1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:04,560 For many people today, the only way we will regard someone else 2 00:00:04,560 --> 00:00:09,000 as loving is if they unconditionally affirm 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:14,080 everything about us. Total acceptance, no judgement, 4 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:19,680 only support. Of course, no one wants to be 5 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:22,680 friends with someone who criticizes everything they do, 6 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:29,520 but the demand for unconditional acceptance actually blocks out 7 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:34,800 some of the most important ways in which someone else can love 8 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:40,480 you. Love seeks the good of the 9 00:00:40,480 --> 00:00:46,840 beloved, and very often we harm ourselves. 10 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:52,760 We're self deceived. We often live in a hall of 11 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:57,680 mirrors built by our own distorted desires. 12 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:03,440 When someone who loves you sees that, what will they do? 13 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:08,320 Two things. First, they're going to try to 14 00:01:08,320 --> 00:01:11,800 help you see what they see. They're going to try to help you 15 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:16,360 see what's wrong. Even though it's risky, Even 16 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:19,640 though it's uncomfortable, Even though you might not like it, 17 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:25,160 Even though you and your anger might end your friendship over 18 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:28,320 it. If they really love you, they'll 19 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:35,360 try to show you what they see. And then second, they're going 20 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:39,280 to try to help you change. They don't want to leave you in 21 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:43,800 that trap, that deception, that hall of mirrors built by your 22 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:47,360 own desire. They want to help you find a way 23 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:50,080 out. Imagine you have a close friend 24 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:53,000 who is wasting away through a drug addiction. 25 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:55,720 You're deeply grieved by what you see. 26 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:58,680 Every time you see them, they're diminished. 27 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:02,240 They're doing worse and worse, physically, emotionally, 28 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,640 spiritually. You can watch them fall apart in 29 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:10,479 real time. What does love want for them? 30 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:13,520 Love wants freedom from addiction. 31 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:18,000 Love wants their flourishing, which means love will seek to 32 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:22,560 wake them up to what they are doing to themselves, Love will 33 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:25,440 seek to wake them up to how bad their situation really is. 34 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:31,240 Love will pronounce judgement, and love will seek to bring 35 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:37,360 change. Often we think of anger and love 36 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:42,680 as opposites, but anger isn't necessarily the opposite of 37 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:45,400 love. Hatred is. 38 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:56,040 Anger can be constructive, and hatred can take the form of 39 00:02:56,040 --> 00:03:00,680 indifference. The least loving thing you can 40 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:06,320 do for someone who is evidently harming themselves is not care, 41 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:10,880 not bother, not try to change anything with them. 42 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:17,080 If someone is destroying themselves, love will get angry. 43 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:24,960 Love will stand against the lie that deceives the desire that 44 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:34,640 enslaves the sin that destroys. Love will stand against the sin 45 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:43,240 for the good of the Sinner. What happens when Jesus meets 46 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:48,320 people who are self deceived? People who think they're doing 47 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:50,840 everything God wants but are doing precisely the opposite? 48 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:56,960 He loves them, and his love expresses itself in constructive 49 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:03,280 anger. His love leads him to pronounce 50 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:11,280 judgement, His love leads him to warn of coming consequences, and 51 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:18,640 his love leads him to point the way to true life with God, a 52 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:23,280 life that only he can give. This morning we continue our 53 00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:26,920 series in Mark's Gospel with Chapter 11, verses 12 to 25. 54 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:29,040 If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand and somebody 55 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,040 will bring you on. This passage is one of the most 56 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:34,960 dramatic incidents in the gospel. 57 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:38,480 If your view of Jesus is that he sits around wearing a kind of 58 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:42,040 soft robe and has a little glowing Halo over his head and 59 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:48,000 it cuddles lambs, you're about to meet a very different Jesus. 60 00:04:48,840 --> 00:04:53,800 Please follow along. As I read Mark 11 verses 12 to 61 00:04:53,800 --> 00:05:01,120 25, on the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was 62 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:04,880 hungry, and seeing in the distance a fig tree and leaf, he 63 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:07,320 went to see if he could find anything on it. 64 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,720 When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was 65 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:16,160 not the season for figs. And he said to it, May no one 66 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:25,040 ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard it, and 67 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:28,720 they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and 68 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:32,480 began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the 69 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:35,600 temple. And he overturned the tables of 70 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:38,840 the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 71 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:44,120 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the 72 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:48,720 temple. And he was teaching them and 73 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:51,720 saying to them, Is it not written? 74 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:56,480 My house shall be called a House of prayer for all the nations, 75 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:01,000 But you have made it a den of robbers. 76 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:05,600 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it, and were 77 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:11,360 seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all 78 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:15,080 the crowd was astonished at his teaching. 79 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:19,840 And when evening came they went out of the city. 80 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,520 As they passed by in the morning they saw the fig tree withered 81 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:28,760 away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to 82 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:32,920 him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered. 83 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:37,640 And Jesus answered them, Have faith in God. 84 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:44,680 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain be taken 85 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:49,040 up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but 86 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:51,640 believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done 87 00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:55,080 for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever 88 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:57,720 you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will 89 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:01,440 be yours. And whenever you stand praying, 90 00:07:01,840 --> 00:07:07,200 forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your 91 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:13,560 Father also who is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses. 92 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:20,400 Last week we considered Jesus's approach to the city of 93 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:23,000 Jerusalem. This is a, a climactic moment 94 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:24,640 that the whole gospel has been building up to. 95 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:27,440 He's predicted it. He's resolutely pursued it. 96 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:31,480 He came to Jerusalem and then, as we saw in verse 11, he just 97 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:34,720 entered the temple, surveyed the scene, and left. 98 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:40,120 We saw that was an advance notice of his evaluating 99 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:44,360 everything taking place there with a view to future action. 100 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:47,800 Our chapter shows us the action he takes. 101 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:50,680 The main point of our passage is simple. 102 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:59,000 Jesus judges false worship and blesses true faith. 103 00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:06,200 Jesus judges false worship and blesses true faith. 104 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:08,280 There are two parts of our passage. 105 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:13,360 To put it most simply, in verses 12 to 21, Jesus is cursing of 106 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,680 the fig tree and his disruption in the temple. 107 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:21,000 Interpret each other. Each sheds light on the other. 108 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:25,160 And then in verses 22 to 25, Jesus teaches on the nature of 109 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:28,040 true faith. One of the most revealing tests 110 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:33,159 of faith is prayer, and so this whole passage is a contrast 111 00:08:33,159 --> 00:08:37,000 between false worship and true faith. 112 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:41,640 The sermon will have two points, false worship, true faith. 113 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:46,480 The first point will be much longer than the second point. 114 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:53,120 One, false worship. We'll see how Jesus judges false 115 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:56,960 worship in all of verses 12 to 21, beginning with verses 12 to 116 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:01,720 14. Looking out with me at those 117 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:04,520 verses. On the following day when they 118 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:07,960 came from Bethany, he was hungry, and seeing in the 119 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:12,360 distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if he could find 120 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:15,320 anything on it. When he came to it, he found 121 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:19,360 nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 122 00:09:19,680 --> 00:09:24,320 And he said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. 123 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:28,960 And his disciples heard it. This is a strange episode. 124 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:33,280 It has bothered many readers. Some have given it as a an 125 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:37,760 excuse, a reason rather, for not believing in Jesus, for being an 126 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:41,800 atheist. Is Jesus just being petty, 127 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:46,240 spiteful? If it wasn't the season for 128 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:50,080 figs, why was Jesus looking for figs? 129 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:53,480 And why did he have to kill the poor tree? 130 00:09:54,880 --> 00:10:00,920 What good did that do? There are two important keys 131 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:04,400 that help us understand Jesus's strange actions. 132 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:11,000 The 1st is that he is performing a prophetic sign act. 133 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:16,720 Jesus is more than a prophet, but he is a prophet, and 134 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:21,040 sometimes prophets perform actions that have symbolic 135 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:23,920 significance. You can think of it as a parable 136 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:28,040 in actions rather than a parable in words. 137 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:32,080 One famous example in the Old Testament, in Ezekiel chapter 4, 138 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:36,400 the Lord has the prophet Ezekiel build a sandbox sized model of 139 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:40,280 the city of Jerusalem and then lie on his side facing it for a 140 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:43,560 very long time. It's to symbolize the siege 141 00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:46,320 that's going to take place. You build up a mound against it 142 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:48,040 to breach the city and bring in an army. 143 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:51,360 Ezekiel lying there is symbolizing a foreign army 144 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:52,840 coming in and attacking the city. 145 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:56,280 It's a warning, a future judgment coming against 146 00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:59,000 Jerusalem. The Lord commissions his prophet 147 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:05,840 to depict that in his actions. The Old Testament prophets also 148 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:10,040 often use the metaphor of looking for fruit, but not 149 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:15,000 finding any to describe the Lord's displeasure with his 150 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:19,440 people's disobedience. Consider Jeremiah 813. 151 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:23,400 When I would gather them, declares the Lord, there are no 152 00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:26,720 grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree. 153 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:29,800 Even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed 154 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:34,120 away from them. So in our passage, Jesus is 155 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:37,240 genuinely hungry. He's drawn to the fig tree by 156 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:39,680 its appearance. He can see its leaves from far 157 00:11:39,680 --> 00:11:41,520 away. That's a promising sign. 158 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:45,200 Where you see leaves, you expect fruit. 159 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:50,920 But Jesus found no fruit. The appearance deceived. 160 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:54,280 The tree had leaves, but no fruit. 161 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:57,160 And so Jesus made an example of it. 162 00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:01,000 He pronounced a curse on it in the hearing of his disciples. 163 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:03,360 What is Jesus teaching his disciples? 164 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:08,400 Leaves without fruit brings judgement. 165 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:15,360 In our whole passage, Jesus is fulfilling the role of the Lord 166 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:20,560 who comes to inspect and evaluate his people's fruit. 167 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:23,560 Just as the Lord went looking for fruit in the lives of the 168 00:12:23,560 --> 00:12:28,000 people of Israel, so Jesus comes looking for fruit in the lives 169 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:31,880 of His people. The Lord has given His people 170 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:34,960 His law, His covenant, His temple, His sacrifices. 171 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:37,680 He has dwelt among them and provided for them and protected 172 00:12:37,680 --> 00:12:39,440 them. He's done everything you can ask 173 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:41,880 for in order to bring about a fruitful harvest of 174 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:43,560 righteousness. But what does He find? 175 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:49,640 No fruit. The second key to understanding 176 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:53,520 Jesus cursing of the fig tree is the structure of the passage and 177 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:56,720 the structure of Jesus actions. We we have to not consider this 178 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:01,240 episode in isolation. Instead it's like the bread in a 179 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:03,880 sandwich. Jesus is cursing the fig tree 180 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:07,760 forms a bracket around his action in the temple. 181 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:14,440 So here in verses 12 to 14, he inspects and curses the fig 182 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:18,600 tree. Then he previews divine judgment 183 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:22,480 in the temple. Then after that, in verses 20 184 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:24,840 and 21, look at those verses. We'll come back to the temple 185 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:29,480 part, verses 20 and 21. As they passed by in the 186 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:32,640 morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 187 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:36,120 And Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree 188 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:40,000 that you cursed has withered. So the disciples see that the 189 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,160 fig tree Jesus cursed is completely dead. 190 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:51,400 His curse proved effective. Fig tree, temple fig tree, The 191 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:53,960 fig tree and the temple interpret each other. 192 00:13:54,560 --> 00:13:59,040 The condition of the fig tree pictures the spiritual condition 193 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:02,040 of the temple. What's that condition? 194 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:06,360 When you look at it, you see all kinds of promise of religious 195 00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:10,240 activity, sacrifices being offered, prayers being made, 196 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:13,240 people coming with the intention of worshipping God. 197 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:19,120 What's the real condition? Leaves without fruit, promise 198 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:26,280 without substance, appearance without reality, and the fate of 199 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:30,040 the fig tree pictures the final end of the temple. 200 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:34,240 Jesus Himself will prophecy in chapter 13 that the temple will 201 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:38,680 be totally destroyed. Notice how in verse 20 it says 202 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:42,160 the fig tree withered away to its roots. 203 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:44,920 Why does Mark include that detail? 204 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:49,120 It reminds us it's a picture and a preview of what Jesus is going 205 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:52,360 to say just two chapters later. But about the temple, the very 206 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:56,440 beginning of chapter 13, do you see these great buildings? 207 00:14:57,080 --> 00:15:01,600 There will not be left here, 1 stone upon another that will not 208 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:04,840 be thrown down. Just as the fig tree withered 209 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:08,400 away to its roots, so the temple would be destroyed all the way 210 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:13,760 to its foundations by cursing the fig tree. 211 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:17,000 Jesus is publicly announcing that the time for Israel's 212 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:22,560 divine inspection has come, and they fail the inspection. 213 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:27,320 Jesus doesn't find the fruit he's looking for, He finds none. 214 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:32,360 For many of us, it is car inspection season. 215 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:35,400 In order to renew your registration, you have to go get 216 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:38,520 an inspection done. Upload the results to the DMV 217 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:41,680 and there you go. Best case scenario, at that 218 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:43,440 inspection, your car's totally fine. 219 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:46,440 You walk in, they look at it, you walk out, do nothing. 220 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:51,120 Next best scenario, maybe they discover something tiny, They 221 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:52,920 just come right out and say, hey, we got to fix this one 222 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:53,960 thing, It's going to be 100 bucks. 223 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:55,120 Is that OK? Yeah, sure. 224 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:56,920 Fine, no big deal. You wait another 15 minutes, 225 00:15:57,080 --> 00:15:59,000 you're gone. Only $100 lighter. 226 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:04,320 One friend I talked to this week once went to a car inspection 227 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:08,200 and the report was you need a whole new engine. 228 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:16,160 Ouch. When you submit to God's 229 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:23,760 inspection of your life, it will reveal bigger problems than you 230 00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:26,920 bargained for. You might come to God's Word 231 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:30,800 hoping for a clean sheet or or at best a little minor 232 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:32,800 adjustment. 15 minutes, no big deal. 233 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:39,440 Very often through God's Word, he will reveal to you, yeah, 234 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:42,600 what what you need is more like a whole new engine. 235 00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:48,160 One sign that you are really doing business with the living 236 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:52,480 God is that you come away thinking I'm a lot worse than I 237 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:56,400 thought. God's Word reveals problems you 238 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:59,120 didn't know you had. God's Word and Spirit together 239 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:01,640 convict you that sins you knew about but didn't. 240 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:04,839 They were that big of a deal or a bigger deal than you thought. 241 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:11,079 You hope to come out of the inspection with a clean sheet. 242 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:16,280 God gives you news. It's a lot harder to bear, 243 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:21,520 spiritually speaking, if you're not a believer in Jesus. 244 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:23,960 You really do need a whole new engine. 245 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:26,680 You need a new heart. You need a whole new self. 246 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:30,040 You need to be transformed totally from within, and that is 247 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:32,880 out of your power to do. Only God can do that. 248 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:36,000 And the good news is He can do that. 249 00:17:36,360 --> 00:17:39,640 God can change you as deep as your problem is. 250 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:43,200 You might think, oh, I just have some kind of minor relational 251 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:45,200 issues or, Oh yeah, some bad habits. 252 00:17:46,120 --> 00:17:48,680 But Scripture reveals ourselves to us and shows that our 253 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:52,000 problems go all the way in. They go all the way down. 254 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:55,320 Our wills are fundamentally distorted. 255 00:17:55,760 --> 00:18:01,320 Our wills are enslaved to sin. Our minds, our thoughts, our 256 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:04,320 affections, they're all set on the wrong objects. 257 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:07,680 Our hearts are like a compass that points in exactly the wrong 258 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:10,760 direction. You can't fix yourself. 259 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:12,720 You can't give yourself a new engine. 260 00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:19,440 But God can give you a new you. If you're not a believer in 261 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:23,480 Jesus and you want to know what God thinks about you and what he 262 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:27,400 can do about it, you have to be prepared to acknowledge 2 truths 263 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:36,720 #1 your problem is worse than you think #2 God can do more 264 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:39,520 than you think. You can't save yourself and you 265 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:45,240 can't fix yourself, but God can transform you from within. 266 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:52,080 The fig tree that Jesus cursed looked good from a distance but 267 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:55,640 bad up close. Brothers and sisters, members of 268 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:59,360 Trinity Baptist Church, don't settle for a way of following 269 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:03,560 Jesus that looks good from a distance but bad up close. 270 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:07,080 That won't serve you. That won't serve your eternal 271 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:10,000 joy in him. And it's not the fruit Jesus is 272 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:13,640 looking for. Jesus is looking for fruit that 273 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:17,640 is good all the way down. Jesus is looking for fruit that 274 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:23,120 survives the closest scrutiny. Many of us have had the 275 00:19:23,120 --> 00:19:25,880 disappointment of meeting someone who has a good 276 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:30,280 reputation, or respecting or admiring someone from afar, then 277 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:32,800 getting closer to them and discovering, yeah, they don't 278 00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:36,000 look as good up close as they do from far away. 279 00:19:37,120 --> 00:19:42,600 Brothers and sisters, depending on God's grace, doggedly pursue 280 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:46,640 the kind of spiritual fruit that looks better and better the 281 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:53,880 closer someone gets to it. In our passage, Jesus holds 282 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:59,600 people to account, and he is himself the Lord who will hold 283 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:02,520 each of us to account. He's looking for fruit. 284 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:04,560 He's looking for the fruit of real faith. 285 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:06,680 He's looking for the fruit of true worship. 286 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:10,880 He's looking for real devotion to him that shows itself in 287 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:15,480 obedience to him. There will come a final 288 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:20,800 inspection day for each of us. The fig tree and temple are a 289 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:23,600 preview. Of that final day of judgement 290 00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:28,760 when God will inspect your whole life with everlasting 291 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:31,600 consequences. On that day, there will be no 292 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,120 place to hide from God's accountability. 293 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:42,400 This summer, for the first time ever, Christian and I have 294 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:45,560 planted a garden. We put a fence around it. 295 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:49,760 Fence posts, little mesh covering about head high. 296 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:51,640 We planted all kinds of good stuff. 297 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:56,520 Cucumbers, heirloom tomatoes, squash, herbs, bell Peppers. 298 00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:00,880 We were diligent to water it and we saw some good signs of early 299 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:02,680 growth. We even had cucumbers that were 300 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:04,640 getting huge and we were starting to harvest them and eat 301 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:06,760 them. We had dozens of tomatoes 302 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:09,720 ripening on the vine. There was promise. 303 00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:12,920 What fruit do we get from our garden? 304 00:21:14,360 --> 00:21:20,920 Not nothing, but not much. The fruit our garden delivered 305 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:25,920 did not at all live up to the promise of its early growth. 306 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:33,280 What happened? One day Kristen went out in the 307 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:37,720 morning to inspect the garden and instead of seeing huge 308 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:41,920 cucumbers and dozens of ripening tomatoes, she saw that they had 309 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:47,160 all been devoured. Every last one. 310 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:52,200 So who do you blame for the failure of our garden? 311 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:55,480 I see at least three sources of blame. 312 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:58,000 Number one, first time gardeners. 313 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:00,840 I'm sure there's things we could have done better. 314 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:04,760 Planted better seeds, better timing. 315 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:07,360 You know, known the acidity of our soil. 316 00:22:07,360 --> 00:22:08,800 Do I know the acidity of our soil? 317 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:10,320 I do not. I have no idea. 318 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:16,200 I'm sorry, first time gardeners. Another source to blame is the 319 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:19,800 weather. We saw old timer N Carolinians 320 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:22,000 who've been gardening here for 40 years saying this is the 321 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,880 hottest, wettest summer they'd ever seen and it completely 322 00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:28,400 wrecked their garden. OK, so maybe that was some of 323 00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:30,800 it, but you know who gets the most blame? 324 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,880 Deer. That's the culprit. 325 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,400 It's the only animal that could have jumped over the fence. 326 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:41,480 Oh OK, I guess a head high fence isn't high enough. 327 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:43,560 Good to know. Learn that one the hard way. 328 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:47,320 It's the only animal that could have come in and in one 329 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:51,640 gluttonous binge, devoured all of the fruit and vegetables in 330 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:57,320 our garden in one night. Yeah, I blame the deer. 331 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:02,480 The deer get the most blame. If only I could curse the deer 332 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:05,760 and carry out my judgement upon it. 333 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:07,400 Don't talk to me about how deer are cute. 334 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,000 Don't try to feed them. They are vermin. 335 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:19,520 Here's the thing. I can blame my poor garden on 336 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:27,360 the deer, but when the final day of inspection comes, there will 337 00:23:27,360 --> 00:23:32,320 be no one else to blame. There will be no one you can 338 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:38,680 offload onto and say well, but this person, the Lord will 339 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:44,840 evaluate you. You will stand before him. 340 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:49,680 That's the ultimate accountability, and it should 341 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:53,680 make us quake and tremble. If you're not a believer in 342 00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,480 Jesus, you should have a sense of conviction. 343 00:23:56,960 --> 00:23:59,680 You should have a sense of fear. You should have a sense that, 344 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:03,720 yeah, I, I can't measure up before God if he's just going to 345 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:08,320 look at me unsparingly, unstintingly examine everything 346 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:12,520 I've done, thought said you will not pass that test. 347 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:14,200 There's no way to pass that test. 348 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:18,600 You cannot pass that test. And the good news is God sent 349 00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:23,960 his eternal Son into the world to pass the test for you. 350 00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:29,520 Jesus became Incarnate. Live the perfect life, total 351 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:32,880 righteousness, pure worship, total devotion to his heavenly 352 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:35,880 Father. He lived a perfect life and He 353 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:38,360 died the death that we all deserve. 354 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:41,880 He paid for the sins of all those who would turn and trust 355 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:44,560 in Him. On the cross, He suffered God's 356 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:47,160 wrath. On the cross, He endured final 357 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:49,160 judgment. On the cross. 358 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:55,760 He got the punishment, the blame, the wrath we deserve, so 359 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,320 that if you believe in Him, there's none left for you. 360 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:01,200 The good news is, Jesus took the test. 361 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,000 Jesus passed. Jesus took all the consequences 362 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:07,360 for the way you had failed the test, none leftover for you. 363 00:25:07,360 --> 00:25:10,960 Just trust in Him. And he proved it by rising from 364 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:14,360 the dead. He proved it by entering into a 365 00:25:14,360 --> 00:25:17,680 life on the far side of judgments, a life that death 366 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:21,640 can't touch, a life that's suffering can't touch, A life 367 00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:26,560 that He holds out a sheriff to all who believe in Him. 368 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:31,440 What fruit is Jesus looking for in your life? 369 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:33,920 First and foremost, he is looking for you to believe in 370 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:37,000 Him, to trust in Him, to receive salvation from Him. 371 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:41,400 And when you do, he begins to bear fruit in you. 372 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:46,080 You receive through union with Him a whole new power, His own 373 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:50,480 power to bear fruit for God. You receive the Spirit, his own 374 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:54,320 Spirit who renews you and transforms you from within. 375 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:58,080 You're not left on yourself to kind of hoe your own spiritual 376 00:25:58,080 --> 00:25:59,760 garden and hope some fruit comes. 377 00:25:59,960 --> 00:26:03,480 God's own power is at work to bear fruit in you. 378 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:08,800 Jesus is looking for faith that works through love. 379 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:14,040 He's looking for devotion to him that leads to service to others. 380 00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:17,080 Here are a few questions to ask yourself and prayerfully 381 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:20,240 consider with other believers to discern whether you're bearing 382 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:24,240 that kind of fruit. Do you love Jesus? 383 00:26:26,360 --> 00:26:29,720 Do you love to worship Him in the gathering of his people? 384 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:37,160 Do you pray privately? Do you love to obey God's 385 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:41,720 commands? Do you love God's people in 386 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:50,360 tangible ways? Have you seen growth in 387 00:26:50,360 --> 00:26:54,840 overcoming sin in the last three years? 388 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:03,320 Are you more concerned to please God or avoid embarrassment? 389 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:09,400 If you are trusting in Christ, you've got a sensitive 390 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:12,000 conscience that's convicting you of sin all the time. 391 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:14,880 And it's hard to see this kind of fruit in your life, even if 392 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:18,560 you try to get other believers to discuss it and pray together 393 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:20,760 and get encouragement. If you struggle to see the 394 00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:24,600 reality of fruit in your life and you are trusting in Jesus, 395 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:31,200 remember first John 320. Whenever our heart condemns us, 396 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:36,720 God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything. 397 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:44,760 Sometimes what God knows about you is better than what you can 398 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:50,360 see in you. So all of that is on the bread 399 00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:53,760 part of our passage, the bread part of the sandwich in verses 400 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:56,320 12 to 21. Now we need to turn to the meat 401 00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:58,960 in the middle. What did Jesus do in the temple, 402 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:05,240 verses 15 and 16? And they came to Jerusalem, and 403 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:08,280 he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and 404 00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:12,760 those who bought in the temple. And he overturned the tables of 405 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:15,600 the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 406 00:28:16,120 --> 00:28:18,880 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the 407 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:22,400 temple. This was the season of the feast 408 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:25,440 of the Passover, when there'd be huge numbers of pilgrims coming 409 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:28,080 into Jerusalem for the festival, and the temple would have been 410 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:30,720 unusually busy, just a hive of activity. 411 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,400 The historian Josephus reports that at one Passover, around the 412 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:39,520 time of Jesus, over a quarter million lambs were sacrificed. 413 00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:43,960 So all of this activity in the temple was legitimate. 414 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:46,240 It was ordained by God. If there were, there were 415 00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:49,280 sacrifices that needed to be carried out in a temple tax that 416 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:51,920 needed to be paid. So, So what about the buying and 417 00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:54,760 selling? They were buying and selling 418 00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:56,920 sacrificial animals. That's what that's what the 419 00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:00,960 doves were. Animals that ancient Israelites 420 00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:04,320 would offer in the temple had to be completely unblemished. 421 00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:06,560 There's always a risk. If you're coming from far away, 422 00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:08,720 you start off with an unblemished animal, but what if 423 00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:11,880 it gets hurt on the way? What if it gets damaged or sick? 424 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:14,040 Now you've brought an animal you can't offer. 425 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:16,520 So it made sense that people would be able to purchase 426 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:19,160 animals for sacrifice in Jerusalem. 427 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:21,480 There's nothing wrong with buying and selling animals in 428 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:24,240 itself. What about the money changing? 429 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:27,960 That's because the pilgrims each had to pay a temple tax. 430 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:33,040 That tax was ordained by God. Now in Jesus day, in order to 431 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:37,600 have the tax paid in a stable currency, the authorities had 432 00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:40,400 determined that all the temple tax needed to be paid in what 433 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:44,440 was called a Tyrion Drachma, a silver coin from the city of 434 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:46,040 Tyre. Which meant that lots of 435 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:48,280 pilgrims coming from different places had to exchange their 436 00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:51,920 local currency for Tyrion drachmas to pay the temple tax. 437 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:54,920 Now of course the money changers would have made a profit on the 438 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:58,640 exchange, something like 4 to 8%, but the process wasn't 439 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:04,200 inherently wrong in itself. So then what is Jesus's problem? 440 00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:08,000 If the buying and selling is not sinful, if the money changing 441 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:11,440 isn't sinful, what provokes him to take such drastic action? 442 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:17,720 It's not what's happening, it's where it's happening. 443 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:23,320 All this was taking place in the temple. 444 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:26,760 It was probably happening in a large outdoor pavilion that was 445 00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:28,320 called the Court of the Gentiles. 446 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:32,000 It was called that not because it was expressly for gentiles, 447 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,280 but because it's the only part of the temple complex that 448 00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:37,760 Gentiles were allowed access to. Non Jews could come to that part 449 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:42,080 and still part of the temple. So Jesus problem is that they 450 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:45,760 are allowing commerce into a place that should be totally 451 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:49,240 dedicated to worship. Why can't they do all this 452 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:52,920 legitimate activity right outside the temple complex? 453 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:56,560 Can't they find somewhere else for it? 454 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:02,040 The fact that they do it in the temple is a sign of upside down 455 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:07,080 priorities. They're in a sense, substituting 456 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:11,600 commerce for worship. They're putting something that 457 00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:15,520 doesn't belong in worship into the place of worship. 458 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:20,840 What are you tempted to substitute for worshiping God? 459 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:24,200 And I don't just mean coming to church, because coming to church 460 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:26,520 is not the only time we worship God. 461 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:30,320 Paul calls us in Romans 12 to give our bodies as a living 462 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:33,240 sacrifice to God that involves our whole life as one of 463 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:35,080 worship. What are you tempted to 464 00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:38,520 substitute, to let creep in and crowd out? 465 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:46,880 Worshipping God could be studies, work, leisure, 466 00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:55,320 relationships, entertainment. The only way to bear the fruit 467 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:59,360 Jesus is looking for is to dedicate your life to 468 00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:03,760 worshipping Him. So what's Jesus doing here? 469 00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:07,760 He's interrupting everything. He's stopping the whole game. 470 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:10,400 He's shutting it down, however briefly. 471 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:13,600 And look how the authorities respond. 472 00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:15,160 Verse 18. The chief priests and the 473 00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:18,480 scribes heard it and we're seeking a way to destroy him, 474 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:22,720 for they feared him because all the crowd was astonished at his 475 00:32:23,160 --> 00:32:25,760 teaching. So Jesus action made a big 476 00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:27,800 splash. It further alienated the 477 00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:30,800 authorities from him. They took it as a confrontation, 478 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:33,360 they took it as a rebuke, which it was. 479 00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:36,640 The people were appreciative, they were listening to Jesus 480 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:40,680 hanging on his words, but the authorities took it as an 481 00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:43,920 opposition to them, which it very much was. 482 00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:47,920 That's important to recognize here, that Jesus action in the 483 00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:51,520 temple is not based only on what he sees in the temple when he 484 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:54,120 gets there. Throughout Mark's gospel, from 485 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:56,960 the very beginning, Jesus has been calling on people to repent 486 00:32:56,960 --> 00:32:59,840 and believe in him. Some people have, but many have 487 00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:02,480 rejected him. And the religious leaders based 488 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:05,960 in Jerusalem have been especially united and consistent 489 00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:09,600 in their opposition to him. After all, Jesus has already 490 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:12,280 predicted that they're going to kill him. 491 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:16,880 So the misplaced priorities here in the temple are one tip of a 492 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:19,840 huge iceberg. That iceberg is their false 493 00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:22,160 worship. It's their failure to repent and 494 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:26,320 believe in Jesus as the Messiah. It's their self-confidence that 495 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:29,200 they're doing what God requires while all along they're doing 496 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:32,440 the very opposites. There's a warning here for us. 497 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:37,240 It is possible to practice very respectable looking religion 498 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:39,760 that is at its core, false worship. 499 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:44,720 It is possible to put on an impressive religious event that 500 00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:48,680 thousands of people come to that is at its core, false worship. 501 00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:52,080 It is possible to take every religious box and even have an 502 00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:54,520 intense practice of private devotion. 503 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,840 That is at its core, false worship. 504 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:04,800 God's Word defines what counts as worship, and as we'll see, 505 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:07,480 Jesus appeals to God's Word to show them what they should have 506 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:10,760 been doing. So because of the people's false 507 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:14,280 worship, Jesus has determined in advance to judge them. 508 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:15,679 That's why he curses the fig tree. 509 00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:18,760 That's why he warns of Jerusalem's coming destruction 2 510 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:21,480 chapters later. So his disruption of the temple 511 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:25,400 is bringing it to a halt is a preview of its coming judgment 512 00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:28,280 in verse 16. He didn't he, he didn't allow 513 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:30,000 anybody to carry anything anywhere. 514 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:31,880 What does that mean? It means all the sacrifices 515 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:34,560 would have been brought to a halt, whatever was in process. 516 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:38,040 Nope, stop. No sacrifices right now the 517 00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:41,719 whole thing comes grinding shut. What's that a picture of? 518 00:34:44,159 --> 00:34:47,800 It served as a picture of the coming judgement that'll fall in 519 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:52,760 70 AD when the whole temple will cease for good. 520 00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:57,440 Now in verse 17, Jesus tells the crowds why he's doing this. 521 00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:02,360 Verse 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, Is it 522 00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:04,520 not written? My house shall be called the 523 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:08,280 House of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a 524 00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:11,960 den of robbers. It says he was teaching. 525 00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:14,640 So presumably he was kind of sitting there teaching whoever 526 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:16,520 would come in kind of an extended way. 527 00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:21,360 And in His teaching, Jesus alludes to two passages from the 528 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:24,360 Old Testament prophets. The first one is Isaiah 56, 529 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:26,160 verse 7, which we heard Jacqueline read a little bit 530 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:29,040 ago. In the context, the Lord is 531 00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:33,080 pointing to the fulfillment of His purposes for His temple. 532 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:36,560 It was meant to be a place where all the nations can come and 533 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:39,680 worship. But here the court of the 534 00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:43,640 Gentiles, the nations, is clogged with commerce. 535 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:49,480 It's a picture of Israel's failure to be a light to the 536 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:55,000 nations. Their failure of worship caused 537 00:35:55,040 --> 00:36:01,600 a failure of witness. False worship will hinder others 538 00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:08,800 from coming to know the true God, but God is going to fulfill 539 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:11,400 His purpose to raise up a House of prayer for all nations. 540 00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:13,560 That house will not be a physical house. 541 00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:16,480 Instead, it will be all those who are united to Christ by 542 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:19,160 faith. All who are united to Christ by 543 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:21,240 faith will be God's House of prayer. 544 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:24,680 Indwell by His Spirit and lifting up petitions to Him, 545 00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:27,640 calling on Him, his Father. Don't be no more temple 546 00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:30,480 sacrifice because Christ's sacrifice is the only one we 547 00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:34,280 need and the and God's House of prayer won't be a building but a 548 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:38,720 people because He now dwells among and dwells within his 549 00:36:38,720 --> 00:36:41,760 people. Through the passage that Jesus 550 00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:45,120 cites is from Jeremiah 7 verse 11. 551 00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:49,960 In the whole context in Jeremiah 7, the Lord is warning His 552 00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:54,480 people that they cannot live lives of injustice and 553 00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:57,800 wickedness and then come take refuge in His temple. 554 00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:01,440 Consider just the 2 verses before the one Jesus cites, 555 00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:05,480 verses 9:00 and 10:00. Will you steal, murder, commit 556 00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:09,400 adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to be all and go after 557 00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:13,560 other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand 558 00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:18,120 before me in this house which is called by my name, and say We 559 00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:23,840 are delivered, only to go on doing all these abominations? 560 00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:28,400 So in the very next verse, when Jeremiah calls the temple a den 561 00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:31,920 of robbers and says that that's what they've made it, when Jesus 562 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:35,560 quotes those words, he isn't saying that the commercial 563 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:39,880 activity itself is robbery. Instead, he's saying that the 564 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:43,800 religious leaders of his day are like the people in Jeremiah's 565 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:46,680 day. A robber's den is the place you 566 00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:51,800 retreat to for safety and planning and scheming between 567 00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:54,800 wicked missions. It's a hideout. 568 00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:59,640 It's a shelter. So the problem is not just 569 00:37:59,840 --> 00:38:03,440 what's happening in the temple. An even bigger problem is how 570 00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:06,520 they're treating the rest of their lives and then retreating 571 00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:09,280 to the temple. The problem is hypocrisy. 572 00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:13,600 It's religious show without substance, its leaves without 573 00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:15,680 fruit. They're committing sin and 574 00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:17,920 wickedness and then treating the temple like a hideout. 575 00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:23,840 Kids in the congregation, when you play tag, what happens when 576 00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:28,200 you are on base? Simple, Nobody can touch you. 577 00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:32,560 You're safe. You cannot be harmed, you cannot 578 00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:35,680 be tagged. The religious leaders in Jesus 579 00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:40,080 Day were treating the temple like base, like they could go do 580 00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:42,160 whatever they wanted, they could live however they wanted, they 581 00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:43,520 could disobey God. But if they came back to the 582 00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:46,400 temple, well, not even God himself can touch them. 583 00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:49,360 They've got the temple, they've got sacrifices. 584 00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:51,520 They're good, they're safe, they're on base. 585 00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:55,040 But that's not how repentance works. 586 00:38:56,320 --> 00:38:58,040 That's not the fruit God is looking for. 587 00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:01,520 He's looking for a change that goes all the way down into the 588 00:39:01,520 --> 00:39:05,200 heart and shows itself in every part of your life. 589 00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:08,480 And that's implicitly what Jesus is calling the people to by his 590 00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:11,520 judgement on the temple. He's saying your religion has 591 00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:13,360 been outward. It needs to be inward. 592 00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:16,600 It has been a show. It needs to become repentance. 593 00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:19,600 He's saying there's going to be no more bass, no more hideout. 594 00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:22,080 You're not going to be able to use the temple like this. 595 00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:24,800 You need to repent. Repent of false worship. 596 00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:28,160 Repent of empty religion. Repent of looking better from 597 00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:33,800 far away than you do up close. Repentance begins when you 598 00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:39,640 submit to God's inspection. He says it's worse than I 599 00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:44,240 thought. I believe him if he says I need 600 00:39:44,240 --> 00:39:46,400 a new engine, I need a new engine. 601 00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:51,040 There's no other mechanic you go to for a second opinion when 602 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,000 it's God himself telling you you need a new engine. 603 00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:58,040 Repentance begins when you stop shifting blame. 604 00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:05,560 Repentance begins when you stop trying to punish yourself or 605 00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:09,440 devise your own means of atonement or self improvement. 606 00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:13,120 And instead trust the all sufficient sacrifice that God 607 00:40:13,120 --> 00:40:19,600 has provided. Jesus judges false worship and 608 00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:24,040 he is the judge judged in our place who cause you to repent 609 00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:27,200 and trust in him to be delivered from judgement. 610 00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:31,440 Second, more briefly, true faith. 611 00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:34,720 True faith. That's the theme of Jesus 612 00:40:34,720 --> 00:40:42,320 teaching in verses 22 to 25. Remember that in verses 20 and 613 00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:46,680 21, the disciples see that the fig tree Jesus cursed has 614 00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:49,760 completely died. Peter remarks on that. 615 00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:52,960 Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered. 616 00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:57,600 Jesus responds to verse 22. Jesus answered them. 617 00:40:58,080 --> 00:41:03,800 Have faith in God. Now Jesus is going to give all 618 00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:07,560 sorts of detailed application flowing from this about prayer, 619 00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:11,320 but this is a thesis. This is the heading, Have faith 620 00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:13,840 in God. What's the root of the 621 00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:18,160 difference between the false worship Jesus, Jesus judges and 622 00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:19,960 the true fruit that he's seeking? 623 00:41:19,960 --> 00:41:23,640 It's faith. It's trust in God's power and 624 00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:27,760 character. It's trust in God's Word and 625 00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:31,960 promises. All the fruit Jesus seeks comes 626 00:41:32,040 --> 00:41:35,720 from faith. Only by faith can you bear the 627 00:41:35,720 --> 00:41:41,240 fruit that Jesus requires. But Jesus also has a specific 628 00:41:41,240 --> 00:41:44,360 application of faith in minds. In the rest of this passage, he 629 00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:49,440 really teaches about prayer. So Peter marvels that Jesus's 630 00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:53,680 word proved so effective. Jesus word accomplished 631 00:41:53,680 --> 00:41:58,240 something miraculous. Nobody came and sprayed Roundup, 632 00:41:58,240 --> 00:42:00,920 you know, dumped out a whole gallon of it on the fig tree so 633 00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:04,160 that it would die, right? I mean, Roundup is supposed to 634 00:42:04,160 --> 00:42:05,760 kill only bugs, but you know what I mean. 635 00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:08,720 Some toxic chemical, just pouring it all out. 636 00:42:08,720 --> 00:42:13,840 It was only by Jesus's word it proved effective. 637 00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:20,720 Now Jesus is about to tell Peter that that kind of power isn't 638 00:42:20,720 --> 00:42:27,880 limited to his words. It's also available through 639 00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:36,840 prayer, verses 23 and 24. Truly I say to you, whoever says 640 00:42:36,840 --> 00:42:39,440 to this mountain be taken up and thrown into the sea, and does 641 00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:42,000 not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will 642 00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:44,320 come to pass, it will be done for him. 643 00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:47,840 Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that 644 00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:50,000 you have received it and it will be yours. 645 00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:54,040 Now, with a passage like this, it is important to be clear 646 00:42:54,040 --> 00:42:58,320 about both what the text is saying and what it isn't saying. 647 00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:02,920 Jesus is drawing an analogy between the power of his words 648 00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:07,880 to accomplish the miraculous and the power of God available in 649 00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:11,320 answer to our prayers to do the miraculous. 650 00:43:11,720 --> 00:43:17,240 He isn't saying that our words have the power to do what his 651 00:43:17,240 --> 00:43:21,000 words do. His point is not identity, but 652 00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,240 analogy. He is not saying that if you 653 00:43:23,240 --> 00:43:26,120 walk right out there to that little plot behind the, you 654 00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:30,080 know, music room and you say die flowers, the flowers will just 655 00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:33,080 wither. That's not his point. 656 00:43:34,480 --> 00:43:38,280 His point is not that we should go to the nearest mountain we 657 00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:41,920 can find and say up with you, right? 658 00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:46,080 He's not founding a mountain removal society. 659 00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:51,760 That's not his aim. Jesus is using hyperbole and 660 00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:55,120 he's using an illustration, the saying about the mountain. 661 00:43:55,120 --> 00:44:00,800 The point of it is that God, in answer to our prayers, will work 662 00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:03,720 even greater marvels than what Peter just saw. 663 00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:06,840 Peter, you think it's impressive that a fig tree withered? 664 00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:11,160 You will see greater, more marvelous, more miraculous 665 00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:13,520 things in answer to your prayers. 666 00:44:13,880 --> 00:44:17,160 They'll be as bigger than a fig tree withering than as if you 667 00:44:17,160 --> 00:44:19,560 said to this mountain dump into the sea. 668 00:44:21,720 --> 00:44:28,200 Jesus is saying that prayer is a supernatural act in which 669 00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:32,520 faithful human words can call down divine power. 670 00:44:33,400 --> 00:44:37,760 He isn't saying that prayer is some kind of magic power we can 671 00:44:37,760 --> 00:44:40,720 wield at will to accomplish all of our desires. 672 00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:45,000 Now in verse 24, when Jesus says believe that you have received 673 00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:48,920 it, he's not playing tricks with time or teaching some kind of 674 00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:53,480 like, you know, Zen saying Instead he's using a past tense 675 00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:59,120 to describe a future coming answer to prayer because it's so 676 00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:00,480 certain. It's as if you've already 677 00:45:00,480 --> 00:45:02,520 received it. It's like when Paul says in 678 00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:06,640 Romans 830 those whom he justified he also glorified. 679 00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:10,640 So Jesus main point is that God answers prayer. 680 00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:14,000 So you should have faith, you should ask, you should believe 681 00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:16,960 and not doubt. You should trust that God 682 00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:21,360 answers prayer. But even with all that in mind, 683 00:45:21,600 --> 00:45:24,160 does it mean that God will, without exception, give us 684 00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:25,880 everything we ever asked for in prayer? 685 00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:29,600 The wording of Jesus promise can make it sound like that, but for 686 00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:31,800 a number of reasons, the answer has to be no. 687 00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:36,000 The main point of the passage is that God does answer prayer. 688 00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:38,840 That doesn't mean he's a magic genie who grants your every 689 00:45:38,840 --> 00:45:42,000 wish. For one thing, Jesus himself, 690 00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:47,680 starting in his passage, gives us several conditions that limit 691 00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:53,560 and define the kind of petitions God will grant in our own 692 00:45:53,560 --> 00:45:56,040 passage. He says that prayer must be in 693 00:45:56,040 --> 00:45:58,960 faith. He says it must not be 694 00:45:58,960 --> 00:46:02,760 undermined by doubt. As we'll see in verse 25, the 695 00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:06,080 kind of prayer God answers is prayed by one who forgives. 696 00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:10,040 If you don't forgive others, God will not answer your prayers to 697 00:46:10,040 --> 00:46:13,960 forgive your sins. We could generalize from that to 698 00:46:13,960 --> 00:46:18,040 say that harboring unrepentant sin is a great way to get your 699 00:46:18,040 --> 00:46:22,480 prayers not answered by God. Prayer expresses dependence on 700 00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:25,280 God. Prayer expresses trust in God. 701 00:46:25,720 --> 00:46:28,880 If you are harboring unrepentant sin, you are not depending on 702 00:46:28,880 --> 00:46:30,640 God. We're trusting in Him. 703 00:46:30,760 --> 00:46:32,320 Unrepentant sin contradicts that. 704 00:46:32,920 --> 00:46:35,160 More broadly, based on the witness of all of Scripture, we 705 00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:38,720 need to realize that God grants petitions that are in accord 706 00:46:38,720 --> 00:46:44,640 with His revealed moral will for all of us, and ultimately, His 707 00:46:44,640 --> 00:46:49,440 answers to prayer are governed by His hidden will of decree. 708 00:46:50,240 --> 00:46:53,280 That's why we pray if it is your will. 709 00:46:54,400 --> 00:46:56,400 Another reason why we shouldn't treat prayer as a kind of 710 00:46:56,400 --> 00:47:01,680 infallible gimmick is that Jesus himself did not get everything 711 00:47:01,680 --> 00:47:04,160 he asked for in prayer. Just three chapters later, in 712 00:47:04,160 --> 00:47:08,840 Mark 14 in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prays 3 times 713 00:47:09,160 --> 00:47:11,280 that the cup of God's wrath would be taken from him. 714 00:47:12,160 --> 00:47:14,920 It was not. What was God's answer? 715 00:47:15,760 --> 00:47:19,840 It wasn't to remove the cup, but to grant Jesus to endure the cup 716 00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:24,960 for our sake. Prayer is not a set of commands 717 00:47:24,960 --> 00:47:28,120 we issue to God. God is not a genie who grants 718 00:47:28,120 --> 00:47:34,280 our every request. And yet, through prayer, God 719 00:47:34,280 --> 00:47:39,080 works miracles. Through prayer, God accomplishes 720 00:47:39,120 --> 00:47:43,000 marvels. In answering prayer, God changes 721 00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:45,680 us in ways we cannot change ourselves. 722 00:47:45,920 --> 00:47:48,160 He transforms bitterness into forgiveness. 723 00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:52,000 He transforms the selfish into humble servants. 724 00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:55,960 He grants grace to endure trials far beyond anything you could in 725 00:47:55,960 --> 00:47:58,440 your own strength. He saves people. 726 00:47:58,840 --> 00:48:01,640 He turns persecutors into preachers. 727 00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:04,680 He does marvelous things in answer to prayer. 728 00:48:05,080 --> 00:48:07,960 What's the greatest thing you could ever ask God to do for 729 00:48:07,960 --> 00:48:12,160 you? It's to grant you to be with Him 730 00:48:12,680 --> 00:48:16,640 in His presence and see Him face to face forever, what 731 00:48:16,640 --> 00:48:18,560 theologians call the Beatific vision. 732 00:48:18,560 --> 00:48:23,000 Because seeing God in perfect, intimate fellowship forever will 733 00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:25,080 make you perfectly happy forever. 734 00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:27,400 That's the greatest thing you could ever ask for. 735 00:48:27,520 --> 00:48:29,960 Guess what? He's already promised it to you. 736 00:48:31,480 --> 00:48:37,240 Whatever you ask for in prayer, that is not answered in the way 737 00:48:37,240 --> 00:48:40,280 you would hope or think or expect or desire. 738 00:48:41,360 --> 00:48:49,040 Keep this in mind, Heaven is your worst case scenario. 739 00:48:50,120 --> 00:48:55,200 Whatever God withholds, if you're in Christ, He will one 740 00:48:55,200 --> 00:49:00,840 day give you the greatest thing you could ever ask for. 741 00:49:02,520 --> 00:49:05,560 My friend Travis, who visited this church a few times before 742 00:49:05,560 --> 00:49:09,160 he moved out of the area, is working on a book on prayer and 743 00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:11,200 I was borrowing some of his material there. 744 00:49:11,200 --> 00:49:13,560 Credit where credit is due. He was encouraging me this week 745 00:49:14,280 --> 00:49:23,080 with those reflections. All answers to prayer are 746 00:49:23,080 --> 00:49:29,840 instances of divine power in response to our request invading 747 00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:33,840 earth. The power isn't ours, it's 748 00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:38,680 God's. And yet prayer is how we get it. 749 00:49:39,960 --> 00:49:42,000 So pray. Pray persistently. 750 00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:45,720 Pray boldly. True faith is dependence on God 751 00:49:46,160 --> 00:49:50,360 that expresses itself in prayer. Prayer is faith's breath, 752 00:49:51,160 --> 00:49:54,400 faith's pulse. Where there is faith, there will 753 00:49:54,400 --> 00:49:59,320 be prayer. Where there is no prayer, there 754 00:49:59,320 --> 00:50:03,120 is no faith. If you want to bear the fruit 755 00:50:03,240 --> 00:50:08,880 Jesus is looking for, then abide in Him by praying for it. 756 00:50:10,280 --> 00:50:12,520 As a congregation, we want to be a House of prayer. 757 00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:15,280 This place is not a House of prayer, though we're grateful we 758 00:50:15,280 --> 00:50:17,200 can put it to work for these purposes. 759 00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:22,120 Praise the Lord, It's the people who are a House of prayer. 760 00:50:23,040 --> 00:50:25,040 That's one reason we devote ourselves to prayer in our 761 00:50:25,040 --> 00:50:27,160 corporate gatherings. We try to be deliberate about 762 00:50:27,280 --> 00:50:29,840 modeling a full range of different types of biblical 763 00:50:29,840 --> 00:50:35,800 prayer, from confession and lament to praise and thanks to 764 00:50:35,800 --> 00:50:38,240 petition. Those petitions are especially 765 00:50:38,240 --> 00:50:41,000 focused in the pastoral prayer and in our Sunday night service. 766 00:50:41,640 --> 00:50:45,120 This is why prayer is itself the main focus of our Sunday evening 767 00:50:45,120 --> 00:50:46,920 service. Let me just say, if you're 768 00:50:46,920 --> 00:50:48,720 interested in joining the church and you haven't started 769 00:50:48,720 --> 00:50:51,760 regularly attending our 5:00 PM service on Sundays, I'd 770 00:50:51,760 --> 00:50:54,360 encourage you to start coming. We expect members to regularly 771 00:50:54,360 --> 00:50:59,480 come to that, mainly so that we can be a House of prayer all 772 00:50:59,680 --> 00:51:03,840 together, not only a House of prayer, but a House of prayer 773 00:51:03,840 --> 00:51:07,320 for all nations. If you're not sure what to pray 774 00:51:07,320 --> 00:51:10,960 for, consider biblical models. You can use Paul's prayers as 775 00:51:10,960 --> 00:51:13,080 models. You can use the Lord's Prayer, 776 00:51:13,080 --> 00:51:14,760 which we've prayed together as a model. 777 00:51:15,080 --> 00:51:16,840 Meditate on each of those petitions. 778 00:51:17,040 --> 00:51:19,200 Apply it to specifics in your life. 779 00:51:19,760 --> 00:51:23,080 When you pray for your own forgiveness, ask not only what 780 00:51:23,080 --> 00:51:27,000 sins do I need forgiven, what sins in others do I need to 781 00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:30,240 forgive? That brings us back to the last 782 00:51:30,240 --> 00:51:37,560 verse of our passage, verse 25. And whenever you stand praying, 783 00:51:37,560 --> 00:51:42,560 forgive if you have anything against anyone, so that your 784 00:51:42,560 --> 00:51:44,520 Father also who is in heaven, may forgive you. 785 00:51:44,520 --> 00:51:47,720 Your trespasses, say you're praying privately. 786 00:51:48,600 --> 00:51:51,080 A sin someone else is committed against you comes to mind. 787 00:51:51,640 --> 00:51:55,880 What you should immediately do is forgive them from the heart, 788 00:51:56,960 --> 00:51:59,160 even though they're not there to ask forgiveness or seek 789 00:51:59,160 --> 00:52:02,560 reconciliation. That inward forgiveness is an 790 00:52:02,560 --> 00:52:05,560 attitude. It's being resolved not to make 791 00:52:05,560 --> 00:52:07,680 the other person pay for their sin. 792 00:52:07,960 --> 00:52:10,200 It's being resolved not to hold it against them, not to take 793 00:52:10,200 --> 00:52:13,400 vengeance or extract any cost from them. 794 00:52:14,200 --> 00:52:17,400 Now what about Jesus warning in verse 25? 795 00:52:17,400 --> 00:52:19,920 Is he saying that our forgiveness of others earns 796 00:52:19,920 --> 00:52:22,240 God's forgiveness of sins? Not at all. 797 00:52:22,840 --> 00:52:25,560 He's saying your willingness to forgive others is a test of 798 00:52:25,560 --> 00:52:29,200 whether your faith is real. If you know you're a Sinner and 799 00:52:29,200 --> 00:52:32,240 you know the miracle of God forgiving your sins, you'll 800 00:52:32,240 --> 00:52:36,560 realize how much smaller a thing it is for you to forgive others. 801 00:52:37,520 --> 00:52:40,320 God's forgiveness of you will change your heart and make you 802 00:52:40,320 --> 00:52:42,880 willing to forgive. If you don't forgive others, you 803 00:52:42,880 --> 00:52:46,080 show that you do not know what it means to have your sins 804 00:52:46,080 --> 00:52:49,880 forgiven. So here Jesus gives us a 805 00:52:49,880 --> 00:52:53,560 categorical command to forgive those who sin against you. 806 00:52:54,040 --> 00:52:57,840 The only alternative is bitterness, resentment, as one 807 00:52:57,840 --> 00:53:01,440 person put it. Resentment is like drinking 808 00:53:01,440 --> 00:53:05,000 poison and expecting the other person to die. 809 00:53:07,160 --> 00:53:09,840 There are two different aspects or stages to forgiveness. 810 00:53:09,840 --> 00:53:11,800 Jesus is focused here just on the first one. 811 00:53:12,480 --> 00:53:15,120 Tim Keller has a fantastic discussion of this book in his 812 00:53:15,280 --> 00:53:18,080 This in his book Forgive, which may be a giveaway tonight. 813 00:53:18,720 --> 00:53:21,960 The first stage of forgiveness is what we've been discussing. 814 00:53:22,480 --> 00:53:25,600 It's personal, it's inward, it's an attitude. 815 00:53:26,560 --> 00:53:32,400 Jesus says you have to do it always and for everyone. 816 00:53:33,320 --> 00:53:35,400 But the second stage is reconciliation. 817 00:53:36,240 --> 00:53:39,120 Reconciliation cannot take place from your side unless you've 818 00:53:39,120 --> 00:53:42,840 already forgiven the person. The reconciliation also depends 819 00:53:42,840 --> 00:53:46,080 on the other person you are responsible to forgive. 820 00:53:47,120 --> 00:53:51,600 Both parties are responsible to reconcile, which means if both 821 00:53:51,600 --> 00:53:54,400 parties aren't willing to reconcile, but only one is, 822 00:53:55,200 --> 00:53:56,680 reconciliation is not going to happen. 823 00:53:57,840 --> 00:54:01,280 It's not always possible. Even if you forgive as you must, 824 00:54:02,120 --> 00:54:05,360 the other party is not always willing to do what it takes to 825 00:54:05,360 --> 00:54:10,520 reconcile. So in these verses, Jesus 826 00:54:10,520 --> 00:54:16,000 teaches about real faith. It contrasts with false worship 827 00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:20,560 in that real faith gives birth to genuine fruit, fruit of a 828 00:54:20,560 --> 00:54:24,000 changed heart, fruit of depending on God and prayer, 829 00:54:24,520 --> 00:54:27,240 fruit of being willing to forgive. 830 00:54:27,720 --> 00:54:33,000 True faith is praying faith. True faith is forgiving faith. 831 00:54:34,240 --> 00:54:39,600 False worship sets God's power against you. 832 00:54:40,640 --> 00:54:43,920 True faith receives God's power working for you. 833 00:54:44,800 --> 00:54:47,360 False worship brings down divine judgment. 834 00:54:48,880 --> 00:54:52,080 Faithful prayer draws down divine power. 835 00:54:53,200 --> 00:54:56,800 When God looks at your life, which one does he see? 836 00:54:57,720 --> 00:55:04,520 False worship or true faith? When Christ comes again for your 837 00:55:04,520 --> 00:55:08,120 final inspection, what will he find? 838 00:55:09,920 --> 00:55:17,280 Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we praise you 839 00:55:17,280 --> 00:55:21,520 for your loving compassion and warning us of the consequences 840 00:55:21,520 --> 00:55:24,120 of our sin. Father, we praise you for your 841 00:55:24,120 --> 00:55:30,920 forgiveness by which you cast our sins into the depths of the 842 00:55:30,920 --> 00:55:35,840 sea, like a mountain moving from its place and disappearing 843 00:55:35,840 --> 00:55:38,640 forever. Father, we pray that you would 844 00:55:38,640 --> 00:55:41,640 grant us real faith. Faith that praise, faith that 845 00:55:41,640 --> 00:55:46,200 forgives, faith that bears fruit, by your powerful Spirit 846 00:55:46,200 --> 00:55:51,720 at work within us, 'cause the fruit you seek to be born in 847 00:55:51,840 --> 00:55:53,800 Jesus name, Amen.