SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Glad to have you with us this morning, worshiping with us on this Palm Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: In case you did not know, we are fitting all of our week's services around a theme of encountering the Lord Jesus Christ as King.
SPEAKER_00: And we want to use this as an opportunity for you to reach out to your friends, family, neighbors, especially those who don't know Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so we have some cards for you to pick up that are all scattered throughout the four-year for you to take and give to those whom you would like to bring with you Friday evening or for resurrection Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: For this morning, I would like us to focus our time in Mark chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: Beginning Friday evening, we will be in Mark 15 and also in Mark 15 on Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: In your bulletin, the text is listed as chapter 11 of Mark, verse 1, but I would like to begin reading in Mark 10, verse 46 this morning.
SPEAKER_00: If you have a Bible, I encourage you to follow along.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't, you can use a pew Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Again, that is Mark 10, beginning in verse 46.
SPEAKER_00: The Word of God says to us, They came to Jericho.
SPEAKER_00: And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.
SPEAKER_00: And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.
SPEAKER_00: And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
SPEAKER_00: But he cried out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus stopped and said, Call him.
SPEAKER_00: They called the blind man, saying to him, Take heart, get up, he's calling you.
SPEAKER_00: And throwing off his cloak he sprang up and came to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to him, What do you want me to do for you?
SPEAKER_00: And the blind man said to him, Rabbi, let me recover my sight.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to him, Go your way.
SPEAKER_00: Your faith has made you well.
SPEAKER_00: And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.
SPEAKER_00: Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage in Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat.
SPEAKER_00: Untie it and bring it.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone says to you, What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: Say, The Lord has need of it, and will send it back here immediately.
SPEAKER_00: And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it.
SPEAKER_00: And some of those standing there said to them, What are you doing, untying the colt?
SPEAKER_00: And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go.
SPEAKER_00: And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it.
SPEAKER_00: And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.
SPEAKER_00: And those who went before, and those who followed, were shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David, Hosanna in the highest.
SPEAKER_00: And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple.
SPEAKER_00: And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
SPEAKER_00: On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.
SPEAKER_00: And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it.
SPEAKER_00: When he came to it he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to it, May no one ever eat fruit from you again.
SPEAKER_00: And his disciples heard it.
SPEAKER_00: And they came to Jerusalem, and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons, and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.
SPEAKER_00: And he was teaching them and saying to them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations?
SPEAKER_00: But you've made it a den of robbers.
SPEAKER_00: And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.
SPEAKER_00: And when evening came they went out of the city, and as they passed by again in the morning they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: This is the day that we celebrate Christ's kingly entrance into his royal city.
SPEAKER_00: But that day was only the beginning of the last week of our Lord's earthly life.
SPEAKER_00: So I invite you to walk with me on a journey following Jesus the King during this week.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to begin this morning by encountering the presence of the King.
SPEAKER_00: And then on Friday evening, we will enter the darkness that surrounded the King on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And on Resurrection Sunday, we will stand together at the tomb of the King.
SPEAKER_00: And as we begin here this morning with Jesus' final trek into Jerusalem, we meet a man named Bartimaeus, who lived in Jericho.
SPEAKER_00: Bartimaeus, we are told, was blind, and being a blind man, he was led on a daily basis to a certain spot along the roadside to beg for alms, for handouts on which to live.
SPEAKER_00: But apparently Bartimaeus knew of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So when he heard that Jesus was walking amidst the noise and the throng of the crowd, he cried out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.
SPEAKER_00: That was a cry of messianic faith.
SPEAKER_00: David was Israel's glorious king from ancient times, and David's son was the one whom God had promised would come to fulfill all of the things that God had promised.
SPEAKER_00: That he would restore Israel and be her promised king.
SPEAKER_00: The first person to recognize the presence of the king on that day was a man who could not see.
SPEAKER_00: He had come to believe in God's promises, and that led to sight and true life.
SPEAKER_00: No longer would Bartimaeus only know God's promises with eyes of faith, but he would see the fulfillment of those promises with his own eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Eyes given to him by the king.
SPEAKER_00: That's an exciting beginning to this last trip into the royal city, is it not?
SPEAKER_00: There's healing in the king's hands, and there's power in his voice, there is salvation being given.
SPEAKER_00: But if we take our eyes off of the miracle and step back a minute, we see a very different reality.
SPEAKER_00: Mark tells us in chapter 10, verse 46, that a great crowd accompanied Jesus when he left Jericho with his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: While excited about Jesus and wanting to hear what he has to say and see his miraculous power, they wanted to silence Bartimaeus.
SPEAKER_00: And yet Bartimaeus is the only one said to have genuine faith.
SPEAKER_00: Why is a blind man the only one who recognizes the presence of the king with true faith?
SPEAKER_00: We rightly celebrate the king's coming and remember his entrance into the royal city with the waving of palms.
SPEAKER_00: But the lasting image of those few days is not one of celebration, but of judgment.
SPEAKER_00: And it all hinges on how people responded to the presence of the king.
SPEAKER_00: Bartimaeus responded properly, with faith in God's promises fulfilled in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But few were ready to respond so well.
SPEAKER_00: We see doubt in Mark's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: We see unbelief in Mark's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: We see rejection in Mark's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: All throughout the pages of it.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to show you some of those reactions this morning.
SPEAKER_00: But before we do that, we need to know why Mark wrote this short gospel record.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason that he wrote is found in the very first verse of the book, where he said that this is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: That's Mark's purpose.
SPEAKER_00: He wants you and I to see everything that Jesus did, to hear all that Jesus said, to encounter the presence of the king, and to come away with it, knowing and believing that this Jesus is God's promised Messiah, the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: So what do we see?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the first reaction to that truth is found in chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: As Jesus taught in a synagogue on the Sabbath, verse 22 tells us that the listeners were astonished at his teaching, because he taught them as one having authority.
SPEAKER_00: They did not react to who he is, but they reacted to the manner in which he taught.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus then commanded a demon to come out of a person.
SPEAKER_00: And the people were amazed.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 27, they were saying, What is this?
SPEAKER_00: There's a new teaching with authority.
SPEAKER_00: He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting that their reaction to the power of Jesus was not awe of Jesus, but amazement at the authority in his teaching.
SPEAKER_00: Why is that important?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's important when we contrast that with the demon itself in verses 23 and 24 of chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 24, the demon cries out, What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
SPEAKER_00: Have you come to destroy us?
SPEAKER_00: I know who you are, the Holy One of God.
SPEAKER_00: The people focused on what Jesus did, on what Jesus said.
SPEAKER_00: The demons centered on who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: That's summarized for us in verse 34 of chapter 1, where we read that Jesus healed many who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons, and he would not permit the demons to speak.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because they knew him.
SPEAKER_00: From the very beginning, Mark contrasts the response of demons to that of people when they were in the presence of the king.
SPEAKER_00: And the key point is whether or not they know who Jesus is and if they believe.
SPEAKER_00: Now, next, we are shown the response of scribes.
SPEAKER_00: That's a segment of Jewish religious leadership.
SPEAKER_00: In chapter 2, we see a handful of friends who wanted to get some healing help for their friend, but they couldn't get into the house to see Jesus, so they climb up on top and they start digging away at the roof, open up a hole in the roof to lower their friend down to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus responds to that situation, to their faith in chapter 2, and beginning in verse 5, we see when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts, Why does this man speak like that?
SPEAKER_00: He's blaspheming.
SPEAKER_00: Who can forgive sins but God alone?
SPEAKER_00: And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, Why do you question these things in your hearts?
SPEAKER_00: Which is easier?
SPEAKER_00: To say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven?
SPEAKER_00: Or to say, Rise, take up your bed and walk?
SPEAKER_00: But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, Rise, pick up your bed, and go home.
SPEAKER_00: And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, We never saw anything like this.
SPEAKER_00: By forgiving sin, Jesus identifies who he is.
SPEAKER_00: Only God can forgive sin.
SPEAKER_00: And so when Jesus says, Son, your sins are forgiven, he's telling all of them, I am Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, the scribes and the Pharisees would only see Jesus in his humanity, not in his deity, and so they refused to accept that he could forgive sin, and therefore he was blaspheming.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, even after Jesus healed the man of his physical infirmities, what amazed people was not who Jesus is, but what Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: We never saw anything like this.
SPEAKER_00: And as you go through the book of Mark, Jesus progressively reveals more and more of who he is.
SPEAKER_00: In general, people were not drawn to faith in him, but to wonder, to amazement, and some to distrust and even anger.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees in chapter 3, verse 6, even got together with their enemies, the Herodians, to figure out how they were going to come together to destroy Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: What do you do with that?
SPEAKER_00: They steadfastly refused to see that Jesus is the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now look at chapter 3, verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, You are the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: Human beings could not see who Jesus was, but every time the demons encountered him, they said, You are the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: How ironic and blasphemous and sad is it when those same scribes said in verse 22, He's possessed by Satan.
SPEAKER_00: They couldn't see what the demons saw.
SPEAKER_00: But lest we think too poorly of them, even Jesus' own chosen disciples struggled at times with doubt.
SPEAKER_00: Beginning in chapter 4, verse 35, we read about the miraculous stilling of the storm on the Sea of Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: While Jesus was worn out from a day of ministry, he was taking a nap in the boat, and the disciples were all upset about how they should try to keep the boat from capsizing in the middle of the storm.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, they'd had enough and they woke up, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus stood up, spoke to the storm so that it stilled instantly, and then he turned and said to his disciples, Why are you so afraid?
SPEAKER_00: Have you no faith?
SPEAKER_00: They had no reason to fear the storm while the Creator was in the boat with them.
SPEAKER_00: But notice Mark's next note in the very next verse, Mark 4.41.
SPEAKER_00: They, the disciples, were filled with great fear and said to one another, Who then is this?
SPEAKER_00: That even the wind and the sea obey him?
SPEAKER_00: What a question.
SPEAKER_00: But isn't that the key question?
SPEAKER_00: Who are you?
SPEAKER_00: In whose presence are we?
SPEAKER_00: Every person in Israel during this time period was forced to process that question, and you must too.
SPEAKER_00: Mark tells us that this is Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe this?
SPEAKER_00: Have you wrestled with that question and come to an answer?
SPEAKER_00: Now, while the disciples wondered, the demons had no uncertainty whatsoever.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 5 details a demon-possessed man living in a cemetery.
SPEAKER_00: The demon gave him superhuman strength so that they couldn't even bind him with chains.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone was afraid of this demon-possessed man.
SPEAKER_00: But when the demon-possessed man comes in contact with Jesus, the demon is afraid of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5 of chapter, I'm sorry, verse 6 of chapter 5, when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran down and fell before him.
SPEAKER_00: And crying out with a loud voice, he said, What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
SPEAKER_00: I adjure you by God, do not torment me.
SPEAKER_00: The demon was scared for his life.
SPEAKER_00: Because he knew who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: How did the people respond to that?
SPEAKER_00: Did the people respond with worship, with faith in who Jesus is, with with even fear like the demons?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 20 says, they responded with marveling.
SPEAKER_00: They marveled.
SPEAKER_00: Now, chapter 6 of Mark lays out the reality of what we've seen.
SPEAKER_00: Beginning in verse 1, Jesus went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.
SPEAKER_00: And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished.
SPEAKER_00: We've heard that word already.
SPEAKER_00: Saying, Where did this man get these things?
SPEAKER_00: What is this wisdom given to him?
SPEAKER_00: How are such mighty works done by his hands?
SPEAKER_00: Is it isn't this that carpenter?
SPEAKER_00: That son of Mary and brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?
SPEAKER_00: Aren't it sisters here with us?
SPEAKER_00: And they took offense at him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.
SPEAKER_00: And he could do no mighty work there except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.
SPEAKER_00: And he marveled.
SPEAKER_00: He marveled because of their unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: Many heard him and were astonished.
SPEAKER_00: But they could not conceive of the carpenter's son doing or saying any of the things that Jesus did and said.
SPEAKER_00: And the bottom line itself is astounding.
SPEAKER_00: They did not believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: They could not bring themselves to go beyond the point of his humanity to see that this is God in flesh.
SPEAKER_00: All they had heard and all they had seen from Jesus did not lead them to faith, but confirmed them in their unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus' conversation with his disciples in chapter 8, verse 27 is now very intriguing.
SPEAKER_00: Beginning in verse 27, Jesus asked his disciples, who do the people say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: After all this ministry, after all of this display of power and this display of wisdom that is astonishing and that people marvel at, who do they say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: Now remember, who does Mark confidently assert that Jesus is?
SPEAKER_00: The Messiah, God's promised one, the Son of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: But what is the common belief?
SPEAKER_00: Peter answers for the disciples and said, Well, you know, some people that you think that you're John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_00: Keep in mind that John the Baptist had his head lopped off by this point.
SPEAKER_00: So they think that he's John the Baptist resurrected.
SPEAKER_00: Some of them think that you're the mighty prophet Elijah, come back from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, maybe one of the other prophets.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, all kinds.
SPEAKER_00: Beliefs out there.
SPEAKER_00: They really didn't get it, did they?
SPEAKER_00: But do you get it?
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus asked his disciples a key question.
SPEAKER_00: Who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: Who do you say he is?
SPEAKER_00: As you encounter Jesus the King, who do you say that he is?
SPEAKER_00: Is he a good man?
SPEAKER_00: Is he a prophet?
SPEAKER_00: Is he a wise teacher?
SPEAKER_00: Is he a man through whom God worked, or is he someone greater?
SPEAKER_00: Peter answered Jesus' question on behalf of the disciples, and he said, You are the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You are the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's a powerful statement and a dangerous one.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is the Greek form of the Hebrew word Messiah, and that has a long and ancient storied history.
SPEAKER_00: Israel's kings were anointed with oil as they began to reign.
SPEAKER_00: Oil was poured over their heads as a sign of what God was appointing them to do.
SPEAKER_00: Even priests and prophets were often set apart for God's service by being anointed with oil.
SPEAKER_00: And so in that way, those people were anointed ones.
SPEAKER_00: But sometime around 535 BC, the term Messiah, anointed one, began to be attributed to a particular person within the promises of God.
SPEAKER_00: And that happened because God gave the prophet Daniel some details about his prophetic plan for the world.
SPEAKER_00: So we read in Daniel chapter 9, beginning in verse 25, know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks.
SPEAKER_00: Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.
SPEAKER_00: And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing.
SPEAKER_00: That anointed one is the Messiah that Israel began anticipating.
SPEAKER_00: He would be the descendant of their great king, David, with all of the authority and power and glory of God's promised king.
SPEAKER_00: When Peter, speaking for all of the disciples, says, You are the Christ, he declared that Jesus is that one.
SPEAKER_00: He is the fulfillment of God's promises.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is God's king.
SPEAKER_00: But that was a dangerous declaration.
SPEAKER_00: Israel was under Roman rule, and she had a history of rebellion.
SPEAKER_00: Around 165 BC, Judas Maccabeus led a revolt against the Greek rulers of the time.
SPEAKER_00: And his rebellion was crushed and he was killed.
SPEAKER_00: Roughly 10 years or so later, Simon Maccabeas took up the charge against foreign powers in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And interestingly, the book of 1 Maccabees records what happened after one of his victories.
SPEAKER_00: It says, and I quote, Simon celebrated with hymns of praise and thanksgiving while carrying palm branches and playing harps, cymbals, and lyres.
SPEAKER_00: Well, there was also, as you know, Herod's response to the announcement of the Magi around the time of the king's birth.
SPEAKER_00: Upstart kings are not to be trifled with.
SPEAKER_00: So Herod, hearing of this new development, ordered all the baby boys under two years old around Bethlehem to be murdered in order to be rid of this promised king.
SPEAKER_00: Israel was in subjection for several decades after that, but the Romans weren't taking any chances, so they stationed garrisons of soldiers throughout the land.
SPEAKER_00: They even had a garrison stationed at the corner of the temple.
SPEAKER_00: In the temple.
SPEAKER_00: Proclaiming Jesus as the Christ turns the eyes of Rome towards rebels and risks incurring the wrath of the emperor.
SPEAKER_00: It puts one's life in danger by walking dangerously close to the den of hungry and angry lions.
SPEAKER_00: It's really impossible to put this into modern terms in the United States of America, but the closest equivalent in our times in our country would probably be putting your name at the top of the Homeland Security surveillance list.
SPEAKER_00: No wonder then that the very next section in Mark 8, verse 31 says the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected and be killed.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 9, verse 31, repeats that theme.
SPEAKER_00: So by that time we we are shown only a handful of people who have believed in Jesus by the time he leaves Jericho.
SPEAKER_00: Most people are amazed at what he does and what he says, but in unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: And then there is blind Bart.
SPEAKER_00: Having his sense of hearing enhanced through his blindness, he likely heard story after story after story of this man named Jesus coming down the streets.
SPEAKER_00: But he had no ability to see Jesus or to see his power and his grace and his glory as other people had.
SPEAKER_00: Yet in his blindness he knew that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of David.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus recognized that this blind man could see by faith what all the crowds of people were blind to.
SPEAKER_00: That was in Jericho, the desert-like city about 18 miles from Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Bartimaeus and the other disciples follow Jesus on the way to Jerusalem, probably along with other travelers on their way to the Passover celebration in the royal city.
SPEAKER_00: The numbers are likely increasing as they draw nearer to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And so we are bound to ask, what is their reaction?
SPEAKER_00: How would they respond to the presence of the king?
SPEAKER_00: Will they respond with skepticism?
SPEAKER_00: Will they be awed and astonished at the wisdom and the power of Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Would they respond like the demons with an acknowledgement of who Jesus is, but then turn away in rebelling unbelief?
SPEAKER_00: Would they respond like the disciples in Bartimaeus in faith-filled trust, believing him to be the Son of God?
SPEAKER_00: Well, responding with rejoicing was proper.
SPEAKER_00: The prophet Zechariah wrote hundreds of years earlier, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.
SPEAKER_00: Shout aloud, O Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you.
SPEAKER_00: Righteous and having salvation is he, but humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt.
SPEAKER_00: Are we at all surprised then to read that the next day they brought the colt to Jesus and they threw their cloaks on it and he sat on it?
SPEAKER_00: And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He is the promised Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: He is the true conquering king celebrating with leafy branches.
SPEAKER_00: And Passover was a time of celebration and anticipation.
SPEAKER_00: They expected their Messiah to come.
SPEAKER_00: It was celebrated with great excitement.
SPEAKER_00: So it's no wonder then that they shouted portions of Psalm 118 as Jesus rode down the hillside of the Mount of Olives toward Jerusalem as their victorious king.
SPEAKER_00: Why would they not?
SPEAKER_00: But some were opposed to the rejoicing.
SPEAKER_00: Luke tells us in his gospel that the Pharisees were nervous.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps they were nervous that the Roman soldiers listening from the corner of the temple would hear this joyful celebration and be thinking, there's another rebellion rising up.
SPEAKER_00: We better go squelch it.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they were uncomfortable with the people proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah and King.
SPEAKER_00: In the presence of the king, some believed like Bartimaeus, some rejoiced like these disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Some wanted silence.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus answered their cry for silence with the statement, I tell you the truth, if these were silent, the stones would cry out.
SPEAKER_00: You see, disciples rejoice in the presence of their king.
SPEAKER_00: Even stones rejoice in the presence of their creator.
SPEAKER_00: Rocks are given voice, but some wanted silence.
SPEAKER_00: When praise is the proper response, silence is not an old friend but an enemy.
SPEAKER_00: Those Pharisees wanted silence while the temple was a place of noise.
SPEAKER_00: You couldn't give an offering in the temple with foreign money.
SPEAKER_00: Or you couldn't buy an animal for sacrifice as you entered the temple with foreign money.
SPEAKER_00: So you had to go to the money changers to have your foreign money exchanged for proper currency, at a cost, of course.
SPEAKER_00: It was good business, that money laundering.
SPEAKER_00: The sounds of crowds and coins of bleeding goats and sheep and cooing of pigeons filled the temple.
SPEAKER_00: Israel loved that noise.
SPEAKER_00: But in their hypocrisy, they wanted silence rather than praise in the presence of her king.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was hungry the next morning as they walked to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: He saw a fig tree and looked for fruit, but there wasn't any because it wasn't the right time of year.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing.
SPEAKER_00: When the king appears, you rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: When your creator is present, you cry out with joy.
SPEAKER_00: When the Messiah comes in fulfillment of God's promise, you believe.
SPEAKER_00: When your creator is present, you produce figs.
SPEAKER_00: But as the tree did not produce figs, Israel did not recognize her God even when he came among them as her promised king.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 14 of Mark chapter 11 literally says that Jesus answered.
SPEAKER_00: So Mark's giving personification to this tree, as though the tree is seeing Jesus and seeing him look for fruit, and that the tree responds to Jesus, Nope, no fruit for you.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus answered, May no one ever eat fruit from you again.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus came to his own people looking for the fruit of belief, for faith in him, and they said, No thanks.
SPEAKER_00: The prophet Malachi wrote in Malachi chapter 3, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, he is coming, says Yahweh, Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_00: But who can endure the day of his coming?
SPEAKER_00: And who can stand when he appears?
SPEAKER_00: For he is like a refiner's fire.
SPEAKER_00: Yahweh came to his temple that morning, and rather than finding a house of prayer, he found a den of robbers.
SPEAKER_00: Noise instead of prayer, robbery instead of praise.
SPEAKER_00: Rather than produce the fruit of obedience by faith, Mark says in verse 18, they sought to destroy him.
SPEAKER_00: The next morning, the fig tree was dead, withered all the way to the roots.
SPEAKER_00: It was not Jesus who would be destroyed, but the false religious system that refused to receive her king.
SPEAKER_00: And it will be no different for you and no different for me if we are religious but have no genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: God said through the prophet Jeremiah, When I would gather them, declares Yahweh, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree.
SPEAKER_00: Even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them.
SPEAKER_00: God owns this vineyard, he said, which pictures Israel, and he leased it out to tenants who pictured the religious leaders.
SPEAKER_00: And the tenants were had the responsibility to tend the vineyard and produce fruit that honored God, giving it back to him.
SPEAKER_00: But year after year after year, God did not get the fruit from the vineyard.
SPEAKER_00: And so finally he sent his own son, thinking they will respect him, they will honor him, and they will give me what is due me.
SPEAKER_00: And instead the vineyard tenants killed him.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's why Isaiah wrote in Isaiah chapter 5, verses 3 through 7.
SPEAKER_00: And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
SPEAKER_00: What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?
SPEAKER_00: When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield sour grapes?
SPEAKER_00: And now I will tell you what I will do.
SPEAKER_00: I will remove its hedge, it shall be devoured, I will break down its wall, it shall be trampled down, I will make it a waste, it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briars and thorns shall grow up.
SPEAKER_00: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it, for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, This and he looked for justice, but all he got was bloodshed.
SPEAKER_00: He looked for righteousness, and all there was was an outcry.
SPEAKER_00: As we know, Mark records in chapter 14, verse 1, that the leaders sought to kill Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted his blood shed.
SPEAKER_00: And the outcry of the people that God would hear would be crucify him.
SPEAKER_00: Crucify him.
SPEAKER_00: We'll hear more about that on Friday evening.
SPEAKER_00: But I want us to pause here for a moment in the presence of the King.
SPEAKER_00: There is no doubt that Jesus is the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one God promised from long ago, ages past.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who came to save his people.
SPEAKER_00: That is why they shouted, Hosanna, save now.
SPEAKER_00: Not from Rome or from Russia, but from an even greater enemy.
SPEAKER_00: Sin and death and Satan.
SPEAKER_00: You are here this morning by the grace of God, and I'm so glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: And you are here either as a Christian or as a non-Christian.
SPEAKER_00: But no matter what, you are here in the presence of the King.
SPEAKER_00: If you are not a Christian, you must respond in one of two ways.
SPEAKER_00: You must respond in pride, thinking that you know all you need to know, you've seen all you need to see, you've heard all you need to hear, but not with faith.
SPEAKER_00: You refuse stubbornly to believe that Jesus is your Christ, your Savior, and your Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The curse of the fig tree awaits you, if that is how you respond.
SPEAKER_00: Having encountered the presence of the King, seeing and hearing who Jesus is, you are no different than the demons if you turn and walk away.
SPEAKER_00: Or you can respond like blind Bartimaeus.
SPEAKER_00: Having heard that Jesus is here.
SPEAKER_00: The King is present.
SPEAKER_00: And you know that your only hope to your spiritual blindness and the only healing for your sinful soul is in the presence of the King.
SPEAKER_00: That He is the Son of God, that He is the one with healing and forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: And so you can cry out for mercy and for grace.
SPEAKER_00: Join Bartimaeus and me in trusting our souls to the King.
SPEAKER_00: If you end up like the fig tree through trusting in Christ alone, I have to be condemned too.
SPEAKER_00: But if Mark is right, and he is, then responding with faith to the presence of the King will bring healing and life to your soul.
SPEAKER_00: If you are a Christian, you can be like the disciples in the boat, still growing in your faith, being awed by the presence of your king as the one who controls the wind and the waves, but still have those occasions of doubt and wonder.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, open your eyes fully.
SPEAKER_00: See him as worthy of all of your trust, the one in whom you do not need to doubt.
SPEAKER_00: And we are all called upon to be like the disciples on the Mount of Olives, or even like the rocks that cry out in faith with praise to our King, the King who came to die.
SPEAKER_00: That King invites everyone to encounter his presence and to have their eyes healed, to see him with new eyes of faith and to follow him along with Bartimaeus on that dark road to Friday night.
SPEAKER_00: Would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_00: Our Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive our doubt, forgive our unbelief, and fill us with faith.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there is one here today that is still being stubborn and not seeing you with the eyes of faith.
SPEAKER_00: Break through that stubbornness, Lord Jesus, and give new life.
SPEAKER_00: Give new eyes to see.
SPEAKER_00: For all of us, we ask that you would enlarge our hearts, enlarge our minds, enlarge our understanding so that we might give praise to the King of Kings.
SPEAKER_00: That we might stand in your presence and sing like never before.
SPEAKER_00: Because we see who you are.
SPEAKER_00: That you are Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, who has come to save us from our sin.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.