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As you're being seated, if you turn with me to mark Chapter 11.
And what a joy to sing Hallelujah.
What a savior, isn't he? It should boggle our minds when
we think about Christ Jesus coming to set us free from our
sins, worthless, helpless, guilty, undone.
Broken, vile sinners and he would shed his own blood for you
and I. As we turn to Mark 11, I want to
just kind of bring to light some of you may know, some of you may
not know and that's OK. This is what is traditionally
this Sunday has been observed as Palm Sunday.
Today I want to look at what this is all about.
Palm Sunday or the triumphant entry of Jesus into the city of
Jerusalem. And as we read our passage, I
want us to think along the lines of this.
This was a tragic entry for some, but let's begin reading in
verse one of Mark 11. It says as they approached
Jerusalem. And came to Bethpage and Bethany
at the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of his disciples
saying to them, go to the village ahead of you, and just
as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there which no one has
ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.
If anyone asks you why are you doing this, say the Lord needs
it and we'll send it back here shortly.
They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied it a
doorway, and as they united it, some people standing their ass.
What are you doing and tying that colt?
They answered as Jesus had told him to do, and the people let
them go. And when they brought the colt
to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it.
And many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others
spread branches they had cut in the fields.
Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted 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 heaven. Jesus entered Jerusalem and went
into the temple courts. He looked around at everything,
but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the
12. The next day as they were
leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry.
Seeing in the distance of fig tree and leaf, he went to find
out if it had any fruit. And when he reached it, he found
nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.
And he said to the tree, May no one ever eat fruit from you
again. And his disciples heard him say
it. On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus
entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were
buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the
money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and
would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple
courts. And as he taught them, he said,
Is it not written? My house will be called a House
of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of
robbers. The chief priests and teachers
of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him,
for they feared him because the whole crowd was amazed at his
teaching. When evening came, Jesus and his
disciples went out of the city in the morning.
As they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the
roots. Peter remembered and said to
Jesus, Rabbi, look, the fig tree you cursed has withered.
Have faith in God. Jesus answered.
Would you go to the Lord in prayer with me?
Father, we thank you so much for your perfect word.
Lord, this morning we confess our need for Your help and
understanding Your Word. Would You enlighten our minds to
the truth? Would you help us to see
marvelous things in Your Word today?
And may you change us by it for Your glory alone.
And in Your Son's precious holy name we pray.
And we all said together, Amen. Most of us know this in this
time of year, the Easter season, the Passion Week time.
There's much buzz around the crucifixion and resurrection of
the Lord Jesus. The churches fill, and I want to
just remind you next week would be a good idea to show up a
little early to ease with the parking situation.
That's just a wise word of caution and Thanksgiving.
Praise God, Amen. But all around the country and
probably all around the world, there are churches that record
high attendance. And in today's day and age,
there's something else that's happening.
Not only are churches filling, but your social media feeds are
filling with invites to said churches.
Most of them I find extremely disturbing, and you probably do
as well. I am very simple.
I find it a little odd that churches advertise we're having
an Easter service this Sunday. Duh.
What are you doing the other 51 Sundays?
We're having a Lords Day service.
But I've observed something disturbing about some of these
announcements and some of these invitations, some of these
advertisements. Some of you have joined with me
and are shared disdain, disgust, lack of reverence, all of those
things. And what it really, really boils
down to is this. We're disgusted by the lack of
understanding and the minimizing of the reality and purpose of
the death and resurrection of our Lord.
These advertisements are coming after your children with candy
and food and fun in games and what that really boils down to
is a lot of churches hold and hire esteem fun and Easter eggs
and candy and food than the resurrection of our Lord.
That shouldn't be so we might conclude about this.
That's a tragedy that that, that is an utter tragedy that anyone
claiming the name of Christ would let his resurrection and
victorious finished work on the cross.
Be a side note till we want you to come and enjoy this time and
not in all of that. When we look at the beginning of
Passion Week in Mark 11, we see another tragedy.
We see another group of people who see King Jesus cry out in
praise and adoration to King Jesus, but they tragically
missed the point. I want to suggest to us as we
follow along in our text, 3 reasons why this entry for these
individuals here was no triumphant injury, but entry.
This was a tragic entry. Three simple reasons why.
First reason why is because they seemed to get it.
They really seemed to get it the first several verses, verses one
through 11 in the beginning of this we see that something
happening when you're familiar with the story Jesus telling his
disciples to go and find the cult of the donkey tied where
it's going to be tied at this specific house and even
answering any objections you might receive.
Tell them that the Lord has need of it.
And all of it happens providentially as the Lord has
already laid out. We serve a God who goes before
we serve a God who has already planned out all the details
because he has ordained the end from the beginning and all the
means therein. We serve a sovereign God.
Amen and all knowing God. But in this, I don't want to
focus on the the donkey. I don't want to focus even on
the Providence of God, though those are amazing facets of this
narrative. I want to look at those who are
there, those that are there, they really seem to get it
because on the surface they practiced correct doxology.
Look with me in verse 8, if you will.
And we begin our service every Sunday by singing what Praise
God, from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him, all creatures here below.
Why do we do that? It's so that we can rightly set
our attention and focus where it should be.
That is on praising the Almighty Triune God.
That's doxology. That's praise.
They are giving a doxology. They spread their cloaks on the
road. They spread branches they've cut
in the fields. Here's what they're doing.
They are praising or giving a doxology in a welcoming of a
king. They're welcoming not just
anybody. They're welcoming not just a
teacher. They are welcoming a king when
they throw their cloaks on the road.
This was a practice in the Old Testament.
They welcomed King Jehu like this in Second Kings 9 verse 13.
They quickly took their cloaks, spread them under him on the
bare steps. Then they blew trumpets and
shouted Jehu is king. The psalms are full of psalms
that we know as enthronement. Psalms that place God rightfully
where He is due in the praise that he is due due to due to due
to the position that He holds as king.
I think of Psalm 2 where we should kiss the son lest he be
angry for his anger. His wrath could flare up in a
moment where Jesus, we know this is the King of kings.
There is no king that submits to him.
There is. There is no king that he submits
to. Rather there is no Lord that he
answers to. He is King of kings, He is Lord
of Lords, and he's rightly do that praise or rightly do that
doxology. We see even modern hymns or
somewhat modern hymns, crown hymn with many crowns.
Crown him the Lord of life, because that's who he is.
The people seem to recognize this is a king and they wave
palm branches signifying praise. John's gospel tells us that's
what they were doing. That's hence the name Palm
Sunday. But we can conclude there's
obvious praise happening for Jesus.
They are elated. They are glad to see him.
He is marching in as they are worshipping their Messiah.
That's what's happening. We read verse 9.
They say Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming Kingdom of
her father David Hosanna in the highest heaven.
Now let me give you this bit of information.
You probably know this. If you don't, welcome learn.
Everything that calls itself worship is not true worship.
Just because you attach the word worship doesn't mean that God is
pleased with that. Amen.
Now let me help you with a little practice as well.
Turn on today's Christian hits on your Spotify or Apple Music
or turn on Christian radio or whatever and just either look at
the lyrics or listen to them and begin to scrutinize them
biblically. You will grow in biblical
discernment and you will realize very quickly, wow, there's a lot
of off about Christian worship music.
And so I want us to do this. I want you and I this morning to
scrutinize the worship music. That they're singing.
The song that they sing in verse 9 and verse 10, won't you look
at me? Look, look with me there.
Because on the surface, I think we're going to conclude that
they actually profess correct theology.
Their doxology's right on the surface.
Their theology's right on the surface.
Look what they're proclaiming when they say hosanna.
What that literally means is save us now.
And who are they saying this to? Jesus the Savior, the King, the
Messiah. They say blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord. Now, just looking at that at
first glance, we might say, wow, that's beautiful.
They they are recognizing that he's coming in the name of the
Lord. They're blessing him, but
they're actually quoting Scripture.
They're quoting Psalm 118, verse 25 and 26.
This is the end of a group of psalms known as the Halal, and
the Jews would sing these psalms and recite these psalms during
the Passover. Week, which is exactly where
they are right now. You.
Know what the word? Halal means in Hebrew, it means
praise they're praising. Jesus and look, they they say in
this Psalm 11825 Lord save us, Lord grant us success.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord from the House
of the Lord, we will bless you. And let me ask you a question.
If you're scrutinizing worship lyrics and all you find in said
worship song is scripture, should you like it, yes or no,
That's a good one. If it's all scripture, Amen,
because all scripture is God breathes, is useful for
correcting, for teaching, for training in righteousness, so
that you, the servant of God, may be thoroughly equipped for
every good work. Worship songs, all scripture.
Great. Their worship songs, all
scripture, they keep going. There's some good theology here.
Blessed is the coming of our Father.
David, it's not on the surface surface of Bible verse, but
they're saying something deep. They understood this, that the
Messiah, the Christ, their deliverer would come from the
line of David, a kingly line. And they say blessed is the
coming of our Father David. Jesus is from the line of David.
They might have been thinking some verses to back up their
claim. Jeremiah, 3315.
In those days and at that time, I will make a righteous branch
sprout from David's line. He will do what is just and
right in the land. In those days Judah will be
saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called the Lord, our
righteous Savior. The branch is there, and they
are singing praise to the branch of David's line.
Ezekiel 3423 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant
David, and he will tend them. Oh, isn't he a Good Shepherd?
He will tend them. He will be their shepherd.
I the Lord will be their God. My servant David will be Prince
among them. Ezekiel 3724 My servant David
will be king over them. They will all have one shepherd.
They will follow My laws. Be careful to keep my decrees.
They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the
land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and
their children's children will live there forever.
And David my servant will be their Prince forever.
Another verse you might just equate to a Christmas verse.
Isaiah 9 verse 6 For to us a child is born, to us the son is
given. The government will be on his
shoulders. He will be called wonderful
counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace, of the greatness of his government and peace.
There will be no end. He will reign on David's throne
and over his Kingdom, establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness. From that time on and forever,
the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
They're watching all of this unfold before their eyes and
they're praising the one who's doing it, all while seeing him
ride on the cult of a donkey, which by the way, Zechariah 9,
verse 9 wrote hundreds of years before that shout, daughter
Jerusalem, see, your king comes to you righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
And they say blessed is the coming of our Father David.
This is a deeply theological praise to Jesus the Messiah.
And they completed Hosanna in the highest heaven, simply
meaning this save now, O God who is in heaven, the God of heaven
is before them on the donkey. And they're saying, save us now,
O God in heaven. Is this biblically accurate?
All of it. But when we dig a little deeper,
when we examine what happens after this around this, we
realize though they seem to be biblically accurate in their
praise, they were spiritually dead.
On the surface, you don't see it Just in those verses, you take
that out of context, you say, wow, these people really get it.
These people really know how to worship.
These people really know how to praise, but their praise was
coming from a spiritually dead mouth.
In verse 11, Jesus goes into Jerusalem.
Goes in the temple courts. He looked around at everything,
but it was already. Late.
He went out to Bethany with the 12.
It's a Sunday night. On Monday morning.
He goes back to Jerusalem from Bethany where they were staying.
Luke gives us a little insight about what Jesus said when he
looked over the city. Aren't you thankful that we
didn't just get one account of Jesus's life and miniature?
We have 4 perfect ones. Praise God, Luke writes in Luke
1941. As he Jesus approached Jerusalem
and saw the city, he wept over it and said if you even you had
only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now
it is hidden from your eyes, you have missed it.
And because of this he pronounces the Romans
destruction of Jerusalem. In verse 44, He said they will
not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize
the time of God's coming to you. You didn't recognize the one
before you. Now wait a minute, didn't it
seem like they had recognized the one who's coming?
Didn't it seem like here he is? Yeah, but they were spiritually
dead. And they were spiritually dead.
Deceptively so. That's why it seemed like they
got it. Jesus goes to Jerusalem in verse
12 from Bethany. Jesus was hungry.
I love that Mark adds that because it just reminds us yet
again that Jesus is fully human because humans hunger.
Amen. Right about 11:30.
And so seeing in the distance a fig tree and leaf.
He went to find out if it had any fruit.
When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves because it
was not the season for figs. I want to examine this because
when we get hungry, we get our fancy iPhones and we go to the
McDonald's app and we order 3 Mcdoubles and when we get there
we tell them the code. That's when we're hungry.
Maybe you should stop thinking about doing that.
So much less McDonald's, more figs.
Be like Jesus. But when Jesus gets hungry, he
sees a fig tree. Fig trees were very common.
He knew what he was looking at, but he knew what he was looking
for. Because he's hungry.
He's looking for what do you think?
Food. He sees a fig tree.
This fig tree is unlike some of the other fig trees.
This fig tree is in leaf. This period fig tree has leaves
on it. And you and I in 21st century
America say big deal. 1st century Judea, that was a big
deal because early in the spring fig trees would blossom small
little pieces of fruit that were edible.
There were no leaves yet. Later on in the spring, leaves
would come after the small fruit.
And when the leaves came, it was a sign that there was larger
fruit either on the vine or about to be on the vine that you
could eat. And just so we understand this,
when Jesus sees leaves, dinner bell, because there's at least
something on this fig tree that can satisfy his hunger.
And so he walks up to the fig tree to pick figs to eat, and he
finds that his fig tree had nothing but leaves.
Never seen that before. Because if a fig tree had leaves
on it, it stands to reason it's already got some fruit.
And Mark adds us, adds us this. Detail for us.
It wasn't that someone had already picked these figs,
because it wasn't even the time for fig harvest.
So nobody had gone before him and picked these fig trees,
these figs, and ravaged all the fruit.
There was something dreadfully wrong with this tree.
This tree had every sign that there should have been fruit
outwardly, but inwardly there was something especially wrong
with this fig tree. It wasn't producing any fruit,
though the signs on the outside made it seem to look like.
There was fruit. Don't be deceived.
There are many things that call themselves spiritual life that
pose as having real spirituality.
But inwardly they are dead. They'll say things like this.
Wow, the worship at that place was just alive.
Their fervor in praising God was beautiful.
It sounded amazing. They talked in such a way that
was. Wow.
But it can be inwardly fruitless and dead.
It can sound great. The songs that these guys were
singing, Hosanna Blessed is the coming of Our Father David
sounded great to the years. Just like this fig tree looked
great to the eyes, it looked like it would bear fruit, but
when you examined it more closely, there was no real life.
The people shouting Hosanna, they seemed to get it, but their
hearts were bad. If you just take this fig tree
instance, and if you just take the coming of Jesus on a donkey
and you take them as separate accounts, you're going to miss
the whole point. This all goes hand in hand.
Are you getting this, that there is a group of people that look
alive but there's no real fruit because in Mark 15 some of these
people are going to shout crucify him, crucify him in just
a couple of days. How things have switched up.
But had it really switched up? Or has your heart always been
bad? Jesus looked at this fig tree
and there's no fruit. Can you and I be warned by this?
I care about your everlasting soul.
When I read things in Scripture where Jesus speaks very bluntly,
many will say to me on that day, did not I do this?
Did not I do that? Did not I do this and Jesus
says, I will tell them plainly depart from me, for I never knew
you. That's going to be said about a
lot of people who look like in this life they have spiritual
life, that it looks like they have the fruit of salvation, but
their spiritual life is nothing but leaves.
There was a man that travelled with Jesus name Judas.
He was nothing but leaves and in John's gospel we get a little
glimpse into his heart when Jesus was being anointed by Mary
Magdalene with the expensive bottle of perfume.
Judas protests. He says why wasn't this perfume
sold and the money given to the poor?
It was worth a year's wages. On the surface, doesn't that
sound so spiritual? We could have used this.
For ministry, Jesus. But he didn't say this because
he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief.
As keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was
put into it for Judas. You know who life was about
Judas. For many American Christians.
You know who life is about them. It's the same.
Sinful plight of man that we see here in the spiritual deadness
of those who cry out hosanna, hosanna.
They come to church and they want something for myself.
They wanted Jesus to rid them of Roman oppression.
They wanted Jesus to squash Roman tyranny and set up his
Kingdom right then and there. That's why they cried out
Hosanna, blessed is the coming of our Father David.
They wanted an earthly king. Many professing Christians want
earthly blessings. They pick a church by what it
can do for them, what it can offer for us and our children.
What can I gain from this? How will this help me?
How will this make me a better person?
What can this God do for me? If you have that attitude, you
have the attitude of a spiritual dead person because it's not
about you and it's not about me. It's about the one on the bowl
of a donkey. They were deceptively.
Dead looking like they had life, but their deadness was decidedly
so. Look at verse 14.
He said to the tree, May no one ever eat fruit from you again.
And his disciples heard him say it.
Jesus curses the dead tree. The big question you and I
should ask, And sometimes we're lazy to not ask this question in
our daily Bible reading. When we're reading through the
Bible, we're reading to the New Testament and we get to the
triumphant entry and you say, oh, that's good.
And we get let's, let's get to the more meaty stuff.
Oh, he's rebuking people. That's great.
Forget about the fig tree business.
What's all that about? Oh, he dies, resurrects.
Great. OK, let's move on.
Don't miss this. Don't miss the need to pose the
question of why did Jesus curse this fig tree?
When we understand spiritual deadness, that makes a whole lot
of sense why he cursed the tree. It's because this tree was
deceptive in what it offered. All inside it was dead and
fruitless. Jesus wasn't just being harsh to
just show his omnipotence over nature to both create and also
curse, though He has both. Jesus is not just angry or
stressed out and lashing out on this poor pitiful, pitiful,
pitiful fig tree because he's got a rough week ahead of him.
This is a calculated step, and Mark tells us it's a calculated
step and it's calculated words that he used because when Jesus
curses the fig tree, the disciples heard him say it.
And Mark lets us know the disciples heard him say it.
This in the grand scheme, was an object lesson for the people of
Israel, the people that cried out Hosanna.
Jesus likens them in this text to this fig tree, and he curses
them, never to bear fruit again. He hardens them, He blinds them
further turns them over to reprobation.
I'm not making this up that the nation of Israel was likened to
a fig tree in scripture. In many places you can look at
Hosea 9 verse 10, Zechariah 3 verse 10, and many others as
well. And he uses this as a figure so
that they'll see and realize, Oh no, this praise was really
false. This reception was really fake,
phony. So because they.
Seem to have. Life, but really didn't have
life. They were all sovereignly
judged. The third reason why this is
such a tragedy is their judgement that was prompted by
their own sin. They deserve the judgement
coming. They deserve the turning over.
Because they were sinful at heart.
Now did Jesus know they were sinful at heart?
Yes or no? Yes, He just knew.
He knows all things. Fig tree proves they're really
sinful at heart. They display it by their further
actions, shouting crucify him, crucify him a few days later.
But in verse 15, I want us to know the judgement of Jesus.
Verse 15 he enters the temple courts and begins driving out
those who were buying and selling.
He overturns the tables of the money changers and the benches
of those selling doves. Jesus goes to the center of
Jewish worship. He attacks the leaders because
it's always the leaders fault. He attacks them right at the
core. And he goes into the temple
courts and he begins driving everyone out, turning over
tables, stopping traffic. But we need to get some context
because this is a bigger picture than just see.
Jesus used justified anger right there.
Jesus flipped tables so I can lose it on someone too.
And it's OK. That's not the point.
The context is much bigger. And I was I will suggest to you
that it's much more evil than you could even imagine just
reading it. Here we are in Passover.
Week. In Jerusalem, there would have
been people from all over the known world coming there to the
temple to offer sacrifices unto God.
They could have been Gentile converts to Judaism.
They could be. Jews that were.
By birth and scattered over the known world.
But they were coming back during this week to offer sacrifices to
God. Now God wouldn't just allow any
old sacrifice. It had to be by his prescribed
means. It had to be an unblemished
sacrifice, typically a lamb or, or or a goat or something of the
sort. And if they were traveling far,
they ran the risk of their animal being injured and it's no
longer blemished. They ran the risk of have their
having their animal die and it's no longer even there.
They ran the risk of having their animal being stolen or
taken away or something like that.
So when they got to Jerusalem, after the long journey, this
land that they'd made sure that was unblemished and fine and
perfect and suitable for sacrifice, it would no longer be
such. So it was a huge risk that they
could take. And So what?
The temple. Temple people would have done.
They would have set up kind of a farm system to sell animals that
were unblemished and pre approved for sacrifice.
And so if you and your family were traveling from far away,
you come to Jerusalem. Instead of traveling with your
lamb or your goat, you could just buy one there.
But Mark tells us there was something else going on.
Jesus flipped the tables of those selling doves.
Leviticus 5 or 7. Let's do this first.
Anyone who cannot afford a lamb is to bring 2 doves or two young
pigeons to the Lord as a penalty for their sin.
The doves were options. For poor people, they weren't
just setting up a business empire, they were setting up a
business empire that exploited the poor.
And Jesus is angry at this. This will not fly in his
father's house. But they were those guys and
they were money changers as well.
Because if you came from a Roman realms, you came from a Greek
realm, you would have had Greek coinage or Roman coinage.
When you came to the to the Jerusalem Temple, they would not
allow any old coinage. You had to use Jewish coinage.
And when you exchange the money, they inflated the exchange rate
to probably around 10 to 12% so that they would make more money
out of exchanging your money so that you can buy their
sacrifices. And then there was also the off
chance that you brought your lamb and the priest said not
good enough, you have to buy one of ours.
They. Are making gobs of money in this
industry in the name of worship of Yahweh.
Then Jesus slips the tables. Then Jesus drives them out.
What's going on out there? And also in the temple court,
the court of the Gentiles in the outer area, Jesus begins
stopping traffic because what they were doing, they were using
it as a shortcut to travel throughout the city instead of
going around completely profaning the temple of God by
their irreverence. And Jesus will have none of it.
And he completely stops traffic during this time and he sits
down to teach them and He teaches them as it is written.
We can learn from Jesus. We don't have anything to teach
except for what is written. And he directly quotes Isaiah 56
verse 7. My house will be called a House
of prayer. Ironically, this is a Kingdom
prophecy of the future Messianic Kingdom yet to be fulfilled.
The Jews are praising their incoming king and his Kingdom to
come, but Jesus uses a Kingdom prophecy to rebuke them about
not being Kingdom people. They want a king, they want a
Kingdom, but they don't want to act like people of the king.
They want the benefits from Jesus, but they don't really
want to submit to Jesus. They want to call themselves
Christians, but they don't want to act like 1 and then quotes
Jeremiah 711. This house which bears my name
become a den of robbers to you. But I have been watching,
declares the Lord. That's the whole verse.
They'd have remembered that the Lord is watching their own sin
and the sin that they think that they're so craftily hiding in
their din, their robbers din. The Lord has exposed it and it's
all laid bare before him. And they do like they do so
often and have done so often, they become inflamed with anger,
wanting to kill him. This is not the first time.
First time we see in Mark's gospel is in chapter 3, verse 6,
where they want to arrest Jesus. They begin plotting with the
Pharisees and the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
We know on many occasions they tried to seize Jesus and arrest
him, but it was not his time. Now's the time.
This is the last plan. This is the final straw.
They have just been turned over to their wickedness and this
very week they're going to arrest and kill Jesus.
They had flirted with unbelief. They had flirted with hypocrisy,
They had flirted with false religion for far too long and
anyone that does that is one step away from being turned over
from to their own wicked heart to do what is unspeakable.
Don't think you're above this. We look at this and say how can
they crucify Jesus? How can you remain in your
unbelief and even pose that question?
Because you're one step away from it.
This judgement was prompted by their sin.
It's their fault, it's not Jesus.
And it's proven by the withered tree.
If you and I are going to understand a lot of Mark, we
need to understand what's known as the sandwich method of
storytelling or narrative. You'd have this, You have the
first part of the sandwich. You might love sandwiches.
It's noon. Of course we love sandwiches.
You have the. First layer of bread kind of
lays the foundation in this story.
This is the entry of Jesus. We get it.
We're ingrained into what's going on the inner Jerusalem,
but then there's another piece. Mark will kind of flash forward.
There's a fig tree. There's part of the sandwich.
OK, this doesn't make sense. We've got an entry.
We've got a fig. Tree.
But then we put the pieces of the sandwich together when we
read verse 19, and all of this will make sense.
When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out over the city
in the morning as they went along.
They saw the fig tree withered. From the roots, there's the
other side of the sandwich. It's coming.
Together, Peter remembered and said to Jesus, Rabbi, look, the
fig tree you cursed has withered.
Don't miss what Mark's doing. Mark's bringing it all together
so that you'll see the false spiritual life of those who seem
to get it. You will see the fig tree as an
object lesson of their fake life.
And you will see the judgement of Jesus overturning the tables
and the story of the fig tree there withered from the roots.
All of it to make the point that this is a tragedy and they have
missed their Messiah and they are sovereignly judged and
cursed by Him. Many are sadly in danger of the
same. Just as the people who sang.
Hosanna, you know and even proclaim Orthodox Christianity.
You love theology self. Admittedly, you might even love
singing songs of praise. You might even practice
spiritual discernment where you scrutinize real worship from
true worship according to the Bible.
You may can walk circles around everyone in your small group
with Bible knowledge, but inwardly be spiritually dead and
fruitless. And Jesus shows us here that
that is nothing to play with. You can have all of that and be
dead to a love for the true Jesus and all of it's worth
nothing if you don't have that. And this becomes so obvious in
this Easter time period season. Churches fill advertisements, go
out appealing to people about what they can get, what can
attract them, so that they'll come to our service.
So they'll try to come to church again, so they'll do something
different, so they'll do something good for their family
and mental health. It'll make me a better husband
or dad or wife or just a better person.
If I go to church, statistically I'll have less anxiety.
Those are wrong reasons. Those are wonderful benefits,
but those are wrong reasons to come to Jesus.
Those are wrong reasons to come to church.
It's not about us, and when you think, it's about you.
You're just like these people who see Jesus come, who see his
entry into Jerusalem as king, and it's a tragic entry for
them. This is not the last time Jesus
will enter Jerusalem. This is not the last time that
He will come from the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem.
Zechariah 14, verse 4. On that day in the future, his
feet will stand on the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem, and
the Mount of Olives will be sweded to from east to West,
forming a great valley with half of the mountain moving north and
half moving, moving South. Then the Lord my God will come.
He's coming back. He will enter one more time.
And John writes in Revelation 19 about this entry.
Verse 11, I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a
White Horse, no donkey, a White Horse whose rider is called
faithful and true. With justice He judges and wages
war. That's the one who's coming.
Verse 15 Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword.
With which to strike down the nation's he will rule them with
an iron scepter he treads the winepress of the fury of the
wrath of God almighty he is making sure all of God's wrath
is squashed out by this future coming he's going to destroy all
wicked men, all evil. Verse 21 The rest were killed
with a sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse,
and all the birds gorge themselves on their flesh.
There will be no hosanna, there will be no blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord at this return.
There will be fury, there will be fire, there will be
destruction, there will be wrath, there will be death.
But for us who know this one on the horse, who'll be with him in
victory, and this will not be a tragic entry.
This will be a triumphant entry. One will be rule and reign with
this king forever, but for those who he's coming to destroy, this
will be more tragic than the first so.
How can you avoid this being a? Tragedy for you, the only way is
by a supernatural salvation, the absolute only way, A
supernatural salvation that births real faith after all of
this. After Peter says look the fig
tree you cursed it's wizard. Note what Jesus says and also
what he doesn't say. He doesn't say Go to church
more, learn more, speak more, sing louder.
Jesus answered, Have faith in God.
Have faith in God. Now why did he say that?
It's because those who they had just seen cursed and judged and
withered, they had 0 faith. There's our scripture reading a
moment ago. The Lord says these people come
to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their
hearts are far from me because they had no faith.
And Jesus tells his disciples have faith in God, it is too
late for them. It is not too late for you have
faith in God now. He tells them something that
they cannot do. They cannot have faith on their
own. Faith is a sovereign gift of
God. You don't muster it up.
You don't try harder. God gifts saving faith to people
who are otherwise dead in their sin.
Dead people don't have faith. Cursed withered fig trees don't
have faith. Jesus tells them.
Have faith in God. Have faith in what specifically?
Just trust God that the season's going to end and he's going to
pull you through. That's not what he's saying.
He's calling them to have supernatural faith in what he's
about to. Do you see the people who were
dead? They wanted Jesus to do
something for them that'll benefit them here on this earth.
Jesus is about to do something this week that far outweighs
anything they could ever ask or imagine.
He is about to go to the cross willingly as a Good Shepherd who
lays down his life for the sheep.
And he is about to bear all of the sin of every single person
who will believe in him. All of God's people to gather
them from all tribes and tongues and languages.
To bring them into the family of God by His atoning death on the
cross. He's about to pay for all of our
sin. He's about to pay for all of the
sin of those who have faith in Him.
You can't grasp that without a supernatural work.
I can't make this make sense to people on my own efforts.
You can't make it make sense to you.
While you would base everything in all eternity on the fact that
one man died on a Roman cross, and that one man's death is the
satisfaction of God's wrath for all of our sin, that does not
compute with the natural mind. It only computes.
To those who have saving faith. It only computes and makes sense
to us who love Jesus. And why do we love him?
Because He first loved us. Why do we trust that His death
covered all of our sins? Because His word says it.
Why do we believe His word is true if we didn't see any of
this? It's because God has given us
faith to see and believe that this, this event is the most
important event in all of history.
Or the Son of God was crucified for me and this entry.
Was to go to that cross on that hill, to bear my sin, to bear
your sin, and because you have faith in this, that is
everything to you. How do we see someone riding on
a donkey and then dying as a helpless criminal on a cursed
tree? It's foolishness to the world.
How do we see that as our own salvation?
It's because God gives new birth, Jesus says in John 3.
Unless you be born again, you'll never enter the Kingdom of
heaven. Unless you're born again, you
will never have faith in God. Unless you're born again, you
will never see the triumph of the cross, the power of the
cross. And if you don't see the triumph
and power of the cross, you are spiritually dead.
If the cross is not everything to you, Jesus is nothing to you.
Quit fooling yourself. This faith is not just Yeah, I
trust in Jesus. I I believe he died.
Yeah, I understand that. This faith is not like Israel's
faith. This faith is not like the fig
tree with nothing but leaves. This faith bears real, lasting
fruit. You have new loves.
You have new desires. You have new actions.
You have an entirely new life when you're made alive in
Christ. An example of heart change we
see in John 19, there's two men. One were introduced to, one were
reintroduced to in John. One of them is Joseph of
Arimathea, who when Jesus dies, he asked for his body so that he
can honor him in death and give him a proper Jewish burial.
He takes along with him another man named Nicodemus, who were
both secretly followers of Jesus.
And they wrapped the body and they laid it in the tomb to
honor their king, to honor their Savior, to honor their Lord.
That's not flashy, not in your face, but it's real, It's
genuine. It's a heart change.
Real saving faith sees the beauty of Christ's death.
It drives everything you do. It's why you wake up.
It's why you have peace in a world full of turmoil because
Christ bore my sin on the cross. It's why you desire to live a
holy life, because Christ died to make me holy.
It's why you meet with God's people, because God sent His Son
to die for them as well. And we're going to be in heaven
with them for all eternity. I love them.
It's why you hate sin and battle sin in your life, because it was
sin that sent your Savior to the cross, and you hate it and you
run from it. You know when you see this,
friend, when Jesus's death is precious to you?
That can only be explained one way, because an Almighty God has
supernaturally made it precious to you, to where you now see
Jesus as your Savior, your King, your Lord, your salvation, your
hope, your Lover, your groom. I pray that God would fill empty
hearts, would raise dead sinners, would shower his love
and mercy upon those who have no love and don't understand the
mercy of God in Christ. All their religion is outer.
Pray only God would breathe life into your soul, and the wind of
the Spirit of God would awaken you to see this King, to see his
victory at the cross and have faith in God.
God, we ask that you would do that.
Lord, may you fill us with awe and wonder and amazement that
you would love sinners such as I and that you would save us and
you would use us. You would redeem us.
God, I ask that you would help us to bask in the wonder and
glory that our Savior would willingly die for us.
Bear our sin, to bear our wrath. And Lord, may our lives be
lived. In light of that, we thank you.
It's in Jesus name, Amen. And listen to Key Life
Fellowships Pulpit ministry podcast.
Join us each week for more teaching from God's Word.