitted to the power of God in prayer. Whatever we're seeking to do that's of any way worthy of the kingdom and the king, it has to be covered constantly in prayer. It is the most important work we have. It is, as to the Christian, like breath is to the living. Finally, we see faith is demonstrated in forgiveness. Verse 25. And whenever you stand praying, we see here we have faith, and faith leads to prayer, and prayer means we are forgiving, right? There's a clear trajectory. And whenever you stand praying, forgive. If you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also in heaven may forgive you with your trespass. We need to understand what this simple command means, to forgive. When you forgive somebody, you're making a promise to them. When you forgive somebody, that means something done to you has been hurtful, harmful, offensive. And what Jesus is teaching here is that if you're going to come and pray, you can't come with a vindictive or a vengeful heart. You can't come and praise me, confessing sin and worshiping the one who forgives you while still holding on that somebody else needs to pay for something. To forgive means I promise. not to let whatever that is, that thing that you said or you did, be an obstacle in our relationship. Again, Christianity is a welcoming. I will point out the sin, but I'm also going to say I'll forgive you and welcome you. Why is forgiveness here? Right? So prayer is, it makes sense, because he just mentioned prayer in the temple. Now, the temple is supposed to be a place of prayer, but forgiveness. You know, it makes it so clear, if you're not forgiving, you're not going to be forgiven. Jesus teaches the same thing in the Lord's Prayer. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father forgive you. That is one of the most terrifying passages in Scripture. Yeah, we'll come and we'll confess sin. But the fruit of that, it means we're forgiving sinners. See, Christ is teaching a worship. We worship by realizing how much we've been forgiven. And when we see that, we see how little the sins are against us that we make such a big deal. Really, we see Matthew 18 in light here, where a servant was owing about $10 million in today's equivalent. And the king says, I'm going to make you pay for this. I'm going to punish you and your family. And he begs for mercy, and the king says, I'll forgive your debt. What happened to that money? The king just lost it. He absorbed it. And then what does that servant do? He goes and shakes down a guy for 100 bucks. The king brings him back and says, how dare you, after being shown such mercy, that you would go and try to act out in your own vengeance? There's something important here about the Christian faith. Worship is about coming to confess sin, to be forgiven. And the fruit of that is that we are then a forgiving people. We cannot cry out, Hosanna, save me please, while still holding on to sins that have been done against us. Really, we're saying, save us, not them. When we come to Christ, we see how He abounds in grace. to forgive us, to forgive others. We see how our sin was an obstacle to be removed, and we therefore forgive the other obstacles that would be in the place of fellowship. As we conclude, I want to point out here, there's just two clear marks of hypocrisy that I believe are being challenged in our passage. First is praying without faith. Remember Jesus, he confronts the Pharisees. They use lots of words, but they don't actually believe anything. Pray with faith. Learn to pray with others to build up your faith. Learn to pray through Scripture to encourage and strengthen your faith. Pray recognizing God is good and he listens to his people. The second hypocrisy is if we were to pray without forgiveness. There's a hard truth. It is impossible to rejoice in Jesus Christ while holding on to somebody's sin against you. It's impossible. It's very clear. Holding on to other's sin, that creates bitterness. Holding on to Christ creates joy and a desire to rejoice in that forgiveness and to then let it pour out into forgiving others. Let us consider how these two marks of hypocrisy, if inspected today, would we be seen as a people who pray with faith and pray with an eager forgiveness? Are we going to cry out, Hosanna, save me as a sinner? Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you for your Son, We thank you for this plan of salvation that, that is clear from all of Scripture, that you have orchestrated in your power, in your love. You've brought to a, a clear point of, of power in Jesus Christ. He's come to reign. He's come to help us see sin and to be forgiven. He's come to give us instructions so we know how to worship you. Lord, may this Word be a challenge to us, to hear it, to receive it, enlighten the eyes of our hearts so we would recognize sin, to put it off, help us, Lord, to see sin as forgiven, so that we would desire that kind of prayer life that is not hindered by a lack of forgiveness. We thank you that you forgive us and you're patient with us. Lead us to repentance, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.